General Introduction in “The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales”

The General Introduction Explained:

The first 42 lines of “The Prologue” forms the General Introduction.

The narrator opens the General Prologue with a description of the return of spring. He describes the April rains, the burgeoning flowers and leaves, and the chirping birds. Around this time of year, the narrator says, people begin to feel the desire to go on a pilgrimage. Many devout English pilgrims set off to visit shrines in distant holy lands, but even more choose to travel to Canterbury to visit the relics of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, where they thank the martyr for having helped them when they were in need. 

The narrator tells us that as he prepared to go on such a pilgrimage, staying at a tavern in Southwark called the Tabard Inn, a great company of twenty-nine travelers entered.

The number can be disputed. How many were there in the group that sets off from Tabard Inn? Does the number 29 include the host? And, there was the yeoman who joined them in between. Chaucer just gives an approximation, which will be rounded to 30 when he is counted in. Chaucer gives a description of 29 pilgrims (including the host and the yeoman, and mentions the other two – the Second Nun and the Nun’s Priest).

The travelers were a diverse group who, like the narrator, were on their way to Canterbury. They happily agreed to let him join them. That night, the group slept at the Tabard, and woke up early the next morning to set off on their journey. Before continuing the tale, the narrator declares his intent to list and describe each of the members of the group.

The General Introduction may be explained in four segments. All throughout, we see the significance of “nature”.

Segment 1 (Lines 1 – 11)

1.     Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote

2.     The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,

3.     And bathed every veyne in swich licour

4.     Of which vertu engendred is the flour,

5.     Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth

6.     Inspired hath in every holt and heeth

7.     The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne

8.     Hath in the Ram his halve cours yronne,

9.     And smale foweles maken melodye,

10.  That slepen al the nyght with open ye

11.  (so priketh hem Nature in hir corages),

The Prologue starts with a description of the spring season. The sweet showers of April have pierced the drought of March to the roots, and have filled each vein of plants with the sap, so that flowers bloom. The west wind has with his sweet breath enlivened the tender plants in every wood and field. The sun has completed half way in the first zodiac segment. Little birds, who sleep in the night with their eyes open, make music, because nature is prompting them to be so.

Nature in Segment 1: The reader is introduced to a set of natural forces such as the rain, the wind, the sun, and the birds that ‘naturally’ sing in this season. The narrator takes us progressively through the elements of nature: first, there is mention of the season, the rains, the wind, and the course of the sun: all inanimate things, that impact the plants which have life. From there he moves to birds, which actively respond, through their songs.

Segment 2 (lines 12 – 18)

12.  Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,

13.  And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,

14.  To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;

15.  And specially from every shires ende

16.  Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,

17.  The hooly blisful martir for to seke,

18.  That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.

A progressive shift is felt here. The impact of nature and the season moves from plants and birds, to humans.

In Segment 2 we hear of people ‘naturally’ selecting this season for pilgrimages – they long to go on pilgrimage. Palmers, who may be described as ‘professional pilgrims’ go to far off lands. In England, it is just natural that people go to Canterbury, to seek the blessings of the holy and blessed martyr St. Thomas Becket, who has helped them in sickness.

Segment 3 (lines 19 – 29)

19.  Bifil that in that seson on a day,

20.  In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay

21.  Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage

22.  To Caunterbury with ful devout corage,

23.  At nyght was come into that hostelrye

24.  Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye,

25.  Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle

26.  In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,

27.  That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde.

28.  The chambres and the stables weren wyde,

29.  And wel we weren esed atte beste.

The narrator abandons his unfocused view, identifying himself as an actual person for the first time by inserting the first person—“I”—as he relates how he met the group of pilgrims while staying at the Tabard Inn. He emphasizes that this group, which he encountered by accident, was itself formed quite by chance. He then shifts into the first-person plural, referring to the pilgrims as “we” beginning in line 29, asserting his status as a member of the group. This indicates the spirit of the people of those times – to join together crossing barriers of society and economy. The assorted crowd that we see in the Prologue, and the mixed basket of tales that we read in The Canterbury Tales stand to prove this.

