Literary Terms
an untrustworthy storyteller, usually in 1st person POV
Geoffrey Chaucer was born around ___________ and died in ____________.
c. 1340; 1400
The Canterbury Tales is written in ____________ English
Middle
One of the themes of the Canterbury Tales is _____________ vs. reality
appearance
What (very famous) metrical pattern is The Canterbury Tales written in?
iambic pentameter
define "tone"
the writer's attitude toward the subject
Aside from the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer's most famous work is
Troilus and Criseyde
Most of the tales in the Canterbury Tales draw on _________________________________
existing source material (rather than being completely original)
Was Chaucer born in an upper-, middle-, or lower-class family?
middle
Out of the 120 tales that were planned, only ____ were written
24
Define "diction"
the choice and use of words in speech and writing
What two famous authors did Chaucer study and become significantly influenced by?
Dante and Petrarch
The Canterbury Tales depicts a _________________ of medieval society.
cross-section
One of the themes of the Canterbury Tales is man as a __________________ on earth.
pilgrim
define "framing narrative"
Define "verisimilitude"
the quality of realism in a work
In what war did Geoffrey Chaucer fight?
The Hundred Years' War
The framing narrative of the Canterbury Tales is ...
a springtime pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket
List the three medieval estates:
the clergy, the nobility, and the peasantry
The Canterbury Tales is written in pairs of rhyming lines. These are called ....
heroic couplets
Define "litotes"
Expressing an idea by negating its opposite
In his later life, Chaucer worked as a Comptroller of Customs, a ___________, and a ____________ ______________.
judge; Royal Forester
Chaucer is a __________________ in his own poem.
character
In the Canterbury Tales, there are two types of pilgrims:
those who mainly want to see the sights/enjoy themselves, and those who want to get to the destination (shrine/Heaven)
What two stories serve as the thematic "pillars" of the Canterbury Tales
"The Knight's Tale" and "The Parson's Tale"