I'm not going to lie. Even though we read this in Dr. MB's Medieval Romance class, I forgot most of what was in the prologue. I can tell you, however, that the The Wife of Bath's Tale is a story to look forward to! I also really want to mention how much I love the sound and flow of Middle English. It really captures my attention not only because I need to work a little harder to understand what is being said but also because it has an appealing and rhythmic sound. It just makes me want to go back and time and watch them tell the story because surely there is some kind of physical movement to it!
As I'm sure many people have noticed, Chaucer is very descriptive. While half of me wants him to get to the point, the other half of me loves how much detail he is giving me to create an image in my mind because sadly I can't go back in time and see the world through their eyes.
Chaucer also mentions a knight. He's great and all but personally I want to talk about his son, the Squyer. Let's just lay out what we are told about him:
- 20 years old
- average height (so compared to me that's tall!)
- strong
- (and let's face it, probably dreamy)
- whistles and SINGS
I don't know about you guys but as I said in my title.....UM YES PLEASE!!! I'm imagining he's kind of a mix of Prince Henry from Ever After, Westley from The Princess Bride, and William frommA Knight's Tale (which is VERY different from the version in this book).
Although I have to admit I wasn't quite so infatuated by the squire, I am equally drawn by the sometimes dizzying dialects of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. At times, it reminds me a little bit of listening to a conversation between two fluent Spanish speakers: even though it can be a bit of a headache to try to keep up with it at times, it is still musically very pleasing to hear/read.
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