full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Iseult Gillespie: Everything you need to know to read "The Canterbury Tales"

Unscramble the Blue Letters


This voiitaarn includes something for everyone, and that’s one reason why readers continue to dlhgiet in the work in both Middle English and translation. While the narrative runs to over 17,000 lines, it's apparently unfinished, as the prologue ambitiously introduces 29 pgliimrs and promises four stories apiece, and the innkeeper never crowns a victor. It’s possible that Chaucer was so caught up in his sumptuous creations that he delayed picking a winner - or perhaps he was so fond of each character that he just couldn’t choose. Whatever the rsaeon, this maens that every redaer is free to judge; the question of who wins is up to you.

Open Cloze


This _________ includes something for everyone, and that’s one reason why readers continue to _______ in the work in both Middle English and translation. While the narrative runs to over 17,000 lines, it's apparently unfinished, as the prologue ambitiously introduces 29 ________ and promises four stories apiece, and the innkeeper never crowns a victor. It’s possible that Chaucer was so caught up in his sumptuous creations that he delayed picking a winner - or perhaps he was so fond of each character that he just couldn’t choose. Whatever the ______, this _____ that every ______ is free to judge; the question of who wins is up to you.

Solution


  1. delight
  2. pilgrims
  3. variation
  4. reason
  5. means
  6. reader

Original Text


This variation includes something for everyone, and that’s one reason why readers continue to delight in the work in both Middle English and translation. While the narrative runs to over 17,000 lines, it's apparently unfinished, as the prologue ambitiously introduces 29 pilgrims and promises four stories apiece, and the innkeeper never crowns a victor. It’s possible that Chaucer was so caught up in his sumptuous creations that he delayed picking a winner - or perhaps he was so fond of each character that he just couldn’t choose. Whatever the reason, this means that every reader is free to judge; the question of who wins is up to you.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
middle english 2


Important Words


  1. ambitiously
  2. apiece
  3. apparently
  4. caught
  5. character
  6. chaucer
  7. choose
  8. continue
  9. creations
  10. crowns
  11. delayed
  12. delight
  13. english
  14. fond
  15. free
  16. includes
  17. innkeeper
  18. introduces
  19. lines
  20. means
  21. middle
  22. narrative
  23. picking
  24. pilgrims
  25. prologue
  26. promises
  27. question
  28. reader
  29. readers
  30. reason
  31. runs
  32. stories
  33. sumptuous
  34. translation
  35. unfinished
  36. variation
  37. victor
  38. winner
  39. wins
  40. work