Selection from the Prologue of The Canterbury Talesby Geoffrey Chaucer

As presented by Julie Champlin and Mandy Wellhausen

“The Nonne”

Terms to Consider:

Prioresse

St. Loy

Stratford-atte-Bowe

The Canterbury Tales: The Nonne(118) Ther was also a Nonne, a Prioresse,

There was also a nun, a prioress,

(119) That of hir smyling was ful simple and coy;Whose way of smiling was simple and coy;

(120) Hir gretteste ooth was but by sëynt Loy;Her greatest oath was ‘By St Loy’;

The Canterbury Tales: The Nonne(121) And she was cleped madame Eglentyne.

And she was called Madam Eglentyne.(122) Ful wel she song the service divine,

She sang the divine service well(123) Entuned in hir nose ful seemly;

Intoned in her nose in a very seemly manner;(124) And Frensh she spak ful faire and fetisly,

And she spoke French fairly and gracefully,

The Canterbury Tales: The Nonne(125) After the scole of Stratford atte Bowe,

After the school of Stratford atte Bowe,

(126) For Frensh of Paris was to hir unknowe.But French of Paris she did not know.

(127) At mete wel y-taught was she with-alle;At dinner her manners were well taught

(128) She leet no morsel from hir lippes falle,She neither let morsels fall from her lips

The Canterbury Tales: The Nonne(129) Ne wette hir fingers in hir sauce depe.

Nor dipped her fingers deep in sauce. (130) Wel coude she carie a morsel, and wel kepe,

She knew very well how to carry a morsel (to her lips) and took great care

(131) That no drope no fille up-on hir brest.That no drop could fall on her breast.

(132) In courteisye was set ful muche hir lest.Being courteous was much to her delight.

The Canterbury Tales: The Nonne(133) Hir over lippe wiped she so clene,

She would wipe her upper lip so clean,(134) That in hir coppe was no farthing sene

That in her cup there could no stain of grease to be seen(135) Of grece, whan she dronken hadde hir

draughte.When she had drunk her draught.

(136) Ful seemly after hir mete she raughte,In a very seemly manner she reached for her food.

The Canterbury Tales: The Nonne(137) And sikerly she was of greet disport,

And certainly she had excellent manners,

(138) And ful plesaunt, and amiable of port,And she was very pleasant and amiable

(139) And peyned hir to countrefete chereAnd it pained her to imitate the cheer

(140) Of court, and been estatlich of menere,Of courtliness, and dignified manners,

(141) And to ben holden dogne of reverence.And she would be held worthy of respect.

Review of Terms

Prioresse: a nun in charge of a priory orranking next below the abbess of an abbey.

Stratford-atte-Bowe (atte boghe, atteboughe or at the bow): Benedictine nunery of St. Leonard‘s at Bromley near Stratford at Bowe.

Sëynt Loy: St. Eligius, Bishop of Noyon.

How does the Language Look?Conservative versus Advanced“A middle way was chosen between twoconflicting tendencies, one of which, beingconservative, aimed at retaining the language in its purity and severity, while the other made forinnovation, for the strengthening of the native growth with foreign material.”

http://www.bartleby.com/213/2003.htmlUsing this defintion, what do you think?

Examples of Advanced Language UseMadame: French Service: Old French, LatinDivine: Old French, LatinSchool: LatinCup: Latin (early borrowing)Simple: Old French, LatinMorsel: Old FrenchSauce: Old FrenchCourtesy: Old French

One might conclude that The Nonne employs words of both Old French and Latin and is therefore ‘advanced’, by the definition asserted above.

Personal Pronouns in Middle EnglishIn Modern English, auxiliaries are used whennegating a sentence or constructing a question.

In The Nonne, we see the following:HirShe

Personal Pronouns in Middle EnglishCase Old English Middle English Modern English

Nominative héo Sche/she (heo / ho / he/ ȝho)

she

Accusative hí, héo, hie

Dative hire

her/hir(hire / hure / heore)

her

Genitive hire her (hir / hire / heore / here)

her/hers

• What trend do we see throughout the changes within the Englishlanguage?

NegationFrom The Nonne, we hypothesized the following:

That there is no use of auxiliary verbs in negation, instead the word ‘no’ denotes negation when used before a verb.

(131) “That no drope ne fille up-on hir brest.

T(hat no drop could fall on her breast.)Double negation (now only in non-standard English)

Thank you for your Thank you for your attention and attention and

participation!participation!

Bibliography

Bowden, Muriel. A Commentary on the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. 2. London: MacMillan, 1948.

Lambdin, Laura C., and Robert T. Lambdin (eds.) Chaucer's Pilgrims: An Historical Guide to the Pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales. 1. Connecticut: Praeger, 1996.

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