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Thread: Canterbury Tales

  1. #1
    confidentially pleased cacian's Avatar
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    Question Canterbury Tales

    Do you have a favourite?
    Any favourite word/lexicon and quotes would be great!
    Last edited by cacian; 01-10-2013 at 11:00 AM.
    it may never try
    but when it does it sigh
    it is just that
    good
    it fly

  2. #2
    The Ghost of Laszlo Jamf islandclimber's Avatar
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    Now this is a great question Cacian.

    I love The Miller's Tale. So bawdy and ribald.

    And then I've always had a thing for the Sir Thopas tale as well.

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    All are at the crossroads qimissung's Avatar
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    It's been too long since I've read them, but I taught "The Pardoner's Tale" a year or so back. I always enjoy that one.
    "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its' own reason for existing." ~ Albert Einstein
    "Remember, no matter where you go, there you are." Buckaroo Bonzai
    "Some people say I done alright for a girl." Melanie Safka

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    confidentially pleased cacian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by qimissung View Post
    It's been too long since I've read them, but I taught "The Pardoner's Tale" a year or so back. I always enjoy that one.
    ''radix malorum est cupiditas'' or greed the root of evil. This somehow reminds me of the l'Avare by Moliere.
    Any reason why you do enjoy this one qimissung?
    it may never try
    but when it does it sigh
    it is just that
    good
    it fly

  5. #5
    King of Dreams MorpheusSandman's Avatar
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    Summoner's is probably the funniest. The teenager in me always laughs at the fact that the tale builds up to an epic fart joke. I was also always partial to the Pardoner's Tale, which reminds me a lot of of one my favorite films, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The Kngiht's Tale may be the most beautifully written.
    "As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being." --Carl Gustav Jung

    "To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due." --Neil Gaiman; The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists

    "I'm on my way, from misery to happiness today. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh" --The Proclaimers

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    confidentially pleased cacian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by islandclimber View Post
    Now this is a great question Cacian.

    I love The Miller's Tale. So bawdy and ribald.

    And then I've always had a thing for the Sir Thopas tale as well.
    Thank you islandclimeber. I am not so much familiar with the Miller's Tale but I am reading now to acquaint myself. Do you have favourite piece or quote from the tales. I gather it is heavily biblical the Miller's tale. Noah and the flood is being mentioned.
    Last edited by cacian; 01-10-2013 at 06:00 AM.
    it may never try
    but when it does it sigh
    it is just that
    good
    it fly

  7. #7
    Card-carrying Medievalist Lokasenna's Avatar
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    I love the Merchant's Tale, with the Miller's a very close second. That said, my favourite characters overall are Dame Allison and Chaucer himself.

    You'll enjoy the Miller, cacian - and whilst there are biblical tones, it is very much meant to be a dirty story!
    "I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance. And when I saw my devil, I found him serious, thorough, profound, solemn: he was the spirit of gravity- through him all things fall. Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of gravity!" - Nietzsche

  8. #8
    Registered User FenwickS's Avatar
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    It is the only one I've read, and yet, I am sure hands down that it is my favourite, and that's of course the Miller's Tale.
    You know why
    Last edited by FenwickS; 01-10-2013 at 07:42 AM.
    "Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable."- George Bernard Shaw

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    Maybe YesNo's Avatar
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    Registered User Clovis's Avatar
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    I'd only read one of the Canterbury Tales, involving gold greed being the death of all involved. A local book store had this huge Encyclopedia edition in a single volume which is still published in the UK, despite the internet, and awesome quick reference book for a great many fields of study, I can't thing of its name now? Anyway, one small area of the book dealt with common quotes and sayings, I was surprise to learn there is almost an equal amount for Chaucer as Shakespeare.

  11. #11
    In the fog Charles Darnay's Avatar
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    It's so hard to pick. The Knight's Tale for when I want great poetry, The Reeve's tale when I want bawdy humour (although the Miller's Tale is great too for that) - Wife of Bath's Tale for a solid Romance....but I think the Nun's Priest's tale tops my list.
    I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...

  12. #12
    confidentially pleased cacian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by YesNo View Post
    Hi YesNo thank you this is great. I am researching into how the tales came about.
    it may never try
    but when it does it sigh
    it is just that
    good
    it fly

  13. #13
    Registered User Clovis's Avatar
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    Looking at all these posts, I need to read these, I'm must. Thanks for all the great recommendations!

  14. #14
    In the fog Charles Darnay's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cacian View Post
    Hi YesNo thank you this is great. I am researching into how the tales came about.
    Many of them are based on older stories (folk stories, fables &c.) and others - particularly the more down to earth ones - are oral stories that were circulating around at the time.
    I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...

  15. #15
    confidentially pleased cacian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Charles Darnay View Post
    Many of them are based on older stories (folk stories, fables &c.) and others - particularly the more down to earth ones - are oral stories that were circulating around at the time.
    Charles I thank you. May I ask do you have a favourite passage quote or words from the Nun's Priest? I am just collecting these.
    it may never try
    but when it does it sigh
    it is just that
    good
    it fly

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