Today's posts

‘The Plough’. This is another poem thinking of Somerset especially on a hot summer’s night in the south when sleep is impossible.

Last Friday we finished the story of Anne and today we begin that of Dorigen.  It has been posted before but some readers have come to the blog since then. It is a version of Chaucer’s Franklin’s Tale.  The Franklin was one of the pilgrims who started out from the Tabard Inn in Southwark just south of the Thames in London.  He was a well-off landowner who enjoyed good living.

It snewed in his hous of mete and drynke, 

Of alle deyntees that men koude thynke.

It snowed meat and drink in his house

And all dainties that men could think of. 

The pilgrims made their way to Canterbury to visit the shrine of St Thomas a Becket. They all gathered for supper in the Tabard before beginning their journey and the innkeeper liked the group so much that he decided to join them.  So did Chaucer himself.    

The group is a cross section of society ranging from the Knight at the top down to the Miller. When did they all set out from the Tabard?  Well, one April in the 1380s.

The tale is a story from the Middle Ages and is set in Brittany. 

When Chaucer's rhymes were crying out to be kept, their wishes were respected.