Geoffrey of ChausPOS

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BeastOfTheEdelwood: Feb 27, 2023; Led through the mist, by the milk-light of moon, all that was lost is revealed.

From The Miller's Tale:

quote:

And prively he caughte hire by the queynte,

Translated into modern English: "And discreetly he grabbed her by the pussy."

Use this thread to talk about the works of my favorite medieval poet, Geoffrey Chaucer. What's your favorite Canterbury Tale? Is it a romance, like the Knight's Tale? Or maybe a fabliau? A Breton lay?

I'm mostly familiar with The Canterbury Tales, but Chaucer was a prolific writer. Some of his other works, which I haven't read, include: Troilus and Criseyde, Parliament of Fowls, and The Legend of Good Women.

If you aren't familiar and want to get a taste, I'd probably recommend either the Miller's Tale or the Franklin's Tale. The Wife of Bath's Tale is probably the most famous. The Summoner's Tale is also fun as both a satire of friars and as an extended fart joke.

And yes, the correct way to read Chaucer is in the original Middle English. Trust me. It's way more fun. (You'll need footnotes and a glossary.)

Note: Not everything has aged well. The Prioress's Tale is extremely antisemitic, for example, and most of the other tales in the saint's legend genre are also not very palatable to modern readers.

# ? Apr 5, 2023 19:20

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# ? May 9, 2024 03:37

E Depois do Adeus: Jun 3, 2012; Nobody has better respect for intelligence than Donald Trump.

Whan that aprille with his showers sote
Was upon his naked ers y smoot
Und bathed OP's mom in switch liqueur
Of which thereto engendered is the fleur

# ? Apr 5, 2023 20:29

skasion: Feb 13, 2012; Why don't you perform zazen, facing a wall?

I like the start of The Book of the Duchess where he complains about how he�s too depressed to sleep

quote:

1 I have gret wonder, be this lighte,
2 How that I live, for day ne nighte
3 I may nat slepe wel nigh noght,
4 I have so many an ydel thoght
5 Purely for defaute of slepe
6 That, by my trouthe, I take no kepe
7 Of no-thing, how hit cometh or goth,
8 Ne me nis no-thing leef nor loth.

So he decides to read instead because he thinks it would be more fun than late night gaming

quote:

44 �So whan I saw I might not slepe,
45 Til now late, this other night,
46 Upon my bedde I sat upright
47 And bad oon reche me a book,
48 A romaunce, and he hit me took
49 To rede and dryve the night away;
50 For me thoghte it better play
51 Then playen either at chesse or tables.
52 And in this boke were writen fables�

Still sound advice imo

# ? Apr 5, 2023 21:43

Grevling: Dec 18, 2016

Like most medieval stories, mainly about students acting like shitheads. The Pasolini film of it is pretty funny.

The Reeve's Tale is interesting if you're into the history of English, since there's some Northern English dialect words in it, or at least Chaucer's rendition of that.

Grevling fucked around with this message at 11:13 on Apr 6, 2023

# ? Apr 6, 2023 11:10

deadking: Apr 13, 2006; Hello? Charlemagne?!

Reading Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzifal currently and it is extremely ftw

# ? Apr 6, 2023 13:52

BeastOfTheEdelwood: Feb 27, 2023; Led through the mist, by the milk-light of moon, all that was lost is revealed.

E Depois do Adeus posted:

Whan that aprille with his showers sote
Was upon his naked ers y smoot
Und bathed OP's mom in switch liqueur
Of which thereto engendered is the fleur

skasion posted:

I like the start of The Book of the Duchess where he complains about how he�s too depressed to sleep

So he decides to read instead because he thinks it would be more fun than late night gaming

Still sound advice imo

I love this!

Grevling posted:

Like most medieval stories, mainly about students acting like shitheads. The Pasolini film of it is pretty funny.

The Reeve's Tale is interesting if you're into the history of English, since there's some Northern English dialect words in it, or at least Chaucer's rendition of that.

I remember that. Overall, I didn't love the Reeve's Tale, because I thought it was more mean spirited than the Miller's Tale (to which it is a response), but it is interesting for that aspect.

