In contrast, Old English (the language of Beowulf, for example) can be read only in modern translation or by students of Old English. Why was the language of Chaucer different from Old English? Gradually Old English turned into the Middle English that Chaucer writes in – but still the official language of England was French!
Full Answer
What is the difference between Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales?
Beowulf is classified as an epic tragedy in the form of a poem, while The Canterbury Tales can be classified as a historical narrative. In order to fully comprehend the literary aspects in both works, one must study significant passages that exemplify vocation and religion.
What did Chaucer write?
What is Geoffrey Chaucer known for? Geoffrey Chaucer is considered one of the first great English poets. He is the author of such works as The Parlement of Foules, Troilus and Criseyde, and The Canterbury Tales.
How is Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales similar?
The stories of Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales are two that have been compared for centuries. Based in two different time periods, both novels describe religion, loyalty, and distinguish social classes through characters.
What is Geoffrey Chaucer's best known work?
Geoffrey Chaucer (/ˈtʃɔːsər/; c. 1340s – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry".
Why Chaucer is the father of English poetry?
Ever since the end of the 14th century, Chaucer has been known as the "father of English poetry," a model of writing to be imitated by English poets. “He was one of the first poets of his day to write exclusively in English (his contemporary John Gower, for example, wrote in Latin, French, and English).
Who is the father of English poetry?
Geoffrey Chaucer'The Father of English Poetry' (Chapter 8) - Geoffrey Chaucer.
What religion is in Beowulf?
The Beowulf story has its roots in a pagan Saxon past, but by the time the epic was written down, almost all Anglo-Saxons had converted to Christianity. As a result, the Beowulf poet is at pains to resolve his Christian beliefs with the often quite un-Christian behavior of his characters.
How is paganism shown in Beowulf?
Despite this poor representation of Paganism through Grendel, there are many other Pagan elements present in Beowulf, most noted of which are the belief in the supernatural, the use of swords in combat which bear special meaning, the tradition of ship burials and cremation, and “wyrd”.
Is The Canterbury Tales religious?
The story wasn't necessarily written to preach to readers; however, the religion and faith in the book are obvious. First, the main story line is the pilgrimage to Canterbury. Secondly, Chaucer has seven characters out of the 24 that work with or work for a church or religion.
Who is father of English language?
Geoffrey ChaucerWho is known as the father of the English language? Geoffrey Chaucer. He was born in London sometime between 1340 and 1344. He was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat (courtier), and diplomat.
Who is the mother of English literature?
Before there was Jane Austen or even the gleam in Mr. Bronte's eye that would engender his three novelist daughters, there was Frances (Fanny) Burney, master of the novel of social courtship, and according to Virginia Woolf, “the mother of English fiction.”
Where do I start with Chaucer?
The lessons take up the tales in this order: The Shipman's Tale, The General Prologue, The Knight's Tale, The Miller's Tale, The Reeve's Tale, and The Cook's Tale. This is the recommended order, but users are of course free to study the tales in whatever order they wish.
What is Chaucer's style of writing?
Moreover, like much of Shakespeare's work, Chaucer's frame narrative is written in iambic pentameter, an unpretentious, conversational meter with alternate stresses.
How many books did Geoffrey Chaucer write?
The Canterbury TalesThe Knight's TaleGeneral PrologueThe Wife of Bath's TaleThe Pardoner's TaleThe Miller's TaleGeoffrey Chaucer/Books
Why did Chaucer write The Canterbury Tales?
The tales could be described both as social realism and as estates satire. At the same time that Chaucer takes care to honestly show the perspective of each of his characters, he also aims to critique the hypocrisy of the church and the social problems posed by Medieval politics and social custom.
What makes Shakespeare different from Chaucer?
Chaucer's work is more believable and straight forward to the readers, while Shakespeare's play is scattered with random plot lines. Chaucer's version of the poem is full of thought and is a serious attempt at portraying events realistically, while Shakespeare based his version on intuition.
What is Beowulf?
Beowulf is a heroic poem, considered the highest achievement of Old English literature and the earliest European vernacular epic. It deals with eve...
Where does Beowulf take place?
Beowulf takes place in early 6th-century Scandinavia, primarily in what is known today as Denmark and Sweden.
Who was Beowulf written by?
The author of Beowulf is unknown. It is possible that the poem was composed by and transmitted between several different poets before it was preser...
What does Beowulf present to Hrothgar?
Upon his return to Heorot, Beowulf presents to King Hrothgar Grendel’s decapitated head and the jeweled hilt of the sword he used to kill Grendel’s...
Was Beowulf real?
There is no evidence of a historical Beowulf, but other characters, sites, and events in the poem can be historically verified. For example, the po...
How did Chaucer die?
