The
Miller's Tale
1. In Middle English
The Miller's
Prologue and Miller's
Tale at the UVa Electronic Text Center.
Read the
Miller's Tale in the context of Fragment
I - Group A.
Read the Miller's
Prologue and Tale according to the Hengwrt ms (Hengwrt - Hg), one of the two most
important early manuscripts, at the University of Toronto's Representative Poetry On-line
site. The Ellesmere
manuscript (El) is the other important early edition.
2. In Modern English Translation
Scott
Gettman's edition of the Canterbury
Tales (Electronic Literature Foundation) is accessible by individual tale &
available in a variety of formats: Middle English, Modern English, Facing Page,
& Interpolated - Glossed (frames; from unknown base text).
- Although unsuitable for formal research or college work, the
ELF is the best online version for younger readers and those unfamiliar with Middle
English. Easily navigable, and the Middle English glosses are very helpful.
The Litrix Reading Room translation
of the Canterbury Tales features rhyming couplets.
Sinan Kökbugur's helpfully glossed hypertext Middle English rendition of the complete Canterbury Tales is available at the Librarius page. Use the Table of
Contents in the left frame to click on a specific Tale, and difficult terms and phrases
are glossed in the lower frame.
Skip
Knox's selection
of Canterbury Tales in Modern English (Boise State) includes the Miller's Prologue
and Miller's
Tale (from an unknown base text).
3. Historical & Cultural Backgrounds
What kind of economic environment did medieval
miller's operate in? Read Mavis Mate's technical article, "The Rise and Fall of Markets in
Southeast England," an e-print of the article published in Canadian Journal
of History/Annales canadiennes d'histoire XXXI, April/avril 1996, pp. 59-86.
4. Sources, Analogues, & Related Texts
Read
about Fabliaux at the Harvard Chaucer Page.
Flatulence figures prominently in the Miller's Tale to the degree that we might consider a
"metaphysics of flatulence" in the Middle Ages. See D.L. Ashliman's
listing of tales under Breaking Wind:
Legendary Farts at his Folklore and
Mythology Electronic Texts page (UPittsburg).
Interestingly, Chaucer's Miller's Tale is one of the earliest sources we have that refers
to the great medieval "cycle" plays--the civic drama performed in a number of
cities. See European Medieval Drama
(Sydney Higgins) for a full set of links to this important medieval literature.
- In a reference to the Holy Family (Joseph, Mary, and Jesus),
the Miller proposes to tell "a legende and a lyf / of a carpenter and of his
wyf" (A.3141-42). Read the York
Play of Joseph's Trouble with Mary (York XIII, in Middle English) to see the
"problem" when an old man marries a young woman.
- Nicholas sings the Angelus ad virginum, a reference
to the Annunciation (A.3216). Read the York Annunciation
and Visitation Play (York XII) and the Towneley Annunciation
(Towneley 10). Both plays in Middle English, from UVa.
- Absolon "pleyeth Herodes upon a scaffold hye"
(A.3384). Read the Towneley Herod
the Great (Towneley 16) and York
Play of Herod and the Magi (York XVI) to get a sense of this over-the-top medieval
character. Both plays in Middle English, from UVa.
5. Online Notes & Commentary
Discussion and links concerning the Miller's Prologue and Tale
on Larry D. Benson's superlative Geoffrey
Chaucer Page (Harvard). Includes e-texts of scholarly essays, sources and ancillary
texts, and capsule discussions of key issues. Some of the items related to the
Miller's Tale include:
Dene
Scoggins' English 316 site
(UT Austin) explores "culture, ideology, and issues of canonicity" in the
Canterbury Tales, including a student developed page devoted to the Miller's Tale.
Gerald
McDaniel (North Central Texas State) reads the Miller's Tale in Ribaldry as Homily.
Christy Desmet (UGeorgia) briefly points out the importance of the mystery
plays to the Miller's Tale in "The
Miller's Tale" and Noah's Flood.
6. Online Articles & Books
A generous
new online publishing venture: The
University of California E-Scholarship Editions. "University of
California Press now offers electronic versions of almost all of its
journal titles and over 1400 books online, many of them out of print."
E-journals are available to subscriber institutions; 400 full texts, many
covering medieval topics, are available to the general public; the rest to
members of the UC community.
A selection of Chaucer-related and medieval
studies titles from the University of California related to the Miller's
Tale include:
- Bloch, R.
Howard, and Frances Ferguson, eds. Misogyny,
Misandry, and Misanthropy. (Berkeley: U of California P, 1989
-
Elaine Tuttle Hanson's Chaucer and
the Fictions of Gender (Berkeley: U of California P, 1992).
-
Steven V. Justice's Writing and Rebellion: England in 1381
(Berkeley: U of California P, 1994).
-
Laura Kendrick's Chaucerian Play: Comedy and Control in the
Canterbury Tales (Berkeley: U of California P, 1988).
-
H. Marshall Leicester's The Disenchanted Self: Representing the
Subject in the Canterbury Tales (Berkeley: U of California P,
1990).
-
Richard Neuse's Chaucer's Dante:
Allegory and Epic Theater in The Canterbury Tales. (Berkeley: U
of California P, 1991).
R.A.
Shoaf's online postprint Dante, Chaucer, and
the Currency of the Word devotes Chapter 10 to "Fragment A and the
Versions of the Household"
 Mari
Pakkala-Weckström (U of Helsinki) has written The
Discourse of Seduction and Intrigue: Linguistic Strategies in Three Fabliaux
in the Canterbury Tales which examines "the different linguistic
strategies used by the participants: wives, husbands and lovers with their
varying roles" in tales of the Miller, Merchant, and Shipman.
7. Student Projects & Essays
Cathy Cupitt compares and contrasts the Knight's and
Miller's Tales in Laughing
at the Carpenter.
Anniina Jokkinen's Essays and Articles on Chaucer
includes a number of sample student essays, of varying quality. Like any other
source, student essays must be evaluated rigorously, cited correctly, and used
responsibly. Jokkinen also compiles a number of resources by Canterbury
Tale: The
Miller's Tale
8. Online Bibliography
9. Syllabi & Course
Descriptions
10. Images & Multimedia
11. Language Helps & Audio Files
Sample
audio files (.wav, .au, .aiff) from the Miller's
Tale, recorded at the Tenth International Congress of the New Chaucer Society, Santa
Monica College, Beverly Hills, July 1996, are available from the Chaucer Studio (Paul
Thomas, Brigham Young).
The Miller's Portrait (2.0 Mb .wav) read by
Alfred David (Indiana) at the Norton Anthology of
English Literature website.
12. Potpourri
13. The
Next Step
How to Document
Print & Electronic Sources:
The Chaucer Pedagogy
Documentation Primer
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