Pre-renaissance in England

The Norman kings made London their residence. The London dialect was the central dialect, and it was understood throughout the country. It was the London dialect from which the national language developed.

In the 14th century the English bourgeoisie traded with Flan­ders (now Belgium). The English sold wool to Flanders and the latter produced the finest cloth. England wanted to become the centre of the world market. Flemish weavers were invited to Eng­land to teach the English their trade. But feudalism was a serious obstacle to the development of the country. In the first half of the 14th century France threatened the free towns of Flanders, wish­ing to seize them. England was afraid of losing its wool market.

A collision between France and England was inevitable. King Edward III made war with France in 1337. This war is now called the Hundred Years' War because it lasted over a hundred years. At first England was successful in the war. The English fleet defeated the French fleet in the Channel. Then the English also won battles on

land. B\it the ruin of France and the famine brought about a terrible disease called the "pestilence". It was brought over to England from France. The English soldiers called it the "Black Death". By the year 1348 one-third of England's population had perished. The peasants who had survived were forced to till the land of their lords.

As years went on, the French united against their enemy. As the king needed money for the war, Parliament voted for extra taxes. The increasing feudal oppression, cruel laws and the growth of taxes aroused people's indignation and revolts broke out all over the country. In 1381 there was a great uprising with Wat Tyler at the head. The rebels set fire to the houses, burnt valuable things, killed the king's judges and officials. They demanded the aboli­tion of serfdom and taxes, higher wages and guarantees against feudal oppression. But the rebellion was suppressed, and Wat Tyler was murdered.

Nothing made the people so angry as the rich foreign bishops of the Catholic Church who did not think about the sufferings of the people. The protest against the Catholic Church and the growth of national feeling during the first years of the Great War found an echo in literature. There appeared poor priests who wandered from one village to another and talked to the people. They protested against the rich bishops and also against all churchmen who were ignorant men and did not want to teach the people anything.

Such poor priests were the poet William Langland and John⁴ Wycliffe. They urged to fight for their rights. But the greatest writer of the 14th century was Geoffrey Chaucer, who was the writer of the new class, the bourgeoisie. He was the first to clear the way for realism.

Vocabulary

ignorant ['ignsrent] а невежественный indignation [^mdig'neifan] n возмуще­ние, негодование inevitable [m'evitabl] а неизбежный latter ['tets] а последний obstacle ['obstakl] л препятствие official [s'ftjbl] n чиновник; служащий oppression [э'рге/эп] л угнетение; гнет outcome ['autksm] л последствие

abolition Laebs'lifgn] л отмена bishop ['bijbp] л епископ collision [кэ'11зэп] л столкновение echo ['екэи] л отражение famine ['fsemm] л голод Flanders ['flaindaz] л Фландрия Flemish ['flemij] а фламандский force [fo:s] v заставлять guarantee Lgasran'ti:] v гарантировать

perish ['penfl v погибать pestilence ['pestibns] n чума rebellion [n'beljsn] n восстание revolt [ri'vault] n восстание serfdom ['s3:fdsm] n крепостное право suppress [sa'pres] v подавлять survive [sg'vaiv] v выжить, уцелеть

tax [tasks] n налог threaten ['Gretn] v угрожать throughout [9ru:'aut] adv повсюду till [til] v обрабатывать (землю), пахать urge [з:с&] v побуждать, заставлять wander ['wands] v бродить weaver ['wirval n ткач

Questions and Tasks

1. Describe the political situation of England in the 14th century.

2. How did people react to growing feudal oppression?

3. Talk about Wat Tyler's Rebellion and its outcome.

4. What was the result of the protest against the Catholic Church?

5. What did poor priests protest against?

6. What do you know about the poets William Langland and John Wycliffe?

7. Who was the greatest writer of the 14th century?

Geoffrey Chaucer

(1340-1400)

Geoffrey Chaucer

The most vivid description of the 14th century England was given by Geoffrey Chaucer [ 'd3efn 'tfo:ss]. He was the first truly great writer in Eng­lish literature and is called the "father of English poetry". Chaucer was born in London, into the family of a wine merchant. His father had connections with the court and hoped for a courti­er's career for his son. At seventeen Ge­offrey became page to a lady at the court of Edward III. At twenty, Chau­cer was in France, serving as a squire. During 1373 and the next few years Chaucer travelled much and lived a busy life. He went to France, made three journeys to Italy. Italian literature opened to Chaucer a new world of art. Chaucer's earli­est poems were written in imitation of the French romances.

The second period of Chaucer's literary work was that of the Ital­ian influence. To this period belong the following poems: The House of Fame, The Parliament of Fowls, a poem satirizing Parliament, The Legend of Good Women and others.

When Chaucer came back to England, he received the post of Controller of the Customs in the port of London. Chaucer held this position for ten years. He devoted his free time to hard study and writing. Later Chaucer was appointed "Knight for the Shire of Kent", which meant that he sat in Parliament as a representa­tive for Kent.

He often had to go on business to Kent and there he observed the pilgrimages to Canterbury.

The third period of Chaucer's creative work begins in the year 1384, when he started writing his masterpiece, The Can­terbury Tales.

Chaucer died in 1400 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Chaucer was the last English writer of the Middle Ages and the first of the Renaissance.

Vocabulary

post [psust] n поет, должность satirize ['saetaraiz] v высмеивать shire [fara] n графство source [so:s] n источник vivid ['vivid] о яркий

court [ko:t] n двор короля courtier ['кэ:ф] п придворный esquire [is'kwaia] n оруженосец pilgrimage ['pilgnmKfe] n паломни чество

Questions and Tasks

1. Give the main facts of Chaucer's life.

2. What were the sources of Chaucer's creative work?

3. Speak about the three periods of Chaucer's creative work.

4. What is his masterpiece?

5. When did Chaucer die?

6. Where was he buried?

The Canterbury Tales

This is the greatest work of Chaucer in which his realism, iro­ny and freedom of views reached such a high level that it had no equal in all the English literature up to the 16th century. That's why Chaucer was called "the founder of realism". It is for the Canterbury Tales that Chaucer's name is best remembered. The book is an unfinished collection of stories in verse told by the pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury. Each pilgrim was to tell four stories. Chaucer managed to write only twenty-four instead of the proposed one hundred and twenty-four stories.

All his characters are typical representatives of their classes. When assembled, they form one people, the English people. Chaucer kept the whole poem alive and full of humour not only by the tales themselves but also by the talk, comments and the opinions of the pilgrims.

The prologue is the most interesting part of the work. It acquaints the reader with medieval society. The pilgrims are persons of dif­ferent social ranks and occupations. Chaucer has portrayed them with great skill at once as types and as individuals true to their own age. There is a knight, a yeoman (a man who owned land; a farmer), a nun, a monk, a priest, a"merchant, a clerk, a sailor, Chaucer himself and others, thirty-one pilgrims in all. The knight is brave, simple and modest. He is Chaucer's ideal of a soldier. The nun weeps seeing a mouse caught in a trap but turns her head from a beggar in his "ugly rags". The fat monk prefers hunting and good dinners to prayers. The merchant's wife is merry and strong. She has red cheeks and red stockings on her fat legs. The clerk is a poor philosopher who spends all his money on books.

Each of the travellers tells a different kind of story showing his own views and character. Some are comical, gay, witty or roman­tic, others are serious and even tragic.

In Chaucer's age the English language was still divided by dia­lects. Chaucer wrote in the London dialect, the most popular one at that time. With his poetry the London dialect became the Eng­lish literary language. Chaucer does not teach his readers what is good or bad by moralizing; he was not a preacher. He merely paid

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