amples of
Chaucer's vivid pictures. What specimens of his humor does the
_Prologue_ contain? Do any of Chaucer's lines in the _Prologue_ show
that the Reformation spirit was in the air, or did Wycliffe and
Langland alone among contemporary authors afford evidence of this
spirit? Compare Chaucer's verse with Langland's in point of subject
matter. What qualities in Chaucer save him from the charge of cynicism
when he alludes to human faults? Does the _Prologue_ attempt to
portray any of the nobler sides of human nature? Is the _Prologue_
mainly or entirely concerned with the personality of the pilgrims? Has
Chaucer any philosophy of life? Are there any references to the
delights of nature? Note any passages that show special powers of
melody and mastery over verse. Does the poem reveal anything of
Chaucer's personality? In your future reading see if you can find
another English story-teller in verse who can be classed with Chaucer.

FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER II:

[Footnote 1: _The Tempest_, V., I.]

[Footnote 2: For the location of all the English cathedral towns, see
the _Literary Map_, p. XII.]

[Footnote 3: and.]

[Footnote 4: April.]

[Footnote 5: little.]

[Footnote 6: in her language.]

[Footnote 7: Spring.]

[Footnote 8: in its turn.]

[Footnote 9: birds.]

[Footnote 10: song.]

[Footnote 11: sigh.]

[Footnote 12: sorely.]

[Footnote 13: called.]

[Footnote 14: against.]

[Footnote 15: will.]

[Footnote 16: them.]

[Footnote 17: arrayed.]

[Footnote 18: garments.]

[Footnote 19: shepherd.]

[Footnote 20: hermit.]

[Footnote 21: hills.]

[Footnote 22: wonder.]

[Footnote 23: tired out with wandering.]

[Footnote 24: brook.]

[Footnote 25: reclined.]

[Footnote 26: sounded.]

[Footnote 27: to make dykes or ditches.]

[Footnote 28: to dig.]

[Footnote 29: to thrash (ding).]

[Footnote 30: sheaves.]

[Footnote 31: dazed.]

[Footnote 32: hermit.]

[Footnote 33: _The Prologue_, Lines 331-335.]

[Footnote 34: The cuts of the Pilgrims are from the Fourteenth Century
Ellesmere MS. of _Canterbury Tales_.]

[Footnotes 35-36: _Knightes Tale_.]

[Footnote 37: _Truth: Balade de bon Conseyl_.]

[Footnote 38: black.]

[Footnote 39: _The Parlement of Foules_.]

[Footnote 40: For full titles, see p. 50.]

[Footnote 41: For full titles, see p. 6.]

CHAPTER III: FROM CHAUCER'S DEATH, 1400, TO THE ACCESSION OF
ELIZABETH, 1558

The Course of English History.--The century and