Geoffrey Chaucer — "Wel koude he rede a lessoun or a storie, / But al above that he koude singe."
Wel koude he rede a lessoun or a storie, / But al above that he koude singe.
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More from Geoffrey Chaucer
"He was a maister-hand at stelen corn, And that he gat, he wolde it wel defende."
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About Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343-1400)
English poet, civil servant, and the father of English literature; The Canterbury Tales (~1387-1400) is the founding text of English-language storytelling. Closely associated with Giovanni Boccaccio (his Italian predecessor; the Decameron preceded the Canterbury Tales by ~40 years). For an intellectual contrast, see John Wycliffe, English theologian and Lollard reform-movement leader — Wycliffe and Chaucer were near-contemporaries in the same English Christian world — Chaucer's Wife of Bath and Pardoner are the canonical literary defense of fleshly humanity against the Lollard moral austerity that would later become English Puritanism. Earthy storytelling vs proto-Protestant moralism.
Details
General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, describing the Pardoner. His ability to sing well, particularly the offertory, is highlighted as a tool for manipulation, making his 'talent' darkly 'weird'.
Date: c. 1387-1400
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