“The Nonne”
Selection from the Prologue of The Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer
As presented by Julie Champlin and Mandy Wellhausen
Terms to Consider:
y Prioresse
y St. Loy
y Stratford-atte-Bowe
The Canterbury Tales: The Nonne
(118) Ther
was also a Nonne, a Prioresse,
There was also a nun, a prioress,
(119) That of hir smyling was ful simple and coy;
Whose way of smiling was simple and coy;
(120) Hir gretteste ooth was but by sëynt Loy;
Her greatest oath was ‘By St Loy’;
The Canterbury Tales: The Nonne
(121) And
she was cleped madame Eglentyne.
And she was called Madam Eglentyne.
(122) Ful wel she song the service divine,
She sang the divine service well
(123) Entuned in hir nose ful seemly;
Intoned in her nose in a very seemly manner;
(124) And Frensh she spak ful faire and fetisly,
And she spoke French fairly and gracefully,
The Canterbury Tales: The Nonne
(125) After
the scole of Stratford atte Bowe,
After the school of Stratford atte Bowe,
(126) For Frensh of Paris was to hir unknowe.
But French of Paris she did not know.
(127) At mete wel y-taught was she with-alle;
At dinner her manners were well taught
(128) She leet no morsel from hir lippes falle,
She neither let morsels fall from her lips
The Canterbury Tales: The Nonne
(129) Ne
wette hir fingers in hir sauce depe.
Nor dipped her fingers deep in sauce.
(130) Wel coude she carie a morsel, and wel kepe,
She knew very well how to carry a morsel (to her lips) and
took great care
(131) That no drope no fille up-on hir brest.
That no drop could fall on her breast.
(132) In courteisye was set ful muche hir lest.
Being courteous was much to her delight.
The Canterbury Tales: The Nonne
(133) Hir
over lippe wiped she so clene,
She would wipe her upper lip so clean,
(134) That in hir coppe was no farthing sene
That in her cup there could no stain of grease to be seen
(135) Of grece, whan she dronken hadde hir
draughte.
When she had drunk her draught.
(136) Ful seemly after hir mete she raughte,
In a very seemly manner she reached for her food.
The Canterbury Tales: The Nonne
(137) And
sikerly she was of greet disport,
And certainly she had excellent manners,
(138) And ful plesaunt, and amiable of port,
And she was very pleasant and amiable
(139) And peyned hir to countrefete chere
And it pained her to imitate the cheer
(140) Of court, and been estatlich of menere,
Of courtliness, and dignified manners,
(141) And to ben holden dogne of reverence.
And she would be held worthy of respect.
Review of Terms
y Prioresse: a nun in charge of a priory or
ranking next below the abbess of an abbey.
y Stratford-atte-Bowe (atte boghe, atte
boughe or at the bow): Benedictine nunery of
St. Leonard‘s at Bromley near Stratford at Bowe.
y Sëynt Loy: St. Eligius, Bishop of Noyon.
How does the Language Look?
y Conservative versus Advanced
y “A middle way was chosen between two
conflicting tendencies, one of which, being
conservative, aimed at retaining the language in
its purity and severity, while the other made for
innovation, for the strengthening of the native
growth with foreign material.”
y http://www.bartleby.com/213/2003.html
y Using this defintion, what do you think?
Examples of Advanced Language Use
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
Madame: French
y
Service: Old French, Latin
Divine: Old French, Latin
School: Latin
Cup: Latin (early borrowing)
Simple: Old French, Latin
Morsel: Old French
Sauce: Old French
Courtesy: Old French
One might conclude that
The Nonne employs words
of both Old French and
Latin and is therefore
‘advanced’, by the
definition asserted above.
Personal Pronouns in Middle English
y In Modern English, auxiliaries are used when
negating a sentence or constructing a question.
y In The Nonne, we see the following:
y Hir
y She
Personal Pronouns in Middle English
Case
Old English
Middle English
Nominative
héo
Sche/she (heo / ho she
/ he/ ȝho)
Accusative
hí, héo, hie
her/hir
her
(hire / hure / heore)
Dative
hire
Genitive
hire
her (hir / hire /
heore / here)
Modern English
her/hers
• What trend do we see throughout the changes within the English
language?
Negation
y From The Nonne, we hypothesized the following:
y That there is no use of auxiliary verbs in negation,
instead the word ‘no’ denotes negation when used
before a verb.
y
(131) “That no drope ne fille up-on hir brest.
y T(hat no drop could fall on her breast.)
y Double negation (now only in non-standard English)
Thank you for your
attention and
participation!
Bibliography
Bowden, Muriel. A Commentary on the General Prologue to The
Canterbury Tales. 2. London: MacMillan, 1948.
Lambdin, Laura C., and Robert T. Lambdin (eds.) Chaucer's
Pilgrims: An Historical Guide to the Pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales.
1. Connecticut: Praeger, 1996.
Dr. Gramley’s Reader!