1908 -- INTRODUCTION -- Was never eye did see that face, Was never
ear did hear that tongue, Was never mind did mind his grace, That
ever thought the travail long But eyes and ears and every thought
Were with his sweet perfections caught. From LOWELL ESSSAY. THIS
preface and this book are not meant for the scholar who reads his
Middle English with ease, nor again for the student who wishes to
delve into the grammar and the syntax of fourteenth - century
English. Rather are they meant for those many people who have not
read, who say they cannot read, Chaucer. For, let writers deny it
as they will, to the modern Englishman, and still more to the
modern Englishwoman, Chaucer is a sealed book. A few lines here and
there are clear enough-but then the reader is pulled up sharp and
has to refer to notes and glossary and the man who sets out for
enjoyment, will not for long turn aside to notes and glossary,
however well they may be supplied. If it were not so, if this
contention were not true, Professor Skeat would not have thought it
necessary to publish a modern version of the beautiful Knightes
Tale. The understanding of Chaucer and the love of him the two go
together are not very old. Neither Addison nor Pope could
appreciate him, and it is well known into what Dryden turned the
tales. But attempts have been made to bring Chaucer nearer to the
people. Charles Cowden Clarke purified him others modernised his
spelling others again so altered him in modernising him that the
poet was unrecognisable. Not one of these versions has succeeded.
It is a bold thing to hope to prosper where so many have failed but
the present editor is bound to explain-and to defend-his method. To
begin with, certaintales, seven out of the twenty-four, have been
left untouched. They are so broad, so plainspoken, that no amount
of editing or alteration will make them suitable for the twentieth
century. To these my preface makes no further reference. But in
regard to the other seventeen, I may say that, first, the spelling
has been slightly modernised, modernised just enough to leave its
quaintness and take away some of its difficulty. To take a
well-known passage and compare the ordinary version with the
present version-Ther saugh I first the derke imagining Of felonye
and a1 the compassyng The cruel ire reed as any glede The pykepurs
and eek the pale drede The smyler with the knyf under the cloke The
shepne brenning with the blake smoke The treson of the mordring in
the bedde The open werre with woundes a1 bibledde Contek with blody
knyf and sharp manace A1 ful of chirking was that sory place. Ther
saw I first the dark irnaginyng Of felony, and a1 the wmpassyng The
cruel wrath, as eny furnace red The pickepurs, and eke the pale
Dread The smyler with the knyf under his cloke The stables burnyng
with the blake smoke The treson of the murtheryng in the bed The
open warres, with woundes a1 y-bled Conflict with bloody knyf, and
sharp menace. A1 ful of shriekyng was that sory place. Again,
difficulties of vocabulary have been treated in the same way. There
is no pretence that this version is the Chaucer of the scholar, or
the Chaucer of any recognised text and I give an instance as
before, comparing the ordinary version with that printed in this
volume-The sleere of him-self yet saugh I ther His herte-blood hath
bathed a1 his heer The nay1 y-driven in the shode a-night The colde
deeth with mouth gapingupright. Amiddes of the temple sat
meschaunce With discomfort and sory contenaunce Yet saugh I
woodnesse laughing in his rage Armed complaint, out-hees, and fiers
outrage The careyne in the bush with throte y-come A thousand slayn
and nat of qualm y-siorve The tiraunt with the prey by force y-raft
The toune destroyed ther was nothing laft...
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