The trick is to “block out” your need (and face it, English majors, by now it is a compulsive need) to see correctly spelled words. As you read, sound each word out, like you would when you first learned to read.
When you first (and by “you,” I also mean “me”) glanced at these lines:
“With hym ther was his sone, a yong squier,
A lovyere and a lusty bacheler”
You probably thought (or at least I thought):
With…hymn?...was his…a…squire?
A…and a lusty…bachelor?”
But upon looking at it again, and sounding each word at as you go, you can see that the words are quite similar, if not the same as our words, only spelled differently:
“With him there was his son, a young squire,
A lover and a lusty bachelor.”
Pretty straight-forward, and though we might not word it quite that way when speaking plain English (keep in mind this is poetry), we understand that it's basically saying:
“His son was with him, who was a young squire. He was looking for a lady.”
I believe that we have been taught structure in writing for so long growing up that we often have to unlearn habits in order to understand artful literature.
Anyway…time for my favorite meme:
So I will.
In the beginning of The Canterbury Tales, it seems as though everyone is introduced in the fashion of an Agatha Christie story. (I'll post a picture.) The characters are introduced one by one, often a caricature of a normal person. We are made aware of their appearances and personality traits, which help us predict what is yet to come (and what to expect from each character) . However, instead of the mystery being that of murder, the mystery is the stories the characters have yet to tell.
I'm wondering, what characters stood out to you? The ones who stood out to me were the Prioress and The Wife of Bath.
The Prioress seemed lovely to me and absolutely lovely in every way. She reminded me of none other than:
The Wide of Bath, while an equally interesting character (her ability to see reminded me of my grandmother) made a very different image come to mind (much unlike my grandmother):
And what about that Summoner, who tries people for infidels and yet has the skill of seducing many women? Hypocritical much!
What did you think in general? Who did you like? Dislike? Who was the best?
Hey Julia,
ReplyDeleteBefore yesterday's class, I was right with you! The prioress seemed like such a nice, quaint, little lady! And I LOVED the Wife of Bath. I don't know why but she seemed very confident and sexy for a middle-ages woman.
Then... yesterday's class happened at my world turned upside down. The prioress who seemed like such a nice lady turned out to be someone who thinks she is someone above her station and, although we may not be reading her story, the little tidbit Prof MB gave us about the Jewish boys murdering that other boy will stick with me for awhile! I haven't read WoB's tale yet, however, but the clues Prof MB gave us about how young she started out with marriage and the abuse she may have gotten because of being a woman, makes me kind of sad for her.
I think the biggest shock was when you, Charlotte, and I discovered the eunuch/homosexual characteristics of the Pardoner. Ummm... what!?!?
This story keeps getting juicier and juicier. Who knew?
I really like the trick that you came up with. While I was, for the most, getting through the reading, looking at it from that perspective does make it a little bit easier. It is actually kind of funny because I am being told by you to ignore spelling and then I go to teach my eighth graders every tuesday and tell them that they need to spell their vocabulary words correctly! That probably is not helping my case any....
ReplyDeleteI am really liking the Wife of Bath so far. I remember really liking her when I was in high school, but, like Charlotte (if you read her post), I went to a small Catholic High School and we were not allowed to read her tale. I am pretty excited that I finally get to. I am not a huge fan of the summoner or the pardoner. They both seem like pretty awful people, even if Chaucer does say that you will not find a better fellow to hang out with than the summoner. I am still not convinced. The Prioress, while she did seem kind of uppity, I did not really mind her too much...but then Dr. MB told us what her tale was about and that quickly changed!
I like your trick for better understanding the reading, and I'll definitely be using it. As for the character I find most interesting, I couldn't help but be intrigued by the Summoner, especially after you all mentioned the homoerotic undertones present in his introduction! I liked the Prioress in the beginning, so Dr. MB's mention of her tale was shocking, to say the least. I'm curious if everyone has a story like that; do they all have stories that make us think differently of them? Does Chaucer use this to play off of the "don't judge a book by its cover," though he practically does the same in the first pages, and did he realize it?
ReplyDeleteI'm very curious about what is to come, especially with us getting more of the Wife of Bath today.