《坎特伯雷故事集》：英国多元文化研究

Geoffrey Chaucer was the most significant poet in Middle English period.Chaucer initiates "Heroic Couplet " and is credited with being the first author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of vernacular English language.John Dryden called him the "father of English poetry".

杰弗里·乔叟是英国中世纪最重要的诗人之一。他首创“英雄双韵体”，并是首位用伦敦方言写作的作家。约翰·德莱顿称其为“英国诗歌之父”。

Chaucer's w riting career is generally divided into three periods：The first period of his literary activity is that of French influence in 1359-1372.The main works are The Book of The Duchess and a translation of The Roman de la Rose.The second period extends from 1372 to 1386 he w rote under the influence of Italy.Works in this period are The Parliament of Fowls，and Troilus and Criseyde.The last period covers the last fifteen years of the poet's life.In this period he produced works of full maturity.His masterwork，The Canterbury Tales was composed during this period.

乔叟的创作生涯大致分为三个时期：①法国影响时期（1359—1372）：主要创作了《悼公爵夫人》（1369），以及翻译了法国中世纪长篇叙事诗《玫瑰传奇》。②意大利影响时期（1372—1386）：这一时期的创作有《百鸟会议》和《特罗伊勒斯和克莱西德》。③成熟时期（1386—1400）：在其人生最后的这15年里，乔叟完成了他的杰作《坎特伯雷故事集》。

Plot:The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories told by a group of pilgrims on a pilgrimage to Canterbury.

故事梗概：《坎特伯雷故事集》是一部短篇故事集，描写的是一群香者前往坎特伯雷城朝圣途中所讲的故事。

The Canterbury Tales has a general prologue and twenty-four stories."The General Prologue" describes the twenty one pilgrims vividly.The host proposes that the pilgrims should shorten the road by telling four stories each，two on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back.The work leaves unfinished; there are only twenty-four stories told altogether with two stories told by Chaucer.

《坎特伯雷故事集》包括一个总序和24个故事。“总序”里形象地描述了21个香客。店主提议香客们在往返途中每人各讲2个故事，以打发旅途中的无聊时间。作品未完成乔叟就辞世了，仅仅只有24个故事，其中还包括乔叟自己所讲的2个。(www.xing528.com)

Among the stories，the most exciting ones are the Knight's Tale about love tragedy，the W ife of Bath's Tale about a knight，the Priest's Tale of animal fable story，the Merchant's Tale of family quarrel，and the Plowman's Tale of moving love story and generous deeds.

其中最精彩的故事有：骑士讲述的爱情悲剧故事、巴斯妇人讲述的骑士的故事、教士讲述的动物寓言故事、商人讲述的家庭纠纷的故事、农民讲述的感人的爱情故事和慷慨行善的故事。

The pilgrims cover a wide range of characteristics in the England of the time，and the tales are realistic and rich in characterization and description，revealing a picturesque panorama of the 14th century society.

香客们包括英国当时形形色色的人物。故事丰富而逼真，反映了14世纪英国社会千姿百态的生活风貌。

Comment：The Canterbury Tales has high artistic achievement，which far exceeds the contemporary English literature，and becomes the first example of realism.The work combines humor with irony，having strong comical flavor，with most stories w ritten in Heroic Couplet which has great influence on the later English literature.Another feature of the work is the vivid language and characters.

评论：《坎特伯雷故事集》的艺术成就很高，远远超过了同时代的其他英国文学作品，是英国文学史上现实主义的首部典范。该诗体作品结合了幽默和讽刺的手法，喜剧色彩浓厚，其中大多数故事采用英雄双韵体，该诗体对后来的英国文学产生了巨大影响。此外，作品中人物形象鲜明，语言生动活泼。