Week #30 – The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Last year on Mondays we had fun with books. This year, we'll look at most of the same books but also some new ones, and see if the first line [or first paragraph] met the goal of a first line which is ==> to hook the reader's attention.

Here are some tips on writing a first line

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/tips-for-writing-the-opening-line-of-your-novel

Week #30 – The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterbury_Tales

https://www.britishlibrary.cn/en/works/canterbury-tales/

First published: 1400-1476

Here's what the story is about: A collection of twenty-four stories written in Middle English between 1387 and 1400, presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims traveling together from London to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.

First line/paragraph:

The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue
Here bygynneth the Book of the tales of Caunterbury 

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licóur
Of which vertú engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye,
So priketh hem Natúre 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.

The Canterbury Tales is written in middle English, the first such literary piece to be written in English at all. Here at the beginning, nature is described as inspiring people to make a pilgrimage to Canterbury to honor St. Thomas Becket.

I am not a fan of doing the tremendous work of trying to understand middle English, so I would not be tempted at all to begin reading this story. However, a modern translation is here

https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/text-and-translations

1         Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
                  When April with its sweet-smelling showers
2         The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
                 Has pierced the drought of March to the root,
3         And bathed every veyne in swich licour
                 And bathed every vein (of the plants) in such liquid
4         Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
                 By which power the flower is created;
5         Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
                 When the West Wind also with its sweet breath,
6         Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
                 In every wood and field has breathed life into
7         The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
                 The tender new leaves, and the young sun
8         Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne,
                 Has run half its course in Aries,
9         And smale foweles maken melodye,
                 And small fowls make melody,
10         That slepen al the nyght with open ye
                 Those that sleep all the night with open eyes
11         (So priketh hem Nature in hir corages),
                 (So Nature incites them in their hearts),
12         Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
                 Then folk long to go on pilgrimages,
13         And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
                 And professional pilgrims to seek foreign shores,
14         To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
                 To distant shrines, known in various lands;
15         And specially from every shires ende
                 And specially from every shire's end
16         Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,
                 Of England to Canterbury they travel,
17         The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
                 To seek the holy blessed martyr,
18         That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.
                 Who helped them when they were sick.

This appears to be in omniscient voice and describes the springtime as a good time to make a pilgrimage to Canterbury in honor of a martyr. I have a passing interest in reading something from the 14th century just because it's so old, and this somewhat begins “in media res” with the reasoning why the pilgrims are traveling to Canterbury, but if I was so inclined, I would definitely insist on reading the modern translation.

Does this first line/paragraph hook your attention? If you had never heard of this story, would you buy this book in 2024? Knowing the story, would you change the first line? Tell us in the comments!