The Canterbury Tales

The Church•The Parson•The Nun•The Monk•The Oxford Cleric •The Summoner•The Pardoner

“ A holy-minded man of good renown” (line 487)

The Parson

“Who truly knew Christ’s gospel and would preach it devoutly to parishioners, and teach it. (line 491)

The Parson cont’d

“Wide was his parish, with houses far asunder, yet he neglected not in rain or thunder.”(line 501)

The Parson cont’d

“His business was to show fair behavior and draw men thus to Heaven and their Savior.”

“I think there never was a better priest.”(line 533)

The Parson cont’d

“And well she sang a service, with a fine intoning through her nose was most seemingly, and she spoke daintily in French” (lines 126-128)

“No morsel from her lips did she let fall” (lines 132)

“She was so charitably solicitous, she used to weep if she saw a mouse caught in a trap, if it were dead or bleeding.” (lines 147-149)

“She was by no means undergrown.” (line 160)

“She wore a coral trinket on her arm, a set of beads, the gaudies tricked in green, whence hung a golden brooch of brightest sheen” (lines 162-164)

The Nun

“Hunting was his sport” (line 170)“The Rule of good St. Benet or St. Maur as old

and strict he tended to ignore” (lines 177-178)

“And took the modern world’s more spacious ways.” (line 180)

“Fish out of water, flapping on the pier, that is to say a monk out of his cloister.” (lines 184-185)

“I saw his sleeves were garnished at the hand with gray fur, the finest in the land, and on his hood, to fasten it at his chin he had a wrought-gold, cunningly fashioned pinned.” (lines 197-200)

The Monk

“He preferred having twenty books in red and black, of Aristotle’s philosophy, than costly clothes, fiddle, or psaltery.” (lines 304-305)

“Whatever money he from his friends he took he spent on learning or another book.” (lines 309-310)

“His only care was study.” (line 313)“He never spoke a word more than need,

formal at that, respectful in the extreme, short, to the point, and lofty in his theme.” (lines 314-316)

“And gladly would he learn, and gladly teach.” (line 318)

Oxford Cleric

“His face on fire, like a cherubim, for he had carbuncles.” (line 642-643)

The Summoner

“Children were afraid when he appeared” (line 646)

The Summoner cont’d

“Garlic he loved, and onions too, and leeks, and drinking strong red wine till all was hazy. Then he would jabber as if crazy.” (lines 652-654)

The Summoner cont’d

“We should be aware of excommunication. Thus, as he pleased, the man could bring duress, on any young fellow in the diocese.” (lines 680-682)

The Summoner cont’d

“ He was a gelding mare”

The Pardoner

“In his trunk he had a pillow case,

Which he asserted was our lady’s veil”

The Pardoner cont’d

“And with these relics, anytime he found some poor up-country person to astound”

The Pardoner cont’d

“In one short day, in down, he drew more than the parson would in a month or two”

The Pardoner cont’d

Conclusion