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Works of Geoffrey Chaucer: The Monk's Tale

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From: Monarch Notes
Date: 19630101
Author:Chaucer, Geoffrey

Chaucer, Geoffrey
Monarch Notes
01-01-1963
The Monk's Tale

Introduction:

The Monk's Tale is a series of short biographies concerned with the fall
of famous men - what the Middle Ages described as "tragedies." This view is
connected with the medieval idea of the wheel of Fortune (discussed in the
Introduction to the Knight's Tale) and is described by the Monk as follows:

Tragedie is to seyn a certeyn storie,
As olde bokes maken us memorie,
Of him that stood in greet prosperitee
And is y-fallen out of heigh degree
Into miserie, and endeth wrecchedly.

The sub-title to the tale is a pretty clear ...

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