Upgrade to remove ads

Only $2.99/month

Canterbury Tales Quotes

Terms in this set (91)

"He loved so hotly that till dawn grew pale
He slept as little as a nightingale"

"Singing he was, or fluting all day;
He was as fresh as in the month of May"

"A lover and cadet, a lad of fire"

"He'd seen some service with the cavalry
In Flanders and Artois and Picardy
And had done so valiantly in little space
Of time, in hope to win his lady's grace"

"His arrows never drooped their feathers low-
And in his hand he bore a mighty bow.
His head was like a nut, his face was brown.
He knew the whole of woodcraft up and down."

"A medal of St. Christopher he wore
Of shining silver on his breast, and bore
A hunting-horn, well slung and burnished clean,
That dangles from a baldrick of bright green.
He was a proper forester, I️ guess"

"Her greatest oath was only 'By St Loy'"

"Intoning through her nose, as was most seemly,
And she spoke daintily in French, extremely,
After the school of Stratford-atte-Bowie;
French in the Paris style she did not know"

"Her cloak, I️ noticed, had a graceful charm.
She wore a coral trinket on her arm,
A set of beads, the gaudies tricked in green,
Whence hung na golden brooch of brightest sheen
On which there first was graven a crowned A,
And lower Amor vincit omnia"

"No morsel from her lips she she let fall,
Nor dipped her fingers in the sauce too deep;
But she should carry a morsel up and keep
The smallest drop from falling on her breast"

"She was very entertaining,
Pleasant and friendly in her ways, and straining
To counterfeit a courtly kind of grace, a stately bearing fitting to her place,
And to seem dignified in all her dealings"

"And that a monk uncloistered is a mere fish out of water, flapping on the pier"

"The Rule of good St Benet or Maur
As old and strict he tended to ignore;
He let things go by the things of yesterday
And took the modern world's more spacious way"

"I️ saw his sleeves were garnished at the hand
With fine gray fur, the finest in the land,
And on his hood, to fasten it at his chin
He had a wrought-gold cunningly fashioned pin;
Into a lover's knot it seemed to pass"

"He'd fixed up many a marriage, giving each
Of his young women what he could afford her.
He was a noble pillar to his order"

"With country fold within his boundary,
And city dames of honor and possessions;
For he was qualified to hear confessions,
Or so he said, with more than priestly scope;
He had special licence from the Pope"

"Sweetly he heard his penitents at shrift
With pleasant absolution, for a gift"

"And should he give enough he knew in verity
The penitent repented in sincerity
For many a fellow is so hard of heart
He cannot we AP, for all his inward smart.
Therefore instead o seeking and of prayer
One should give silver for a poor Friar's care"

"He knew the taverns well in every town
And every innkeeper and barmaid too
Better than lepers, beggars, and that crew,
For in so eminent a man as he
It was not fitting with he dignity
Of his position, dealing with scum
Of wretched lepers; nothing good can come
Of commerce with such slum and gutter dwellers
But only with the rich and victual sellers"

"But anywhere a profit might accrue
Courteous he was and lowly of service too.
Natural gifts like his were hard to match.
He was the finest beggar of his batch,
And, for his begging district paid a rent;
His brethren did no poaching where he went"

"To arbitrate disputes on settling days
(For a small fee) in many helpful ways,
Not then appearing as your cloistered scholar
With threadbare habit hardly worth a dollar,
But much more like a Doctor or a Pope"

"His eyes would winkle in his head as bright
As any star upon a frosty night,
This worthy's name was Huber, it appeared"

"He told of his opinons and pursuits"

"None knew he was in debt"

"High on his horse he sat"

"By his bed he preferred having twenty books in red and black, of Aristotle's philosophy,
Than costly clothes, fiddle, or psaltery."

"Whatever money from his friends he took
He spent on learning or another book"

"He never spoke a worse more than was need,
Formal at that, respectful in the extreme,
Short, to the point, and lofty in its theme"

"A tone of moral virtue filled his speech
And gladly would he learn, and gladly teach"

"There also was, of noted excellence.
Discreet he was, a man to reverence
Or so he seemed, his sayings were so wise.
He often had been Justice of Assize."

Serjeant at the Law

"Though there was nowhere one so busy as he,
He was less busy than he seemed to be"

Serjeant at the Law

"He knew of every judgement, case and crime
Ever recorded since King William's time"

Serjeant at the Law

"He wore a homely parti-coloured coat,
Girt with a silken belt of pin-stripe stuff;
Of his appearance I️ have said enough."

Serjeant at the Law

"A sanguine man, high-coloured and benign,
He loved a morning sop of cake in his wine.
He lived for pleasure and had always done,
For he was Epicurus' very son"

"As noted as St Julian was for bounty
He made his household free to all the County.
His bread, his ale were finest of the fine
And no one had a better stock of wine"

"Woe to the cook unless the sauce was hot
And sharp, or if he wasn't on the spot!"

"A dagger and a little purse of silk
Hung at his girdle, white as milk.
As Sheriff he checked audit, every entry.
He was a model among landed gentry."

