Lesson video

Hello and welcome to today's English lesson.

This is the fourth lesson in the Canterbury Tales series on "The Knight's Tale." Today we're going to be looking at the idea of what is courtly love within the Knight's Tale.

In order to set pine stairs lesson you're going to need a pen and a paper or something else to write on and something to write with.

In a moment, I'd like to pause the video make sue you've got those things.

You may also want to think about turning off any distractions like uwanted apps or notifications in the background so that nothing takes away your focus during the lesson.

While you get that sorted, I'd like you to pause the video now.

Brilliant already then.

Okay, in which case, let's begin.

Let's begin with a recap.

The Canterbury Tales is an epic poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer.

It is the story of a group of pilgrims on a pilgrimage along the way the pilgrims hold a storytelling competition.

The first story is told by the Knight.

The Knight tells a tale set in ancient Greece.

In the tale, the Duke Theseus of Athens captures two injured Princes during a battle with thieves.

Theseus saves the Princes lives, but keeps them prisoner in a tower in Athens with no hope of ransom.

The tale central themes of chivalry and courtly love, which we'll be learning about today.

If you feel that you're happy with all this information, then we're going to move on to talk about courtly love.

If you feel you need a refresher on chivalry on Duke Theseus' battle with King Creon, or indeed about Palamon and Arcita, the two theban Princes, then you might want to go back into the first three lessons of our series so far.

Before we move on, let's take a moment to review our learning so far.

In a moment, I'm going to ask you to pause the video, and I'd like you to complete the sentences below by filling in the gaps.

There are three sentences and you're simply going to add the words missing in the gaps.

If you'd like to pause the video now, then you can continue.

Fantastic effort.

Let's find out how you've done that.

So, sentence one, the Knight's Tale is set in Ancient Greece.

If you got that right give yourself a big tick.

Sentence two, Duke Theseus captures two Princes during a battle.

He saves their lives but takes them prisoner.

And as we know from our previous learning, this is Palamon and Arcita, two theban Princes who were near death when scavengers from Theseus' armies found them in a pile of bodies.

Sentence three, the central themes of the Knight's tale are chivalry and courtly love.

If you've got that right as well give yourself a big tick.

Again, if you didn't get some of those correct, then perhaps you'd like to go back to the start of the video and review your learning.

Let's have another go at another exercise to review our learning then.

Again, in a moment, I'm going to ask you to pause the video just to review the question, what is chivalry? Now we've learned a lot about chivalry in previous lessons.

And if you feel you need to go back to that, then feel free to do so.

In a moment, you're going to pause the video and decide which of the four options best describes what is chivalry? Is it option one, when a Knight opens doors for other people? Is it option two, when a Knight enjoys winning battles? Is it option three, when a Knight prizes religion, glory and honouring women above all else, or is it option four, when a Knight prizes money and respect above all else? Pause the video now and make your choice.

Okay, hopefully you've made the correct choice there.

Let's see how you've done.

The answer is of course, option three, when a Knight prizes religion, glory and the honour of women above all else, this is called chivalry.

It is the Knights belonging to the chivalric code.

Okay, so we came across some new language there the term courtly love.

Courtly love is a loving literature which includes suffering and drama.

In mediaeval literature, love is given more importance than anything else.

Courtly love suggests that falling in love can cause suffering and be physically painful.

Courtly love would mean prizing love above all else, including loyalty, vows and friendship.

Courtly love would mean prizing love above even the chivalric code if you're a Knight.

Another tradition of courtly love is that when love is not fulfilled, it can be so painful that the lover is physically transformed their physical appearance and even their voices actually change.

This will be an incredibly important plot point later on in our story, so bear with me and look out for that.

And now that we're happy with this new language let's move on with our tale.

The last time you saw our Princes, Palamon and Arcita, they were imprisoned in a tower in Athens.

There they remain in anguish and distress, prisoners to Theseus and unable to be ransomed.

Those passed by year by year and day by day till it fell out upon a morning in May, that Emily far fairer to be seen, then is the lily on its stalk of green.

In honour of the May and so she rose, clothed, she eas sweeter than any flower that blows.

Her yellow hair was braided in one tress behind her back a full yard long I guess.

And in the garden as the sun up rose, she sauntered back and forth and things through each close, gathering many of flower, white and red, to weave a delicate garland for her head.

Now this is an interesting description by Chaucer.

Here we meet Emily her politest sister, beautiful Emily described in lots and lots of beautiful description.

I'm hoping that you're remembering back to our first lesson.

And you can hear the I am big pentameter, the paired syllables, five of those in each line, and you're also seeing the heroic couplets that each pairs of lines ended.

Here we meet Emily described as sweeter than any flower that blows.

She's also described as having yellow hair, a full yard long.

