The Old Order and the "Newe World" in the General Prologue to the "Canterbury Tales"
1982; University of Pennsylvania Press; Volume: 45; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/3817150
ISSN1544-399X
Autores Tópico(s)Historical Studies of British Isles
ResumoIt is a common observation that Geoffrey showed a relative unconcern in Canterbury Tales for great upheavals of his time. As Nevill Coghill puts its: 'Plague, schism, Peasants' Revolt, and clashes between Richard II and his Nobility, that were to end in deposition and regicide, have no place in his poem of England. Jack Straw's massacre of Flemings in 1381 was poetically no more to than flurry in a farmyard roused by rape of Chanticleer.1 Though it is true that did not reflect contemporary scene so explicitly as did William Langland, he nevertheless was very aware that his age was one of profound change. Even portraits in General Prologue to Canterbury Tales, genial and detached as they seem, show a sensitivity to tensions in late fourteenth century between Old Order-feudalism, a static rurul economy, and united and unchallenged Church-and forces of plague, urbanization, and entrepreneurship which were pushing toward fragmentation of society and a greater degree of individualism.2 Alfred David puts his finger on significance of these tensions in General Prologue when he observes that the ideal represented by Knight, Parson, and Plowman [corresponding to Three Estates of medieval society] was still potent in Chaucer's time, and although Chaucer himself belongs very much to an emerging new ... he still loves and believes in ideal order represented in a timeless way by idealized pilgrims. David outlines succinctly social situation he sees reflected in General Prologue:
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