"They were so trim and fresh their gear would pass for new"

"Their wisdom would have justified a plan
To make each one of them an alderman"

"Each seemed a worthy burgess"

"They had a Cook with them who stood alone"

"But what a pity-so it seemed to me,
That he should have an ulcer on his knee"

"He rode a farmers force as best he could
In a woolen gown that reached his knee.
A dagger on a lanyard falling free
Hung from his neck under his arm and down
The summer heat had tanned his color brown
And certainly he was an excellent fellow"

"Many a draught of vintage red and yellow
He'd drawn at Bordeaux, while the trader snored.
The nicer rules of conscience he ignored"

"If, when he fought, the enemy vessel sank,
He sent his prisoners home; they walked the plank"

"That none from Hull to Carthage was his match"

"Hardy he was, prudent in undertaking"

"The barge he owned was called the Maudelayne"

"The cause of every malady you'd got
He knew, and whether dry, cold, moist or hot;
He knew their seat, their humour and condition.
He was the perfect practicing physician"

"All his apothecaries in a tribe
Were ready with the drugs he would prescribe
And each made money from the other's guile;
They had been friendly for a goodish while"

"He did not read the Bible very much"

"In blood-red garments, slashed with bluish grey
And lined with taffeta, he rode his way;
Yet he was rather close as to expenses
And kept the gold he won in pestilences.
Gold stimulates the heart, or so we're told,
He therefore had a special love of gold"

"In making cloth she showed so great a bent
She bettered those of Ypres and Ghent"

"Her hose were of the finest scarlet red
And garnered tight; her shoes were soft and new.
Bold was her face, handsome, and red in hue"

"She'd had five husbands, all at the church door,
Apart from the other company in youth"

"In company she liked to laugh and chat
And knew the remedies for love's michances
An art in which she knew the oldest dances"

"Easily on an ambling horse she sat"

"He also was a learned man, a clerk,
Who truly knew Christ's gospel and would preach it
Devoutly to parishioners, and teach it"

"I️ think there never was a better priest"

"Holy and virtuous he was, but then
Never contemptuous of sinful men,
Never disdainful, never too proud or fine,
But was discreet in teaching and benign"

"This noble example to his sheep he gave"

"He was an honest worker, good and true
Living in peace and perfect charity,
And, as the Gospel bade him, so did he,
Loving nGod best with all his heart and mind"

"If he could help it, and, as prompt as any,
He paid his tithes in full when they were due
On what he owned, and on his earnings too"

"A chap of sixteen stone
A great shout fellow big in brawn and bone"

"Bis beard, like any sow or fox, was red"

"A wrangler and buffoon, he had a store of tavern stories, filthy in the main"

"He liked to play his bagpipes up and down
And that was how he brought us out of town"

"His was a master hand at stealing grain,
He felt it with his thumb and thus he knew
It's quality and took three times his due"

"Isn't it a marvel of God's grace
Than an illiterate fellow can outpace
The wisdom of a heap of learned men?"

"In any legal case there was to try;
And yet this Manciple could wipe their eye"

"All caterers might follow his example in buying victuals, he was never rash"

"His master's sheep, his animals and hens,
Pigs, horses, dairies, stores and cattle pens
Were holy trusted to his government"

"He had been under contract to present
The accounts, right from his masters earliest years.
No one had ever caught him in arrears"

"Feared like the plague he was by those beneath"

"A better hand at bargains than his lord,
He had grown rich and had a store of treasure
Well tucked away, yet out it came to pleasure
His lord with subtle loans or gifts of goods,
To earn his things and even coats and hoods"

"His coat was tucked under he belt and splayed.
He rode the hindmost of our calvacade"

"His face on fire, like a cherubim,
For he had carbuncles. His eyes were narrow,
He was as hot and lecherous as a sparrow.
Black scabby brows he had, and a thin beard.
Children were afraid when he appeared"

"And he had finches of his own to feather"

"Thus, as he pleased, the man could bring duress
On any young fellow in the diocese.
He knew their secrets, they did what he said"

"There was no pardoner of equal grace"

"In church he was a noble ecclesiast"

"And by his flatteries and prevarication
Made monkeys of the priest and congregation"

"Bulging eyeballs like a hare"

"As yellow as wax,
Hanging down smoothly like a hank of flax.
In dribblers fell his Locke's behind his head
Down to his shoulders which they overspread;
Thinly they fell, like rat tails one by one"

"I️ judge he was a gelding, or a mare"

"I️'m short of wit as you will understand"

Chaucer the Pilgrim

"Each one of you shall help to make things slip
By telling two stories on the outward trip
To Canterbury, that's what I️ intend
And on the homeward way to journey's end
Another two tales from the days of old
And then the man whose story is best told
That is to say who gives the fullest measure of good morality and general pleasure
He shall be given supper paid by all
Here in this tavern in this very hall
When we come back again from Canterbury

"Truth, honor, generous ness, and courtesy"

"He had done nobly in his sovereign's war
And ridden into battle, no man more,
As well in Christian as in heathen places,
And ever honored for his noble graces"

"And though so much distinguished, he was wise
And in his bearing modest as a maid"

"He wore a fustian tunic stained and dark
With smudges where his armor had left mark;
Just home from service, he had joined our ranks
To do his pilgrimage and render thanks"

THIS SET IS OFTEN IN FOLDERS WITH...

Late Renaissance Quotes

38 terms

Poetry Quotable Quotes

41 terms

Neoclassism

30 terms

Romanticism Quotable Quotes

44 terms

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...

canterbury tales feudal characters quotes

23 terms

Canterbury Quotes

52 terms

The Canterbury Tales Characters descriptions

30 terms

Canterbury Tales

69 terms

OTHER SETS BY THIS CREATOR

AP Gov Chapter Five Vocab

20 terms

AP Gov Chapter Four Vocab

7 terms

AP Gov Chapter Three Vocab

19 terms

AP Gov Chapter Two Vocab

24 terms