ENGL200A Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Geoffrey Chaucer, Beatific Vision
Document Summary
Beatific vision: moving towards something; going beyond/outside of yourself. Oriented towards the future by examining the present. Language reflects on the current state; it is a marker of freedom. The sweet showers of april ; nature so prompts them it is spring, also symbolic for rebirth. The pilgrimage doesn"t seem to be generated by volitional commitment; they are going about the motions, following the change of the seasons (it was common for people to go on pilgrimages in april at the time of chaucer) Satire chaucer is critiquing the habits of the time, but also being within those habits himself. Christianity has become ritual and routine, it has no meaning anymore. Protestantism developed from this search for new meaning. People say chaucer recognized this concept of reformation of meaning in life, as seen through the pilgrimage. A group of people who do not know each other, going on a journey. Finding yourself in travelling with others a community.