The Canterbury Tales: Prologue Speaker Introductions
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is one of the first major pieces of English literature, and it is well-known for its motley collection of pilgrims resting at an inn and its technique of shifting speakers as they tell their stories. For this assignment, we will focus on “The Prologue” to the Tales and the various pilgrims the Speaker introduces.
Read your assigned pilgrim introduction from “The Prologue,” analyzing and explaining specific characteristics (physical description, actions, direct characterization [descriptive words], and speech [word choices]) of your pilgrim. As you investigate, pay attention to the Speaker’s tone towards the subject, focusing on the word choices and their connotative suggestiveness, and analyze how they influence your interpretation of the tone. You will create a power point presentation giving a brief introduction of your pilgrim and your interpretation to the class, teaching us about your pilgrim and Chaucer’s tone towards and commentary on him/her.
Learning Goals: Students will…
ü Determine and analyze explicit and implicit characteristics of the pilgrims, citing specific examples from the text as support for their interpretation.
ü Analyze how Chaucer develops the characterization of the pilgrims and the Speaker’s tone towards his subject.
ü Use contextual clues and dictionaries to determine unfamiliar word meanings and analyze how the connotations of the word influence the tone of the text.
Scoring Rubric:
Exceeds Expectations: You must complete ALL of the Meets Expectations requirements in addition to:
ð Develop your explanation of the characterization using implicit description from the text.
ð Provide a visual aid and explain the relationship between it and your pilgrims.
ð Determine modern day equivalents for your pilgrims and explain why your equivalents match your interpretation.
ð Provide multiple connotative meanings and an explanation of why your choice is the best towards the Speaker’s development of tone.
Meet Expectations: You must complete ALL of the following in your power point:
ð Explain the vivid characterization of the pilgrims from your passages, focusing on explicit descriptive phrases for their appearance, actions, character, and speech.
ð Provide specific examples from the text as support for your interpretation of the pilgrim’s characteristics.
ð Describe how Chaucer develops the characterization of the pilgrim (the details given and their relationship to each other) and how the speaker’s tone towards the subject influences the development (i.e., the language used, the shifts in tone, etc.).
ð Explicate how the connotations of words and phrases aid in creating the tone of the passage.
Partially Meet Expectations:
ð Meet 3 of the Meets Expectations requirements.
Does Not Meet Expectations:
ð Meet less than 3 of the Meets Expectations requirements.
Graphic Organizer: Pay attention to how Chaucer makes your pilgrims memorable. As you read “The Prologue,” list some of the lively and descriptive details that he used to make his pilgrims vivid. Try to come up with at least three details for each pilgrim.
Standards Covered:
11.4.1.1 – Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis f what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
11.4.3.3 – Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed)
11.4.4.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.