Segment 3 introduces us to a ‘natural’ situation: nothing was pre planned. The narrator is in the Tabard Inn at Southwerk, ready to be on pilgrimage. There comes to the inn a group of pilgrims, who were of different positions but happened to be together. The inn was a natural place for them to rest: it had good rooms and stables, and the guests were made happy and comfortable in the best possible way.

Segment 4 (lines 30 – 42)

30.  And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste,

31.  So hadde I spoken with hem everichon

32.  That I was of hir felaweshipe anon,

33.  And made forward erly for to ryse,

34.  To take oure wey ther as I yow devyse.

35.  But nathelees, whil I have tyme and space,

36.  Er that I ferther in this tale pace,

37.  Me thynketh it acordaunt to resoun

38.  To telle yow al the condicioun

39.  Of ech of hem, so as it semed me,

40.  And whiche they weren, and of what degree,

41.  And eek in what array that they were inne;

42.  And at a knyght than wol I first bigynne.

Here, we see the narrator moving about and entering into a fellowship with everyone. They jointly decide to move ahead to Canterbury the next day early morning. Before going ahead with details of the journey, the narrator thinks it proper to describe the state of each pilgrim, as he understands them: who they are, what their position is, and how they are dressed. He starts with a description of the knight.

In Segment 4 we see a natural development of fellowship: the pilgrims were already in fellowship with one another, and the narrator is in the same spirit. (This gives him justification as to how he is able to describe each pilgrim: he is a close observer, who mingles well in any society.)

The General Introduction: An Analysis

The invocation of spring with which the Prologue begins is lengthy and formal compared to the language of the rest of the poem. A general reference to the season, without directly mentioning the time or space, gives the opening lines a dreamy, timeless, unfocused quality.

The theme of the work is a pilgrimage, which has the air of solemnity. References to the sweet showers and the song of the birds silently warn the reader that the pilgrimage in The Canterbury Tales should not be thought of as an entirely solemn occasion, because it also offered the pilgrims an opportunity to abandon work and take a vacation.

In line 20, the narrator abandons his unfocused view, identifying himself as an actual person for the first time by inserting the first person—“I”—as he relates how he met the group of pilgrims while staying at the Tabard Inn. He emphasizes that this group, which he encountered by accident, was itself formed quite by chance (25–26). He then shifts into the first-person plural, referring to the pilgrims as “we” beginning in line 29, asserting his status as a member of the group. This indicates the spirit of the people of those times – to join together crossing barriers of society and economy. The assorted crowd that we see in the Prologue, and the mixed basket of tales that we read in The Canterbury Tales stand to prove this.

The narrator ends the introductory portion of his prologue by noting that he has “tyme and space” to tell his narrative. His comments underscore the fact that he is writing some time after the events of his story, and that he is describing the characters from memory. He has spoken and met with these people, but he has waited a certain length of time before sitting down and describing them. His intention to describe each pilgrim as he or she seemed to him is also important, for it emphasizes that his descriptions are not only subject to his memory but are also shaped by his individual perceptions and opinions regarding each of the characters. He positions himself as a mediator between two groups: the group of pilgrims, of which he was a member, and us, the audience, whom the narrator explicitly addresses as “you” in lines 34 and 38.

On the other hand, the narrator’s declaration that he will tell us about the “condicioun,” “degree,” and “array” (dress) of each of the pilgrims suggests that his portraits will be based on objective facts as well as his own opinions.

For further reading:

https://tigerweb.towson.edu/duncan/chaucer/notes-gpopening.html

Prepare notes on these points:

Treatment of ‘nature’ in The General Introduction of “The Prologue”.

The General Introduction sounds the overall note of “The Canterbury Tales” – a blend of the sacred and the secular. Comment.

The ideas on pilgrimage in the General Introduction.

The profile of the narrator as is gleaned out through the lines of the General Introduction.