Chaucer died of unknown causes on 25 October 1400, although the only evidence for this date comes from the engraving on his tomb which was erected more than 100 years after his death. There is some speculation that he was murdered by enemies of Richard II or even on the orders of his successor Henry IV, but the case is entirely circumstantial. Chaucer was buried in Westminster Abbey in London, as was his right owing to his status as a tenant of the Abbey's close. In 1556, his remains were transferred to a more ornate tomb, making him the first writer interred in the area now known as Poets' Corner.
How many times does Fortune say "you still have your best friend alive"?
Most conspicuous in this short poem is the number of references to Chaucer's "beste frend". Fortune states three times in her response to the plaintiff, "And also, you still have your best friend alive" (32, 40, 48); she also refers to his "beste frend" in the envoy when appealing to his "noblesse" to help Chaucer to a higher estate. The narrator makes a fifth reference when he rails at Fortune that she shall not take his friend from him.
How many children did Chaucer have?
It is uncertain how many children Chaucer and Philippa had, but three or four are most commonly cited. His son, Thomas Chaucer, had an illustrious career, as chief butler to four kings, envoy to France, and Speaker of the House of Commons. Thomas's daughter, Alice, married the Duke of Suffolk.
Why was John Chaucer kidnapped?
In 1324, his father John Chaucer was kidnapped by an aunt in the hope of marrying the 12-year-old to her daughter in an attempt to keep property in Ipswich. The aunt was imprisoned and fined £250, now equivalent to about £200,000, which suggests that the family was financially secure.
What happened to Chaucer in 1380?
What was meant is unclear, but the incident seems to have been resolved quickly with an exchange of money in June 1380 and did not leave a stain on Chaucer's reputation.
What are the arms of Chaucer?
Origin. Left: Arms of Geoffrey Chaucer: Per pale argent and gules, a bend counterchanged. Right: Arms of Chaucer (modern), as adopted by his son Thomas Chaucer and as later quartered by his heirs de la Pole Dukes of Suffolk: Argent, a chief gules overall a lion rampant double queued or.
Why is Chaucer's English so different from his English?
Modern English is somewhat distanced from the language of Chaucer's poems owing to the effect of the Great Vowel Shift some time after his death. This change in the pronunciation of English, still not fully understood, makes the reading of Chaucer difficult for the modern audience.
Why does Beowulf refuse to use a weapon?
Beowulf and his men spend the night in Heorot. Beowulf refuses to use any weapon because he holds himself to be Grendel's equal. When Grendel enters the hall, Beowulf, who has been feigning sleep, leaps up to clench Grendel's hand. Grendel and Beowulf battle each other violently.
How was the Beowulf manuscript written?
The Beowulf manuscript was transcribed from an original by two scribes, one of whom wrote the prose at the beginning of the manuscript and the first 1939 lines, before breaking off in mid-sentence. The first scribe made a point of carefully regularizing the spelling of the original document into the common West Saxon, removing any archaic or dialectical features. The second scribe, who wrote the remainder, with a difference in handwriting noticeable after line 1939, seems to have written more vigorously and with less interest. As a result, the second scribe's script retains more archaic dialectic features, which allow modern scholars to ascribe the poem a cultural context. While both scribes appear to have proofread their work, there are nevertheless many errors. The second scribe was ultimately the more conservative copyist as he did not modify the spelling of the text as he wrote, but copied what he saw in front of him. In the way that it is currently bound, the Beowulf manuscript is followed by the Old English poem Judith. Judith was written by the same scribe that completed Beowulf, as evidenced by similar writing style. Wormholes found in the last leaves of the Beowulf manuscript that are absent in the Judith manuscript suggest that at one point Beowulf ended the volume. The rubbed appearance of some leaves suggests that the manuscript stood on a shelf unbound, as was the case with other Old English manuscripts. Knowledge of books held in the library at Malmesbury Abbey and available as source works, as well as the identification of certain words particular to the local dialect found in the text, suggest that the transcription may have taken place there.
What happened after Beowulf slays Grendel?
After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother attacks the hall and is then defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland ( Götaland in modern Sweden) and becomes king of the Geats. Fifty years later, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is mortally wounded in the battle.
Where is Beowulf set?
Scholars call the anonymous author the " Beowulf poet". The story is set in pagan Scandinavia in the 6th century. Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Heorot has been under attack by the monster Grendel.
What is the meaning of Beowulf?
Beowulf is considered an epic poem in that the main character is a hero who travels great distances to prove his strength at impossible odds against supernatural demons and beasts. The poem begins in medias res or simply, "in the middle of things", a characteristic of the epics of antiquity.
How big is Beowulf's manuscript?
Beowulf survived to modern times in a single manuscript, written in ink on parchment, later damaged by fire. The manuscript measures 245 × 185 mm.
What is Beowulf's source of information?
Like the Finnesburg Fragment and several shorter surviving poems, Beowulf has consequently been used as a source of information about Scandinavian figures such as Eadgils and Hygelac, and about continental Germanic figures such as Offa, king of the continental Angles.
