The Literature Network - Chaucer the astronomer.(Features)(Ideas)(What's New)

Chaucer the astronomer.(Features)(Ideas)(What's New)

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From: The Christian Science Monitor
Date: 20000323
Author:

Geoffrey Chaucer left scholars an intriguing puzzle in his 14th-century "Canterbury Tales." In the "Franklin's Tale," he describes a "magical" illusion that made rocks off the Brittany coast seem to disappear. This has been considered mere poetic license, invoking magic to advance the plot. But could it actually have happened?

Astronomer Donald Olsen at Southwest Texas State University says it probably was an actual 14th-century event in which unusually high tides covered the rocks. He surmises that Chaucer knew about this phenomenon. Read in this perspective, the "Franklin's ...

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