下载文档原格式
Unit three1.______Geoffrey Chaucer______ , the ' father of English poetry' and one of thegreatest narrative poets of England was born in London about 1340.2.Chaucer died on the 25th of october 1400, and was buried in _WestminsterAbbey_____A. ItalyB. FranceC. FlandersD. Westminster Abbey3.Chaucer's earliest work of any length is his _A_____, a translation of the French "Roman de la Rose" by Gaillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung, which was a love allegory enjoying widespread popularity in the 13th and 14th centuries not only in France but throughout Europe.A. Romance of the RoseB. A Red, Red RoseC. Piers the PlowmanD.Troilus and Criseyde4.The Canterbury Tales contains in fact a general Prologue and only _24____ tales,of which two are left unfinished.5.The _Prologue_____ provides a framework for the tales in " The CanterburyTales" , and it comprises a group of vivid pictures of various medieval figures. 6.Geoffrey Chaucer's contribution to English poetry lies chiefly in the fact that heintroduced from France the rhymed stanzas of various types, especially the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter ( to be called later the:"_heroic_____ couplet") to English peotry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative verseA. exoticB. esotericC. heroic7."The Canterbury Tales" opens with a genaral prologue where we are told of acompany of pilgrims that gathered at__Tarbard____Inn in Southwark , a suburb of London.8. What is the function of the Prologue to the The Canterbury Tales?The General Prologue is the key to The Canterbury tales that narr ates about the gathering of a group of people in an inn that intend t o go on a pilgrimage to Canterbury (England) next morning. In the Gen eral Prologue, the narrator of The Canterbury Tales, who is one of th e intended pilgrims, provides more or less accurate depictions of the members of the group and describes why and how The Canterbury Tales is told.If we trust the General Prologue, Chaucer determined that each pi lgrim should tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two tales on the way back. The host of the inn offers to be and is appointed as j udge of the tales as they are told and is supposed to determine the b est hence winning tale. As mentioned before, The Canterbury Tales was never finished.The General Prologue is usually regarded as the greatest portrait gallery in English literature. It is largely composed of a series of sketches differing widely in length and method, and blending the ind ividual and the typical in varying degrees.The purpose of the General Prologue is not only to present a vivi d collection of character sketches, but also tries to reveal the auth or‘s intention in bringing together a great variety of people and na rrative materials (Ranging in status from a Knight to a humble Plowma n, the pilgrims are a microcosm of 14th-century English society) to u nite the diversity of the tales by allotting them to a diversity of t ellers engaged in a common endeavor, to set the tone for the story-te lling -- one of jollity which accords with the tone of the whole work: that of grateful acceptance of life killing the time in a joyful way, secular purpose of the pilgrim; to make clear the plan for the tales, to motivate the telling of several of tales and to introduce the pil grims and the time and occasion of the pilgrimage.9. What is Chaucer's contribution to English language?Geoffrey Chaucer,the first great write in English, was born in London in about 1340, he is called the father of English literature by many scholars. Chaucer’s literary career may be devided roughly into three periods.The period of French influence, the period of Italian influence, the period of maturity.And it was the third period that Chaucer wrote his famous work---The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer played an important role in the development of English literature. Chaucer is the father of English poetry, and he presented to us a comprehensive realistic picture of the English society of his time and created a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life in his masterpiece The Canterbury Tales, it is the first time in Englishliterature. Chaucer is also considered as a great master of the English language. When Chaucer was born, French and Lantin were the most powerful ntin was used in the Church and French was the language of the royal court, English, although it was used every day by the majority of the people ,was a second-class language.Chaucer realised the importance of creating literature in the vernacular, in the languate of the people. He decided to make theeveryday English of south-east England and London the language of literature ,Chaucer greatly increased the prestige of English as a literary language and extended the range of its poetic vocabulary and meters. Besides, Chaucer introduced from France the rhymed stanzas of various types to English poetry to replace the old English alliterative verse. In a word, what Chauceer had done makes a big difference to English literature.。
