Springtime. The Canterbury Tales opens in April, at the height of spring.
Why is April in Canterbury Tales?
In the story of The Nun’s Priests’ Tale, a proud cockerel by the name of Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox ‘Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two’, meaning 32 days since the beginning of March, which would therefore be April 1st.
What season does The Canterbury Tales take place in?
The Canterbury Tales begins with a Prologue (which means “a few words to begin”). In the prologue Chaucer describes the time of year, which is April, when the weather begins to get warmer after winter. He says that it is at this time that people begin to go on pilgrimage.
In what seasons are the pilgrims traveling?
In The Canterbury Tales, the pilgrims travel in spring because it symbolizes spiritual rebirth, fertility, and sexual desire.
What month does the General Prologue take place?
We have chosen this date as it is falls exactly between two critical dates: 3rd May 1389 and 12 July 1389. On the first of these days, 3rd of May 1389, occurred one of the most dramatic events in medieval English history.
Did Chaucer say April is the cruelest month?
In Chaucer’s work, April has a positive reference, because it indicates the awakening of nature, but in Eliot April is the cruelest month, so it has a negative reference.
When in April the sweet showers fall meaning?
The imagery in this opening passage is of spring’s renewal and rebirth. April’s sweet showers have penetrated the dry earth of March, hydrating the roots, which in turn coax flowers out of the ground.
Why is The Canterbury Tales set in spring?
The springtime symbolizes rebirth and fresh beginnings, and is thus appropriate for the beginning of Chaucer’s text. Springtime also evokes erotic love, as evidenced by the moment when Palamon first sees Emelye gathering fresh flowers to make garlands in honor of May.
What season and month does the pilgrimage take place?
The pilgrimage takes place in April 1387, during the springtime after March’s drought. This is significant because nature inspires people to go on journeys, such as pilgrimages.
Which season is it when Chaucer begins his tell?
The narrator opens the General Prologue with a description of the return of spring.
Why do the pilgrims begin their journey in April?
The pilgrimage takes place in April (the spring), just as the weather begins to get sunnier and warmer. Chaucer explains that while the plants begin to sprout, grow and recover from the droughts of March, the people are preparing to go on their pilgrimage to Canterbury and are recovering from the frigid winter.
In what season of the year do the pilgrims make their trip to Canterbury?
Following the translation of Becket’s relics to a new shrine on 7 July 1220, this feast became the most important time for pilgrims to visit, although pilgrimage was common throughout the sunnier months of April to September when the roads were less muddy and the weather more pleasant.
During what year and season do the pilgrims set off on their journey?
Some 100 people, many of them seeking religious freedom in the New World, set sail from England on the Mayflower in September 1620. That November, the ship landed on the shores of Cape Cod, in present-day Massachusetts.
In which month did Chaucer’s pilgrims go on their pilgrimage?
April
But to English teachers, Chaucerians and medievalists, April is well known as a grand month to go on a religious pilgrimage. In the prologue to his “Canterbury Tales,” Geoffrey Chaucer tells us of a charming English springtime and the desire it engenders to the people of his day to make a pilgrimage.
What is the setting of the Prologue?
A prologue is a scene(s) set before the story, before the first chapter. It’s integral to the plot, however, so it must be included in the book. The prologue could be years before the events of the novel take place or it could be just weeks. The exact timing isn’t important.
What is the setting of The Canterbury Tales prologue?
The narrator, Geoffrey Chaucer, is in The Tabard Inn in Southwark, where he meets a group of ‘sundry folk’ who are all on the way to Canterbury, the site of the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket, a martyr reputed to have the power of healing the sinful.
Why is April the saddest month?
So why is April the cruelest month in the Waste Land? Because, in the non-Wasteland, it is a time of fecundity and renewal. It is (in the latitudes that Eliot knew) when the snow melts, the flowers start to grow again, and people plant their crops and look forward to a harvest.
What does April symbolize in literature?
For many poets and writers, April symbolizes renewal and rebirth.
Who called April the cruelest month?
T. S. Eliot’s
‘April is the cruellest month’ is the opening line to T. S. Eliot’s 1922 poem The Waste Land. There are, actually, two things I could say in response to the statement I’ve just typed.
When that April with his Shoures Soote the drought?
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in switch licour.
When in April the sweet showers fall and pierce the drought?
When in April the sweet showers fall/And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all/The veins are bathed in liquor of such power/As brings about the engendering of the flower… (3).