Overview
Influence
Chaucer wrote in continental accentual-syllabic metre, a style which had developed in English literature since around the 12th century as an alternative to the alliterative Anglo-Saxon metre. Chaucer is known for metrical innovation, inventing the rhyme royal, and he was one of the first English poets to use the five-stress line, a decasyllabic cousin to the iambic pentametre, in his work, wit…
Life
Chaucer was born in London most likely in the early 1340s (by some accounts, including his monument, he was born in 1343), though the precise date and location remain unknown. The Chaucer family offers an extraordinary example of upward mobility. His great-grandfather was a tavern keeper, his grandfather worked as a purveyor of wines, and his father John Chaucer rose to become a…
Relationship to John of Gaunt
Chaucer was a close friend of John of Gaunt, the wealthy Duke of Lancaster and father of Henry IV, and he served under Lancaster's patronage. Near the end of their lives, Lancaster and Chaucer became brothers-in-law when Lancaster married Katherine Swynford (de Roet) in 1396; she was the sister of Philippa (Pan) de Roet, whom Chaucer had married in 1366.
Chaucer's Book of the Duchess (also known as the Deeth of Blaunche the Duchesse) was written …
Religious beliefs
Chaucer's attitudes toward the Church should not be confused with his attitudes toward Christianity. He seems to have respected and admired Christians and to have been one himself, though he also recognised that many people in the church were venal and corrupt. He wrote in Canterbury Tales, "now I beg all those that listen to this little treatise, or read it, that if there be anything in it that pleases them, they thank our Lord Jesus Christ for it, from whom proceeds all …
Literary works
Chaucer's first major work was The Book of the Duchess, an elegy for Blanche of Lancaster who died in 1368. Two other early works were Anelida and Arcite and The House of Fame. He wrote many of his major works in a prolific period when he held the job of customs comptroller for London (1374 to 1386). His Parlement of Foules, The Legend of Good Women, and Troilus and Criseyde all …
Critical reception
The poet Thomas Hoccleve, who may have met Chaucer and considered him his role model, hailed Chaucer as "the firste fyndere of our fair langage". John Lydgate referred to Chaucer within his own text The Fall of Princes as the "lodesterre (guiding principle) … off our language". Around two centuries later, Sir Philip Sidney greatly praised Troilus and Criseyde in his own Defence of Po…
List of works
The following major works are in rough chronological order but scholars still debate the dating of most of Chaucer's output and works made up from a collection of stories may have been compiled over a long period.
• Translation of Roman de la Rose, possibly extant as The Romaunt of the Rose
• The Book of the Duchess
Overview
Beowulf is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating is for the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025. Scholars call the ano…
Historical background
The events in the poem take place over most of the sixth century, and feature no English characters. Some suggest that Beowulf was first composed in the 7th century at Rendlesham in East Anglia, as the Sutton Hoo ship-burial shows close connections with Scandinavia, and the East Anglian royal dynasty, the Wuffingas, may have been descendants of the Geatish Wulfings. Others have associated t…
Summary
The protagonist Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes, whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands, then kills Grendel's mother with a giant's sword that he found in her lair.
Later in his life, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats, and finds his realm terrori…
Authorship and date
The dating of Beowulf has attracted considerable scholarly attention; opinion differs as to whether it was first written in the 8th century, whether it was nearly contemporary with its 11th century manuscript, and whether a proto-version (possibly a version of the Bear's Son Tale) was orally transmitted before being transcribed in its present form. Albert Lord felt strongly that the manuscript represents the transcription of a performance, though likely taken at more than one …
Manuscript
Beowulf survived to modern times in a single manuscript, written in ink on parchment, later damaged by fire. The manuscript measures 245 × 185 mm.
The poem is known only from a single manuscript, estimated to date from around 975–1025, in which it appears with other works. The manuscript therefore dates either to the reign of Æthelred the Unready, characterised by st…
Editions, translations, and adaptations
Many editions of the Old English text of Beowulf have been published; this section lists the most influential.
The Icelandic scholar Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin made the first transcriptions of the Beowulf-manuscript in 1786, working as part of a Danish government historical research commission. He made one himself, and had another done by a professional copyist who knew no Old English (an…
Sources and analogues
Neither identified sources nor analogues for Beowulf can be definitively proven, but many conjectures have been made. These are important in helping historians understand the Beowulf manuscript, as possible source-texts or influences would suggest time-frames of composition, geographic boundaries within which it could be composed, or range (both spatial and temporal) of influence (i.e. when it was "popular" and where its "popularity" took it). The poem has been relate…
Dialect
Beowulf predominantly uses the West Saxon dialect of Old English, like other Old English poems copied at the time. However, it also uses many other linguistic forms; this leads some scholars to believe that it has endured a long and complicated transmission through all the main dialect areas. It retains a complicated mix of Mercian, Northumbrian, Early West Saxon, Anglian, Kentish and Late West Saxon dialectical forms.