Quotations from Geoffrey Chaucer


1		A yeman hadde he and servantz namo At that tyme, for hym liste ride so, And he was clad in cote and hood of grene. (Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400), British poet. General Prologue (l. 101-103). . ; from THE CANTERBURY TALES Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).)


2		"Woman is mannes joy and all his bliss." For when I feel a-night your softe side, Albeit that I may not on you ride, For that our perch is made so narrowe, alas! I am so full of joy and of solace That I defye bothe sweven and dream.' (Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400), British poet. The Nun's Priest's Tale (l. 400-405). . ; from THE CANTERBURY TALES Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).) Read more quotations about / on: joy, dream, night, woman


3		Right as the humour of melancholy Causeth full many a man in sleep to cry For fear of blacke bears, or bulles black, Or elles blacke devils will them take. (Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400), British poet. The Nun's Priest's Tale (l. 167-170). . ; from THE CANTERBURY TALES Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).) Read more quotations about / on: sleep, black, fear


4		Jalous he was, and heeld hire narwe in cage, For she was wilde and yong, and he was old, (Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400), British poet. The Miller's Tale (l. 116-117). . ; from THE CANTERBURY TALES Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).)


5		They yelleden as fiendes doon in hell; The duckes cryden as men would them quell; The geese for feare flewen over the trees; Out of the hive came the swarm of bees. (Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400), British poet. The Nun's Priest's Tale (l. 623-626). . ; from THE CANTERBURY TALES Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).)


6		she had a cock, hight Chanticleer. In all the land, of crowing n'as his peer; His voice was merrier than the merry organ On masse-days that in the churche gone. Well sikerer was his crowing in his lodge Than is a clock or an abbey horologe. (Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400), British poet. The Nun's Priest's Tale (l. 83-88). . ; from THE CANTERBURY TALES Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).) Read more quotations about / on: gone


7		This carpenter hadde wedded newe a wif Which that he loved more than his lif. (Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400), British poet. The Miller's Tale (l. 113-114). . ; from THE CANTERBURY TALES Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).)