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One question that splits critics is whether the Merchant's tale is a fabliau. [citation needed] Typically a description for a tale of carnal lust and frivolous bed-hopping, some would argue that especially the latter half of the tale, where Damyan and May have sex in the tree with the blind Januarie at the foot of the tree, represents fabliau.
The word "pitee", for example, is a noble concept to the upper classes, while in the Merchant's Tale it refers to sexual intercourse. Again, however, tales such as the Nun's Priest's Tale show surprising skill with words among the lower classes of the group, while the Knight's Tale is at times extremely simple. [32]
Geoffrey Chaucer (/ ˈ tʃ ɔː s ər / CHAW-sər; c. 1343 – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales. [1] He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". [2]
As Dunbar belongs to the latest medieval phase, his work is quite far from that of Chaucer’s. Although Dunbar's The Tretis includes many ironic gestures that recall the Wife of Bath and The Merchant's Tale, he utilizes a much wilder humor than Chaucer. Dunbar is even credited with the first printed use of the word “fuck.”
The Coolin - played on flute by a sprite in Sir January's garden/ musical theme of Pluto and Persephone in the Merchant's Tale. Tramps and Hawkers - the blind Sir January sings this while taking May to Damian. Dairy Maid - when Perkin steals a pastry from a child. Bundle and Go - when Perkin attempts to steal extra rations from a breadline.
The tale tells of a merchant whose wife enjoys revelry and socializing, on which she spends money. A young monk, who is close friends with the merchant, comes to stay with them. After confessing that she does not love her husband, the wife asks the monk for one hundred franks to pay her debts.
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories, mostly in verse, written by Geoffrey Chaucer chiefly from 1387 to 1400. They are held together in a frame story of a pilgrimage on which each member of the group is to tell two tales on the way to Canterbury, and two on the way back.
Chaucer worked, in part, from a translation of the Consolation into French by Jean de Meun but is clear he also worked from a Latin version, correcting some of the liberties de Meun takes with the text. The Latin source was probably a corrupt version of Boethius' original, which explains some of Chaucer's own misinterpretations of the work.