The Reason to the RhymeInquiry project on Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales

Josh Hoffman

About the translation we’re using…• Nevill Coghill’s translation of The Canterbury Tales

is very thorough, and presumably it is true to the original.

• Because the translation rhymes throughout, it is clear that Coghill went to greater pains than to simply translate it; he must have changed some words around to make the lines rhyme.

I’m a purist, so I got curious.• How much does trying to make something rhyme

affect the translator’s word choice?• How does the consequent word choice affect the

content of the story?• How much is word order changed around? • How have other translators played with rhyme?

Let’s start by taking a look at the prologue.

       Whan that Aprill, with his shoures sooteThe droghte of March hath perced to the rooteAnd bathed every veyne in swich licour,Of which vertu engendred is the flour;When in April the sweet showers fallAnd pierce the drought of March to the root, and allThe veins are bathed in liquor of such powerAs brings about the engendering of the flower

• Note that “fall” and “and all” were added.• Does Coghill’s line sound better than “of which virtue engendered is the

flower”? The Middle English fragment uses words that are still in use by those definitions today (though with different spellings).

swich=such

soote=sweet

And smale foweles maken melodye,That slepen al the nyght with open eye-(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimagesAnd palmeres for to seken straunge strondesTo ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;

And the small fowl are making melodyThat sleep away the night with open eye(So nature pricks them and their heart engages)Then people long to go on pilgrimagesAnd palmers long to seek the stranger strandsOf far-off saints, hallowed in sundry lands.

• “So nature pricks them in their courages” is a more direct translation. “Corages” basically means “spirits, feelings.” A few lines down, Coghill replaces “Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage/To Caunterbury with ful devout corage” with “Ready to go on pilgrimage and start/For Canterbury, most devout at heart.” Sometimes, words are added to make the replaced word rhyme.

• Note the interesting “melody/open eye” rhyme pairing. The most famous Modern English use of this type of rhyming is from the poem “The Tyger,” written in 1793 by William Blake: “What immortal hand or eye/could frame thy fearful symmetry?”

• Note also: “straunge strondes/sondry londes” conveniently both directly and unequivocally translate into “strange strands/sundry lands,” so it happens to work out.

So hadde I spoken with hem everichonThat I was of hir felaweshipe anon,And made forward erly for to ryseTo take our wey, ther as I yow devyse.

I’d spoken to them all upon the tripAnd was soon one with them in fellowshipPledged to rise early and to take the wayTo Canterbury, as you heard me say.

• “Everichon” could have been translated into “everyone,” but “anon” has somewhat dropped out of our lexicon.

• What meant “as I devised [said] to you” became “as you heard me say.” There are two things at play in these two lines’ modified rhyme: word choice (“Devise” is less familiar than “say.”) and word order (“We made agreement early for to rise” is not how we say things.).

Me thynketh it acordaunt to resounTo telle yow al the condiciounOf ech of hem, so as it semed me,And whiche they weren, and of what degree

It seems a reasonable thing to sayWhat their condition was, the full arrayOf each of them, as it appeared to me,According to profession and degree

The main difference here is the subject of the sentence. Coghill makes the clause in impersonal voice where Chaucer originally made it active voice.

Now, a section of “The Miller’s Tale”…

Whan that the firste cok hathe crowe, anonUp rist this joly lovere Absolon,And hym arraieth gay, at poynt-devys.But first he cheweth greyn and lycorys,To smellen sweete, er he hadde kembd his heer.Under his tonge a trewe-love he beer,For therby wende he to ben gracious.He rometh to the carpenteres hous,

The first cock crew at last, and thereuponUp rose this jolly lover Absalon,In gayest clothes, garnished with that and this;But first he chewed a grain of liquoriceTo charm his breath before he combed his hair,Under his tongue the comfit nestling thereWould make him gracious. He began to roamTowards the carpenter’s; he reached their home

• “Thereupon” is a conveniently close translation for “anon.”• “At point-device” means “marked by punctilious attention to detail : meticulous”(Merriam-

Webster). “Garnished with that and this” does not seem to closely fit; rather, Coghill tries to match our pronunciation of “licorice.”

• “A true-love he bear” is a little difficult to understand, and probably slightly more difficult to translate. Saying that Absalon hid a piece of candy under his tongue is easy enough for us to understand.

• As for the the last two lines, it would seam that “He roamed to the carpenter’s house” was too few syllables for the line, so the change of word order and the rhyme likely resulted from just that.

And softe he cougheth with a semy soun:"What do ye, hony-comb, sweete Alisoun,My faire bryd, my sweete cynamome?Awaketh, lemman myn, and speketh to me!Wel lithel thynken ye upon me wo,That for youre love I swete ther I go.No wonder is thogh that I swelte and swete;I moorne as dooth a lamb after the tete.Ywis, lemman, I have swich love-longynge,That lik a turtel trewe is my moornynge.I may nat ete na moore than a mayde.”"Go fro the wyndow, Jakke fool," she sayde;

He gave a cough, it was a semi-sound;“Alison, honey-comb, are you around?Sweet cinnamon, my little pretty bird,Sweetheart, wake up and say a little word!You seldom think of me in all my woe,I sweat for love of you wherever I go!No wonder if I do, I pine and bleatAs any lambkin hungering for the teat,Believe me, darling, I’m so deep in loveI croon with longing like a turtle-dove,I eat as little as a girl at school.”“You go away,” she answered, “you Tom-fool!”

