Opening Lines of THE CANTERBURY TALES (Middle English Pronunciation)

Geoffrey Chaucer himself was kind enough to recite the first 18 lines of his famous Canterbury Tales in Middle English for Rooted Willow Homeschool. To watch the video, CLICK HERE or on the images below.

Below are the first 18 lines in the East Midland dialect of Middle English, the English of Geoffrey Chaucer. “Middle English” is the stage of English lasting (roughly) from 1150-1500 A.D. It is not so different from modern English as the poem Beowulf, which comes from the Old English period (450-1150 A.D.), but, as you can see, it was quite different. (CLICK HERE for my recitation of “Caedmon’s Hymn,” a poem in Old English.)

Interestingly, standardized spelling did not exist when Chaucer wrote. That can be confusing at times, but it can also be quite helpful in determining what the language sounded like since people spelled the way they spoke, more or less.

General Prologue First 18 lines in Middle English

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.

General Prologue (First 18 lines) in modern English

1 When April with its sweet showers

2 Has pierced the drought of March to the root,

3 And bathed every vein in such liquid

4 By which power the flower is created;

5 When the West Wind also with its sweet breath,

6 In every wood and field has breathed life into

7 The tender new leaves, and the young sun

8 Has run half its course in Aries,

9 And small fowls make melody,

10 Those that sleep all the night with open eyes

11 (So Nature pricks them in their hearts),

12 Then folk long to go on pilgrimages,

13 And pilgrims to seek foreign shores,

14 To distant shrines, known in various lands;

15 And specially from every shire’s end

16 Of England to Canterbury they travel,

17 To seek the holy blessed martyr,

18 Who helped them when they were sick.