The Canterbury Tales

The test

I. Short answer

Answer each of the following questions as briefly but specifically as possible.

1. What language does Chaucer receive credit for bringing into its own?
2. Specifically, in which period of the development of that language did he write? [I am looking for the name of a period, not dates.]
3. What is the proper word to designate the type of journey Chaucer’s characters are making?
4. Who is the “holy, blissful martyr” who died at Canterbury?
5. Why did most people go to his shrine?
6. Whose idea is it that the characters tell tales to amuse each other during their journey?
7. How many tales in all was each traveler to have told by the end of the round trip to and from Canterbury?
8. Who is the Italian writer whose collection of tales inspired Chaucer to write The Canterbury Tales?
9. To which segment of society does the word ecclesiastical refer?
10. Though set in ancient Athens, the “Knight’s Tale” overflows with medieval details. What term correctly describes this situation?

II. Vocabulary

Using the complete list of characters named in the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, identify the occupation described in five (5) of the following items.

11. any person in medieval England who could read and write; a scholar
12. a non-noble free property owner of the middle class
13. a member of a religious order licensed to beg
14. a dealer in men’s clothing and accessories
15. a steward or purchasing-agent for a college
16. the mother superior of a convent
17. a steward or bailiff of an estate
18. a young nobleman attendant upon a knight
19. one who is empowered to call others before an ecclesiastical court
20. a freeman of the peasant class who hires himself out for pay
21. a person who manufactures tapestries
22. a parish priest who does not belong to a religious order
23. an ecclesiastic empowered to sell indulgences
24. an ecclesiastic attached to an abbey where he is generally expected to live a life of obedience, poverty, meditation, and service

III. Identification

Using the list of characters in Part II, identify the traveler Chaucer describes in any five (5) of the following quotations from the General Prologue.

25. “a valiant man,/who, from the time when he had first begun to venture out, had loved…/truth and honor, liberality and courtesy.”
26. “so charitable and so full of pity/that she would weep if she saw a mouse/ caught in a trap…”
27. “an inspector of his monastery’s estates, who loved venery;/a manly man capable of being an abbot.”
28. “He delivered his remarks very solemnly,/always emphasizing how his profits grew./He wanted the sea to be guarded at all costs…”
29. “He could easily recognize a draft of London ale/…But it was a shame it seemed to me,/that he had an ulcer on his shin.”
30. “many a tempest had shaken his beard./He knew all the havens…”
31. “he was grounded in astronomy, and he/tended…at the proper astrological hours through his knowledge of natural magic.”
32. “somewhat deaf, which was a shame./…had a talent for making cloth…”
33. “he was rich in holy thoughts and works./He was also a learned man, a clerk,/who would truly preach Christ’s gospel…”
34. “gladly would he learn and gladly teach.”

IV. Painters

Answer each question as BRIEFLY but as ACCURATELY as possible. The painters are Jan van Eyck, Albrecht Durer, and El Greco.

35. Of the two Northern artists, who “filled his paintings with exquisite detail”?
36. Who departed from nearly all desire to depict reality as it is seen?
37. Whose motto was “As best I can”?
38. Who specialized in graphic arts, especially woodcutting and engraving?
39. Who perfected the technique of oil painting?
40. Who reached his greatest popularity in this adopted hometown, Toledo?
41. For what subject was the direct frontal pose traditionally reserved?
42. What is the correct term for the mixture of plaster and glue applied to a wood panel before painting with oils?
43. What is the correct term for the medium in which pigment is mixed with egg and applied to a very hard, smooth surface?
44. How did the attitude toward artists in the North differ from the attitude toward artists in Italy?

V. Identification

Identify ten (10) of the items on the answer sheet. On the short blank, identify the person who tells the tale in which the item appears. On the long blank, identify the item’s relationship to another character in the tale or prologue OR note the most significant action of the item in the tale or prologue. You may not select more than two from any one story-teller.

VI. Recognition

Identify the period, the artist, the subject, the title or the medium – as requested – for each work of art. The periods include Early Renaissance, High Renaissance, Northern Renaissance, and Mannerism. The artists include Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, van Eyck, Durer, and El Greco.

VII. Longer answer

On your own paper, answer each of the questions as completely as possible. Use complete sentences, proper punctuation, and correct spelling.

93. Why would it be beneficial for the journey to start when it does?
94. Explain the similarities between The Canterbury Tales and the collection of stories written previously by an Italian writer.
95. The “Knight’s Tale” contains several anachronisms. Choose two (2) of them and explain how they are incorrect.
96. What are the characteristics of a knight? Choose one (1) story and tell how these characteristics are shown through a character.
97. What does Chaucer say about high officials in the Church through the “Pardoner’s Tale”? How does the Pardoner portray this idea?

Bonus

Translate the following lines into contemporary English.

Whan that Aprill with his shoures sote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth…

Answer sheet

I. Short answer

Answer all ten (10).

II. Vocabulary

Answer only five (5).

III. Passage identification

Answer only five (5).

IV. Painters

Answer all ten (10).

V. Identification

Circle the numbers of the ten (10) you wish me to grade.

VI. Art recognition

Answer all twenty-five (25).

VII. Longer answer

Answer questions 93 to 97 on your own paper.

Art print key

The works shown in prints A through M for the recognition questions.

56. [A] Who is the artist? (Durer’s Adam and Eve)
57. [A] What is the medium?
58. [B] To what period does this work belong? (El Greco’s Burial of…)
59. [B] Who is the artist?
60. [B] What is the title?
61. [C] To what period does this work belong? (Giotto’s Madonna)
62. [C] What is the subject?
63. [D] Who is the artist? (Leonardo’s Last Supper)
64. [D] What is the title?
65. [E] Who is the artist? (Michelangelo’s Sybil)
66. [E] What is the medium?
67. [F] To what period does this work belong? (Raphael’s Marriage of…)
68. [F] Who is the artist?
69. [F] What is the title?
70. [G] To what period does this work belong? (van Eyck’s Madonna…)
71. [G] Who is the artist?
72. [H] Who is the artist? (Leonardo’s Madonna of the Rocks)
73. [H] What is the title?
74. [I] Who is the artist? (van Eyck’s Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini)
75. [J] Who is the artist? (Raphael’s School of Athens)
76. [J] What is the title?
77. [K] What is the subject? (Durer’s Self-Portrait)
78. [K] What is the title?
79. [L] Who is the artist? (El Greco’s View of Toledo)
80. [M] Who is the artist? (van Eyck’s Adoration of the Lamb)

Review sheet

1. Know certain biographical details concerning Chaucer: Father of English, wrote in Middle English, and so forth.
2. Know the details of the frame story of The Canterbury Tales: the setting, the definitions of the pilgrims’ occupations, the destination and motive of the pilgrims, the game, and so forth.
3. Know the personalities of the pilgrims whose tales you were assigned to read.
4. Know the characters and basic plots of the tales you were assigned to read.
5. Know details of the lives and styles of the artists viewed in class. Know those titles that were emphasized.