• Prominent differences: “What do ye?”→”Are you around?”, inversion of sentence structure and matching a rhyming word to it, “love longing/mourning”→”deep in love/like a turtle-dove.”

• “I may not eat more than a maid.”→”I eat as little as a girl at school.” Did girls usually go to school back then? (Did most people, for that matter?) The one problem with that translation is that it took me out of the moment and made me ponder that question.

And unto Nicholas she seyde stille,"Now hust, and thou shalt laughen al thy fille."

She said [in the previous line to Absalon] and then she added under breathTo Nicholas, “Hush… We shall laugh to death!”

This is a very slight change, likely to do with our definition of “still” barely reaching Chaucer’s definition.

(This is an interesting couple of lines whose translation inspired me to research this.)“For after this I hope ther cometh moore.Lemman, thy grace, and sweete bryd, thyn oore!"

Well, we don’t easily know without expertise in Middle English what “oore” could mean, so Coghill came up with this...

“There may be more to come; the plot may thicken.Mercy, my love!” he said, “Your mouth, my chicken!”

How have other translators played with rhyme?

• The online source I used for my research was similar to Coghill’s translation in some places but kept close to Chaucer’s word choice in most places.

• Peter G. Beidler, who wrote the introductory material Dr. Pratt gave us, made “minimal” spelling corrections only in his translation.

• After skimming over A.S. Klein’s translation, I saw that he usually took pains to keep the rhyming sounds the same as Chaucer’s original, though not necessarily the words.

Sparknotes took this approach, not even trying to rhyme.

So… I tried my hand at translating some lines from “The Knight’s Tale” to see where I thought the rhyme needed to be changed, if at all.Feel free to follow along with Nevill Coghill’s translation if you’d like to.

And in the gardyn, at the sonne upriste,She walketh up and doun, and as hir listeShe gadereth floures, party white and rede,To make a subtil gerland for hir hede,And as an aungel hevenysshly she soong.The grete tour, that was so thikke and stroong,Which of the castel was the chief dongeoun,(Ther as the knyghtes weren in prisoun,Of whiche I tolde yow, and tellen shal)Was evene joynant to the gardyn walTher as this Emelye hadde hir pleyynge.Bright was the sonne, and cleer that morwenynge,

And in the garden, at sunriseShe walked up and down, and by her desiresShe gathered flowers white and redTo make a subtle garland for her headAnd like an angel she heavenly sung.The great tower, so thick and strong,Which was the castle’s chief dungeon(Where the knights were kept in prison,Whom I’ve told you about and will tell more)Was perpendicular to the garden floor.Here Emily was playing.Bright was the sun, and clear was the morning,

And Palamoun, this woful prisoner,As was his wone, by leve of his gayler,Was risen, and romed in a chambre on heigh,In which he al the noble citee seigh,And eek the gardyn, ful of braunches grene,Ther as this fresshe Emelye the sheneWas in hire walk, and romed up and doun.This sorweful prisoner, this Palamoun,Goth in the chambre romynge to and fro,And to hym-self compleynynge of his wo.That he was born, ful ofte he seyde, "allas!”And so bifel, by aventure or cas,That thurgh a wyndow, thikke of many a barreOf iren greet, and square as any sparre,He cast his eye upon Emelya,And therwithal he bleynte, and cryede "A!”As though he stongen were unto the herte.And with that cry Arcite anon up sterte

And the woeful prisoner PalamonWas given by the jailer permissionTo roam about the chamber highFrom which he could see the city from bird’s eyeAnd also the garden, full of branches green,Where fresh and pretty EmilyWas on her walk, and roamed up and down.This sorrowful prisoner PalamonWent roaming in the chamber to and fro,And to himself complaining of his woeThat he was born. Very often he said, “Alas!”And so it happened by circumstanceThat through a window thick with barsOf iron stronger than a car,He cast his eye upon Emilia,And at once he blushed and cried, “Ah!”As though he were stung in the heart.Is this real love? Don’t make me start.

As you can see…• I had to change up some rhymes myself and strain to

make it rhyme.• My objections came full circle as I realized that if a

translator wants Chaucer’s poem to be easily understandable to a 2011 audience and rhyme, he or she will have to change around some words and meanings and take a few creative liberties.

• Or perhaps the best way to study Chaucer is with the original Middle English, which is easier to understand than it looks, but in order for complete understanding, at least a dictionary is required.

Annotated bibliography• Book: The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by Nevill Coghill

• Fragment of a book: introductory material to Peter G. Beidler’s translation of The Canterbury Tales

• Helped me understand some Middle English words and gave a bit of insight on how to understand and translate.

• http://www.librarius.com/cantales.htm

• The Canterbury Tales presented by Librarius. This was most useful in providing the original text and its own side-by-side translation, which helped me figure out the meanings of some words.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English

• This Wikipedia entry helped me a bit on understanding some basic words.

• http://www.haverford.edu/engl/chaucer/grammar.htm

• This webpage from Haverford College helped me out more in understanding some basic words.

• http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/English/CanterburyTalesIII.htm

• This is where I found A.S. Kline’s translation of The Canterbury Tales.

• http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Tyger_%281794%29

• http://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/lit/the-canterbury-tales/

• Wiktionary and Merriam-Webster Online

• Both helped me understand some Middle English words.