Poetics and literary devices in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

Literary devices in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales

Allusions are used in The Canterbury Tales when, as the most famous example, he speaks of the Wife of Bath and her appearance. He relates her appearance to the fact that she has been married five times and craves sex. The allusion is that she is gap toothed and that is a sign of being over sexed or craving sex.

Chaucer uses alliteration sparingly but it is still present. He uses it a whole lot less than the Gawain poet. In the General Prologue

Chaucer uses rhyming lines in verse in the original middle English text. A good example of this is on line 11- 14,

 So priketh hem Nature in hir corages;

            Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages

            And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes

            To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;

Chaucer uses a lot of alliteration to create a flow and aide in his descriptions in the General Prologue.

Chaucer writes in Iambic Pentameter sometimes as well. Opening lines:

            Whan that aprill with his shoures soote

I cannot tell or figure out if Chaucer is completely written in Iambic Pentameter. It is supposedly translated this way according to this site.

 Something I also found interesting was that Chaucer wrote this in English rather than French. This shows that he has a good understanding of languages.

This poem was an estate satire and poked fun at the 3 classes. Also, in this context, Chaucer’s writing does not condemn him to be set in any class. The way he writes and describes without class bias and only bias about the people themselves, shows that his thoughts outreach the three classes. He mocks the cultural patterns exhibited in that time period. Like with the Wife of Bath marrying more than once and not staying a window. She isn’t a typical woman because she’s actually made a wealthy life for herself.

Also, Chaucer’s subjects are real people. Some of them don’t fit into the stereotypes of the time. He speaks of the clergy being corrupt and the fact that the doctor takes people’s money and gives them sort of false treatments. “For each put money in the other’s pocket” (line 429).

There is no magic and fantasy just people. In this way, he is able to show a cross section of Medieval society.   

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the story has many connections to earlier Arthurian literature like the Green Man as discussed in class. But also its alliteration and use to the Bob and wheel end rhyme at the conclusion of each paragraph is what drew me in. I love the repetition with the same first letter in each line but it doesn't make it sound like some Doctor Seuss made up, mixed up meaning poem. This poem exhibits the tradition of honor and chivalry because of Sir Gawain taking the challenge so his young king did not have to. Now, what reasons that may be were argued about in class: the king's honor, the reputation of the king if he were to lose, and many others. I think that Sir Gawain was being very honorable by taking up the challenge when no one else would. When the Green Knight gives Gawain his challenge he also says that the blow will be returned in a year and a day. This later became known as the "beheading game". Once Sir Gawain beheads the green knight, the green man gets to his feet, picks up his head, and reminds Gawain of the appointed day that Gawain must come and seek him out so the green knight may return the favor. Sir Gawain inquires about his name and place of residence but is barely given anything in that respect.

As for the manuscript of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, it was written by a poet nicknamed the “Pearl Poet”. The Poet also wrote Pearl, Patience, and Purity.

And the verse of the poem is written in what is called "Alliterative Revival" style that was very common in the 14th century. It has also been called the Bob and Wheel. The alliterative form in this poem of this period usually relied on the similarity of stressed syllables at the beginning and end of the line. This type of style is called a Bob and Wheel because "bob" is a very short line, very regularly only two syllables in length, then followed by the "wheel," longer lines with rhyme internally and alliteration and repetition.

My thoughts on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are that I love this poem! It is defiantly what I am interested in reading. It has a lot of literary background and stuffing in the poem. I love the Arthurian legends and really want to read more of them.