# Memorizing Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales **URL:** \ **Category:** Memorizing Poetry, Speeches, Books\ **Created:** [September 8, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/memorizing-geoffrey-chaucers-canterbury-tales/27073 "2011-09-08T02:38:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/josh/32/21_2.png) [@Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Josh)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/memorizing-geoffrey-chaucers-canterbury-tales/27073/1 "2011-09-08T02:38:03Z")
A strange idea has been creeping up on me for the past few days: to try to memorize a bit of the Canterbury Tales in Middle English. 🙂 One of the reasons that it interests me is because it _almost_ understandable, but just weird enough to give neurons a strange workout. Here’s what it looks like: > Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open eye- (So priketh hem Nature in hir corages); Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; And specially from every shires ende Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende, The hooly blisful martir for to seke That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke. …and here is what it sounds like: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QE0MtENfOMU/hqdefault.jpg "The Canterbury Tales Prologue in Middle English") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE0MtENfOMU) It would useful to have an audio book of the text with good pronunciation. Resources: [http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/less-0.htm#Index](http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/less-0.htm#Index) > **[Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400) "The Canterbury Tales" (in middle english and...](http://www.librarius.com/cantales.htm)** > **[The Canterbury Tales](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterbury_Tales)** > > The Canterbury Tales (Middle English: Tales of Caunterbury) are an anthology of twenty-four short stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. They are mostly in verse, and are presented as part of a fictional storytelling contest held by a group of pilgrims travelling from London to Canterbury in order to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The Canterbury Tales are widely regarded as Chaucer's magnum opus, and they are revered as one ... ![Canterbury Tales](https://forum.artofmemory.com/uploads/default/original/3X/3/0/3026a9e21f7da15f7d901452aab9620d3d088c57.png) ---
**Author:** ![climbformemory](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/climbformemory/32/2612_2.png) [@climbformemory](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/climbformemory)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 11:50am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/memorizing-geoffrey-chaucers-canterbury-tales/27073/2 "2011-09-08T11:50:52Z")
That’s a pretty cool idea. But in Middle English? That’s pretty strange. But still cool. haha. ---
**Author:** ![Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/josh/32/21_2.png) [@Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Josh)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/memorizing-geoffrey-chaucers-canterbury-tales/27073/3 "2011-09-08T20:47:54Z")
I wouldn’t try to memorize the whole thing, but the idea keeps growing on me. 🙂 Even more challenging would be to try to memorize some Old English: > Hwæt! WĂ© Gárdena      in gĂ©ardagum þéodcyninga      Ăľrym gefrĂşnon· hĂş ðá æþelingas      ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld ScĂ©fing      sceaĂľena ĂľrĂ©atum monegum maĂ©gĂľum      meodosetla oftĂ©ah· egsode Eorle      syĂ°Ă°an aĂ©rest wearĂ° fĂ©asceaft funden      hĂ© þæs frĂłfre gebád· wĂ©ox under wolcnum·      weorĂ°myndum þáh oĂ° þæt him aĂ©ghwylc      ĂľĂˇra ymbsittendra ofer hronráde      hĂ˝ran scolde, gomban gyldan·      ĂľĂ¦t wæs gĂłd cyning. As I memorize poetry, I’m going to try to include short poems in other languages, just as an experiment. ---
**Author:** ![Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/josh/32/21_2.png) [@Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Josh)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/memorizing-geoffrey-chaucers-canterbury-tales/27073/4 "2011-09-14T04:12:04Z")
**UPDATE:** I don’t think I’m going to memorize any of the Canterbury Tales beyond the intro posted above. It’s really interesting, but completely obscene by today’s standards. One would got slapped reciting this stuff — if anyone could understand it. 🙂 The Penguin Classics version has a facing translation in modern prose, so you can go back and forth. ---
**Author:** ![moeris](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/moeris/32/2625_2.png) [@moeris](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/moeris)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/memorizing-geoffrey-chaucers-canterbury-tales/27073/5 "2011-10-11T19:42:16Z")
They actually still perform Chaucer’s poetry. I took a class on Chaucer last year, as well as a class on Old French. Both, though hardly comprehensible to the modern listener, are amazingly beautiful. Vowels in Middle English were purer than they are now – closer to the French of its day. Speaking French may have helped my understanding the poems a great deal… I had to memorize some of his poetry for the class, and I loved it – I did part of the Wife of Bath’s story. I like your idea of memorizing part of Beowulf. But I feel that it would be much harder not understanding the meaning of the poem. I’ve memorized poetry in French, and it was a great way to learn vocabulary, though. Still, I’ve never used mnemonic devices for memorizing poetry, and I’d like to give it a try. ---
**Author:** ![Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/josh/32/21_2.png) [@Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Josh)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/memorizing-geoffrey-chaucers-canterbury-tales/27073/6 "2011-10-13T03:35:00Z")
Chaucer is great. I memorized just the first 20 lines, but I learned the vocabulary and that helped. I would learn the Old English words if memorizing part of Beowulf. It isn’t _completely_ foreign: Hwæt! = what Wé Gárdena = we Spear-Danes [I think] cyning = king? þæt = that? (þ is the TH in “thorn”, and I think æ is the “a” in “cat”) I’m starting to learn German, and have already seen a couple of Chaucer’s Middle English words in German: eek = auch holt = holz If I had time I would memorize more Chaucer, but things are going to be crazy here until early December… ---
**Author:** ![Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/josh/32/21_2.png) [@Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Josh)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 6:37am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/memorizing-geoffrey-chaucers-canterbury-tales/27073/7 "2011-10-15T06:37:12Z")
If anyone is interested, I found a good Canterbury Tales resource here: > **[Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Study Resources](https://www.luminarium.org/medlit/canterbury.htm)** > > Individual Canterbury Tales with Characters' descriptions from the GP, their prologues and their tales, as well as study resources and images. All the text, with some audio… ---
**Author:** ![Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/josh/32/21_2.png) [@Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Josh)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/memorizing-geoffrey-chaucers-canterbury-tales/27073/8 "2012-02-13T22:01:12Z")
I forgot to post this when I found it, but here is the Beowulf intro in Old English: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_B9kppHPo28/hqdefault.jpg "Beowulf Recitation") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B9kppHPo28) ---
**Author:** ![Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/josh/32/21_2.png) [@Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Josh)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 7:35am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/memorizing-geoffrey-chaucers-canterbury-tales/27073/9 "2017-01-13T07:35:20Z")
I haven’t listened to them, but people might be interested in these audiobooks: Beowulf in Old English: > **[Beowulf](https://www.audible.com/pd/Beowulf-Audiobook/B002V1JS4K)** > > Check out this great listen on Audible.com. It's never been easy to be a hero. When Beowulf arrives at Hrothgar's hall, he discovers that the hall is beset by Grendel, an evil creature that kills and pillages with impunity. Beowulf, in heroic... The Canterbury Tales in Middle English: > **[The General Prologue and The Physician's Tale](https://www.audible.com/pd/The-General-Prologue-and-The-Physicians-Tale-Audiobook/B002V5D34M)** > > Check out this great listen on Audible.com. The Canterbury Tales, written near the end of Chaucer's life and hence towards the close of the 14th century, is perhaps the greatest English literary work of the Middle Ages: Yet it speaks to us today with...