Tried reading it once, but the copy I had was only Chaucer's English, with no help in translation. Do you have a favorite that might aid in reading it now?
I think the Norton Anthology of English literature has decent marginal notes, defining some of those more obscure-to-us words. A version with an interlinear translation, like the one Richard Doerflinger describes in another comment, might be really helpful, but I don't have one --- just various texts with marginal notes.
Oh, that's good to know. I usually just try to battle my way through, but if you want to read without the hassle, it's nice to have something like that. A few years ago, when my daughter was doing an MA in medieval studies, I started reading Troylus and Criseyde (or however Chaucer actually spells those names), because she was reading it and I wanted to be able to talk to her about it. But I lost altitude rather quickly.
The one we used at school had the difficult words on the far right, in modern English. We did not have to memorize it. Part of our exam was called gobbits. They would give you a small portion of any of your set texts and you had to say where it came in the text as a whole and you had to analyze it briefly. I had gobbets at university is well example with Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo. I tried to revive the customer when I was external examiner at Cambridge, but with no success.
I’m very bad at memorizing, and I’ve never been one of these people who are booming on about the importance of learning by heart. Tho Im glad I know The Lake Isle of Innisfree. I would love to hear a staff room full of professors chanting the prologue to the Canterbury tales. But I do think gobbits are a good half way house.
Thank you! I have a (partial) edition -- the Prologue, and eight of the tales with their prologues etc. -- that provides an "interlinear translation," so one can read each line with its modern English version underneath. Translated by Vincent Hopper of NYU, first in 1948 and enlarged (more tales) in 1970. It does not retain the iambic pentameter, but I like the fact that it seeks to preserve each word and retain the basic sentence structure. Ignoramus that I am, I need some help with most of the words...
Thanks! There are differences, most of which make me favor Hopper. He does not reverse the order of lines ("The drought of March has pierced to the root") or turn words that remain the same into paraphrases (Hopper leaves the Ram as the Ram but drops a footnote, same with Zephyr). He does not insert explanatory phrases (like "of the plants," which I could figure out for myself). I find myself returning to the old Catholic debates on whether the Bible should be translated "literally" or "dynamically." To my ear, keeping the original word order wherever possible makes the translation sound more "poetic."
Fifteen years ago, when I was still fairly new to my professorship, someone started the prologue at a departmental gathering. Instantly every other professor joined and recited these lines together. It was moving. Seems it had been an expectation to memorize it, well, everywhere. But my juniors in the department no longer know it. In only 15 years ...
We had to memorize it in tenth grade. At my fortieth high-school reunion, somebody said (this is roughly what she said and *exactly* how she said it), "Oh, wait! Wait! Y'all. Y'all. 'Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote,'" and everybody else chimed in.
I tried to make my own kids memorize it, with . . . limited . . . success.
Tried reading it once, but the copy I had was only Chaucer's English, with no help in translation. Do you have a favorite that might aid in reading it now?
I think the Norton Anthology of English literature has decent marginal notes, defining some of those more obscure-to-us words. A version with an interlinear translation, like the one Richard Doerflinger describes in another comment, might be really helpful, but I don't have one --- just various texts with marginal notes.
There's an Easily accessible interlinear version here: https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/general-prologue-0
Oh, that's good to know. I usually just try to battle my way through, but if you want to read without the hassle, it's nice to have something like that. A few years ago, when my daughter was doing an MA in medieval studies, I started reading Troylus and Criseyde (or however Chaucer actually spells those names), because she was reading it and I wanted to be able to talk to her about it. But I lost altitude rather quickly.
The one we used at school had the difficult words on the far right, in modern English. We did not have to memorize it. Part of our exam was called gobbits. They would give you a small portion of any of your set texts and you had to say where it came in the text as a whole and you had to analyze it briefly. I had gobbets at university is well example with Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo. I tried to revive the customer when I was external examiner at Cambridge, but with no success.
I’m very bad at memorizing, and I’ve never been one of these people who are booming on about the importance of learning by heart. Tho Im glad I know The Lake Isle of Innisfree. I would love to hear a staff room full of professors chanting the prologue to the Canterbury tales. But I do think gobbits are a good half way house.
Thank you! I have a (partial) edition -- the Prologue, and eight of the tales with their prologues etc. -- that provides an "interlinear translation," so one can read each line with its modern English version underneath. Translated by Vincent Hopper of NYU, first in 1948 and enlarged (more tales) in 1970. It does not retain the iambic pentameter, but I like the fact that it seeks to preserve each word and retain the basic sentence structure. Ignoramus that I am, I need some help with most of the words...
There's an accessible interlinear version online here: https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/general-prologue-0
Thanks! There are differences, most of which make me favor Hopper. He does not reverse the order of lines ("The drought of March has pierced to the root") or turn words that remain the same into paraphrases (Hopper leaves the Ram as the Ram but drops a footnote, same with Zephyr). He does not insert explanatory phrases (like "of the plants," which I could figure out for myself). I find myself returning to the old Catholic debates on whether the Bible should be translated "literally" or "dynamically." To my ear, keeping the original word order wherever possible makes the translation sound more "poetic."
Fifteen years ago, when I was still fairly new to my professorship, someone started the prologue at a departmental gathering. Instantly every other professor joined and recited these lines together. It was moving. Seems it had been an expectation to memorize it, well, everywhere. But my juniors in the department no longer know it. In only 15 years ...
We had to memorize it in tenth grade. At my fortieth high-school reunion, somebody said (this is roughly what she said and *exactly* how she said it), "Oh, wait! Wait! Y'all. Y'all. 'Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote,'" and everybody else chimed in.
I tried to make my own kids memorize it, with . . . limited . . . success.
One of my colleagues had his students memorize and recite the Prologue.
We did the Prologue and the Wife of Bath’s tale for A level. The foundation of English humour.