Notes on “The Canterbury Tales” in-class essay

Mr. Cleon M. McLean

A.P. English

Ontario High School

FYI

• Examine this idea of “thoughtful laughter”:• Since we read to be entertained and

enlightened, if follows that…• Entertainment=laughter=sensibilities=subjective

experience• Enlightenment=thought=sense=objective analysis

FYI• “The Canterbury Tales” is…

• a framed, satiric poem • Written in late Medieval Times (late 1400)• What you read was the Prologue to the tales, NOT

the tales (except the Pardoner’s Tale)• Rather than say “many characters,” why not say

31 English pilgrims?• “TCT”…

• shows the comic dissonance/incongruity between a character’s social station and his/her true nature/disposition

• chronicles several examples of institutional corruption—particularly the Church—in late Medieval times.

PROSCRIPTION, i.e., what NOT to do

• DO NOT KISS UP about the author or the work. You are reading canonical work, which means that the authors and pieces are already renown...we don’t need you to discover that for us.

• DO NOT DO ROUGH DRAFT/OUTLINE on your essay paper! If you do, it will count as a part of your essay

The by-gone days of awkwardness

• Your favorite word “by” makes for either passive or awkward sentences.• Mr. McLean writes on the board by using a

pen.• Mr. McLean uses a pen to write on the

board.

What is the difference between the following

1. The Pardoners tale

2. The Pardoner’s tale

3. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “TCT,” Chaucer shows…

4. In “TCT,” Geoffrey Chaucer shows…

Grammar

• Capitalize proper nouns!!• English, England, Bible, Medieval Times

• Underline titles of novels• Use quotation marks for poems, plays, and short

stories• Use transitional phrases (at least) at the beginning of

your body and concluding paragraphs! • After first spelling out “The Canterbury Tales,” you

may then use abbreviations, such as “TCT,” but do not forget the quotation marks

Vocabulary to Know

• Baseness (lacking virtue)• Perversity• Hypocrisy• Quid pro quo (a thing given as

compensation)

Spelling

• Char-act-er• Receive• Believe• Woman…..women• Senses….believe it or not, it’s the same

as your other book, SOUND & SENSE!!

FYI

• Sometimes it helps to use old-fashioned clichés and proverbs such as “wolf in sheep’s wool”

• Make connections between your Sound and Sense readings and Chaucer’s poem…or Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”