Starter quiz
- Who wrote 'The Canterbury Tales' ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire')?
- William Shakespeare
- Geoffrey Chaucer ✓
- William Carlos Williams
- WH Auden
- Pieter Bruegel
-
- In 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', we read sections of 'The Canterbury Tales'. What type of text is 'The Canterbury Tales'?
- an ekphrastic poem
- a play
- an enjambed poem
- a novel
- a long poem ✓
-
- What do we learn about the character of the Miller when he is first introduced in 'The Canterbury Tales'? ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire').
- He has a red beard. ✓
- He works hard.
- He cheats in wrestling matches.
- He is very thin.
- He plays the bagpipes. ✓
-
- Match the subheadings to what we learn about the Miller in 'The Canterbury Tales' ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire').
- how the Miller looks⇔large, muscular, red beard, sword and shield by his side ✓
- how the Miller acts⇔enjoys wrestling, steals corn, breaks down doors ✓
- how others respond to him⇔accuse him of being drunk and ask him not to tell a rude story ✓
- how the Miller speaks⇔loudly, and tells rude jokes ✓
- In 'The Canterbury Tales' ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire') a large number of characters are introduced in the first section of the poem. What are the characters all doing?
- having a meal together
- going on pilgrimage ✓
- moving city
- returning from pilgrimage
- at a wedding
-
- Chaucer wrote 'The Canterbury Tales' ______ Shakespeare wrote his plays and sonnets ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire').
- 'before' ✓
Exit quiz
- Match each word to its definition ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire').
- invariably⇔always, or almost always ✓
- furtively⇔secretly ✓
- vacuous⇔empty, shallow ✓
- audacious⇔bold, brave, outrageous ✓
- Match each character from Chaucer's 'The Canterbury Tales' ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire') to what we find out about them.
- the Miller⇔loud, violent, strong, sneaky ✓
- the Knight⇔polite, gentle, tattered clothes, successful warrior ✓
- the university student⇔tattered clothes, very silent, extremely thin ✓
- the Cook⇔good judge of beer, open wound on shin ✓
- Which of the characters from 'The Canterbury Tales' ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire') might we best describe as audacious?
- the Knight
- the Miller ✓
- the university student
- the Cook
-
- Which of these sentences, all inspired by 'The Canterbury Tales', uses the word 'invariably' (or a form of it) correctly? ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire').
- The Knight was invariable in all his battles, never losing.
- The Cook's meals were invariable, despite the wound on his leg.
- The university student invariably went to bed hungry, hence his skinniness. ✓
- The Miller invariably won his wrestling matches. ✓
-
- Which of these sentences, all inspired by 'The Canterbury Tales', uses the word 'furtively' (or a form of it) correctly? ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire').
- There was something furtive about the Knight – he was always open and honest.
- The Miller furtively stole corn, and over-charged people. ✓
- The Cook tried to be furtive about his wound, but it was just too obvious. ✓
- The university student was furtively thin.
-
- Which of these sentences, all inspired by 'The Canterbury Tales', uses the word 'vacuous' correctly? ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire').
- The Miller was the loudest, but much of what he said was vacuous. ✓
- The Knight's story was so vacuous that everyone praised it.
- The university student was incredibly vacuous as he never had anything to eat.
- The Cook's wound was not too serious, it was mainly a vacuous injury.
-
Worksheet
Loading worksheet ...
Presentation
Loading presentation ...
Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Chaucer creates 30 convincing characters in the opening section of his poem, 'The Canterbury Tales'.
- To create each character, Chaucer describes how they look, how they speak, how they act and how others respond to them.
- Chaucer also includes intriguing details so that we are curious to know more about each character.
- These methods of characterisation are employed by many writers and can be used in your own writing.
Common misconception
You have to include each aspect of characterisation in the same paragraph, and always in the same order.
Chaucer has a particular way of introducing and describing his characters. However, this is one way to do it, amongst many. You will see lots of different writers use the same methods of characterisation, but in different orders and structures.
Keywords
Intrigued - the emotion someone feels if something is strange or mysterious and they want to know more about it
Invariably - always, or almost always
Furtively - secretly
Vacuous - empty, shallow
Audacious - bold, brave, outrageous
+