I do love the various rivalries between all the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales that show up in their individual tales.

deadking posted:

Reading Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzifal currently and it is extremely ftw

Sounds sweet! Are you reading the original text, or a translation?

# ? Apr 6, 2023 18:01

uber_stoat: Jan 21, 2001; Pillbug

# ? Apr 6, 2023 20:40

deadking: Apr 13, 2006; Hello? Charlemagne?!

BeastOfTheEdelwood posted:

Sounds sweet! Are you reading the original text, or a translation?

oh god English translation haha

# ? Apr 6, 2023 20:55

Sloth Life: Nov 15, 2014; Built for comfort and speed!; Fallen Rib

Ugh the wife of bath

# ? May 17, 2023 20:09

verbal enema: May 23, 2009; onlymarfans.com

a lady farted on a guy XD

# ? Jun 1, 2023 08:23

s_c_a_r_e_: May 9, 2003

verbal enema posted:

a lady farted on a guy XD

hehe

# ? Jun 1, 2023 09:03

Shogi: Nov 23, 2004; distant Pohjola

Geoff taught me that the mark of class is drinking wine without leaving the surface looking like deepwater horizon

# ? Jun 2, 2023 23:41

remigious: May 13, 2009; Destruction comes inevitably; Hell Gem

The book of the duchess is my absolute fav, such a powerful meditation on grief. Really appeals to the angsty teen side of me.
�My song is turned to complaining,
And all my laughter to weeping,
My glad thoughts to heaviness,
To travail turned my idleness
And my rest too; my weal is woe,
My good is harm, and evermore so
Into wrath is turned my playing,
And my delight into sorrowing.
My health is turned into sickness,
To dread all my contentedness.
To dark is turned all my light,
My wit is folly, my day is night,
My love is hate, my sleep waking,
My mirth and my meals are fasting,
My good countenance is folly,
And all�s confounded where I be,
My peace is argument and war,
Alas, how might I fare ill more?
My boldness is turned to shame,
For false Fortune has played a game
Of chess with me, alas, the while!�

# ? Jun 4, 2023 19:48

skasion: Feb 13, 2012; Why don't you perform zazen, facing a wall?

Not Chaucer but might appeal. From a collection of medieval French doggerel

Fabliaux 3. �The Three Estates�, tr. Nathaniel Dubin posted:

Two knights go riding on their way
on a piebald and dapple gray
and stumble on an open space
among the trees, a shady place
decked with flowers and herbs as well.
They stopped and rested there a spell.
One of them said, �By God I swear,
how fine to have a picnic here!
You�d need only a jug of wine and
pasties and things on which to fine, and
your feast would be at least as gay as
in a great hall on the high dais.�
Then they have to be moving on.

Two wandering scholars out for fun,
came by and saw the lovely scene.
Speaking as clerics do between
themselves, one said, �Who got to spend
some time here with a lady friend
would spent it with her pleasantly.�
The other said, �He�d have to be
weak-hearted and easily daunted
not to get everything he wanted.�
But they could stay no longer then.

Two peasants then came barging in.
From market they were coming back
with spades and threshers on their backs.
When they had sat down in the pleasance
they started speaking just like peasants:
�Hey, Fouchier, from the looks of it
this is the perfect place to poo poo.
Let�s take a dump right now, old pal.�
�Upon my soul, we may as well.�
Then each of them squats down and strains.

This story patently explains
that there�s nothing on earth as pleasant
as taking a poo poo for a peasant,
and therefore a peasant befouls
the fairest spots and moves his bowels
there for delight and recreation,
so in light of my obligation
to those good folk, what I propose is
that peasants go poo poo through their noses.
A peasant, whatever I say,
is one whose heart makes him that way,
whose deeds show his vulgarity,
however high his ancestry.
God turn our steps from infamy
and save the present company!

# ? Jun 5, 2023 02:32

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# ? May 9, 2024 03:37

BeastOfTheEdelwood: Feb 27, 2023; Led through the mist, by the milk-light of moon, all that was lost is revealed.

skasion posted:

Not Chaucer but might appeal. From a collection of medieval French doggerel

Medieval goons.txt

# ? Jun 9, 2023 23:02

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