Youtor
Opening Lines of THE CANTERBURY TALES Middle English Pronunciation
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The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400 A.D.) • • Once upon a time, in late April, a group of pilgrims on the way to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas à Becket in Canterbury entered the Tabard Inn. • • Now centuries later, in late April, Chaucer himself tells the tale. • Well, at least the first 18 lines of it. • • For more information about Dr. Hunt and Rooted Willow Homeschool, see http://rootedwillowhomeschool.com/ • • Below are the first 18 lines in the East Midland dialect of Middle English, the English of Geoffrey Chaucer. “Middle English” is the stage of English lasting (roughly) from 1150-1500 A.D. It is not so different from modern English as the poem Beowulf, which comes from the Old English period (450-1150 A.D.), but, as you can see, it was quite different. • (Visit here • • CÆDMON’S HYMN • for my recitation of “Caedmon’s Hymn,” a poem in Old English.) • • Interestingly, standardized spelling did not exist when Chaucer wrote. That can be confusing at times, but it can also be quite helpful in determining what the language sounded like since people spelled the way they spoke, more or less. • • General Prologue First 18 lines in Middle English • • Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote, • The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, • And bathed every veyne in swich licóur • Of which vertú engendred is the flour; • Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth • Inspired hath in every holt and heeth • The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne • Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne, • And smale foweles maken melodye, • That slepen al the nyght with open ye, • So priketh hem Natúre in hir corages, • Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, • And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes, • To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; • And specially, from every shires ende • Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende, • The hooly blisful martir for to seke, • That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke. • • • • General Prologue (First 18 lines) in modern English • • 1 When April with its sweet showers • 2 Has pierced the drought of March to the root, • 3 And bathed every vein in such liquid • 4 By which power the flower is created; • 5 When the West Wind also with its sweet breath, • 6 In every wood and field has breathed life into • 7 The tender new leaves, and the young sun • 8 Has run half its course in Aries, • 9 And small fowls make melody, • 10 Those that sleep all the night with open eyes • 11 (So Nature pricks them in their hearts), • 12 Then folk long to go on pilgrimages, • 13 And pilgrims to seek foreign shores, • 14 To distant shrines, known in various lands; • 15 And specially from every shire's end • 16 Of England to Canterbury they travel, • 17 To seek the holy blessed martyr, • 18 Who helped them when they were sick.
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