These are descriptions of her person.

The idea of having yellow hair at the time would have been a rarity.

And so yellow hair blonde hair was seen as something that would be cherished I know something of an idol for ladies.

A full yard long in a tress or suggested that she wasn't a working woman.

She was someone who could afford to grow her hair long because she didn't have to be in the fields or the factories working away.

We also have the reference to her weaving a delicate garland for her head.

A crown of flowers if you like.

That word delicate is particularly important because it echoes back to the idea that Emily is sweet and she is fair and she is delicate.

She is someone who is unique and the ideal of a woman at the time.

So let's take a moment here to look at Chaucer's choice of language.

Here, Chaucer uses a simile, a word or phrase used to describe something as being like or similar to something else.

You've probably encountered them in your previous lessons.

The Knight was as brave as a lion, she ran like the wind.

In that first sentence, the fact that the Knight is being compared to a lion in his bravery, is where the simile comes in.

We're not saying that the Knight is a lion, we're saying he is as brave as a lion.

Equally when talking about the idea, she ran like the wind, we're not saying that the woman in this particular case is the wind was saying that she runs as fast as she ran like the wind.

In our particular passage here, the simile that we see is she was sweeter than any flower that blows.

In a second, I'd like you to pause the video and take a moment to think what this means.

We're going to translate this thinking about the different elements in the statement.

So think about what the woman Emily is being compared to, think about how she's being compared and then infer, have a thought about or consider the alternative connotations of what that means.

Pause your video now.

Okay, I hope you gave that some serious attention.

Let's have a think about what this could mean.

First of all, by using the word sweeter, Chaucer is saying that Emily is more beautiful, she is more sweet than the flowers that are being referred to in the statement.

Equally he uses the term flower and flowers are known to be beautiful.

So by using sweeter than any flower, he's suggesting that Emily is more beautiful than the most beautiful of flowers.

To go deeper, he even says that Emily is not just more beautiful than a flower, but more beautiful than all flowers, any flowers that blows.

So these are all the flowers that the wind might blow across as it goes across the country wide.

Emily is more beautiful than any of them.

He's paying her an incredible compliment.

Let's take a closer look as Emily as a character.

Emily is the youngest sister of Hippolyta.

She's presented as being beautiful and pure.

She is described as delicate like a garland, these elements add to the idea of Emily being the mediaeval ideal of a woman.

Okay, opportunity to test our learning now, in a second I'm going to ask you to pause the video again.

When you do that there are four statements on the slide.

I'd like you to look at each of them and decide whether they are true or whether they are false.

Statement A, Chaucer uses a simile to describe Emily's beauty.

True or false.

B, Chaucer uses a metaphor to describe Emily's beauty.

C, as a woman, Emily is a mediaeval ideal, as she is beautiful and pure.

Or D, Emily's purity is compared to water.

Pause the video now and make a decision about which of these is true and false.

Feel free to write At or Af depending on your answer.

Fantastic effort.

Let's see how you got on.

So, A Chaucer uses a simile to describe Emily's beauty indeed he does.

He says she is sweeter than any flower, he is comparing her to the flower.

B, Chaucer uses a metaphor to describe Emily's beauty.

No, that's false.

He's not saying she is a flower he's saying her beauty is more than a flower.

C, as a woman Emily is a mediaeval ideal as she is beautiful and pure.

This is very much true.

The mediaeval ideal of women was for their purity and for their beauty.

And sentence D, Emily's purity is compared to water.

That's false.

I'm afraid, water may be pure in these particular cases, though, maybe not in mediaeval times, but certainly Emily's purity is not being compared to water she's being compared to a beautiful flower.

If you did all four of those correctly, then congratulations.

That's fantastic effort.

If you weren't quite there, then do feel free to go back in your prior learning, prior in the video and have a look at reviewing what you've learned.

Okay, so the question we're asking ourselves now is what is Emily's beauty got to do with the story? Well, let's find out as we return to our tale.

Meanwhile, back in the tower, and Palamon the woeful prisoner as was his want by leave of his gaoler, was up and pacing around that chamber high, from which the noble city filled his eye.

And too the garden full of branches green, wherein bright Emily fair and serene, went walking and went roving up and down, this serene prisoner, this Palamon being in the chamber pacing to and fro, and to himself complaining of his wall.

So Palamon, with the best of his goaler is wandering around the top of the tower.

He doesn't have anywhere else that he can go.

And he's complaining and moaning about the fact that he's trapped in the prison with no chance of ransom.

Meanwhile, down below, beautiful Emily's in the garden below the tower picking flowers.

Cursing his birth, he often cried alas.

And so it was by chance or other pass that through a window closed by many a bar of iron strong and square as any spar he cast his eyes upon Emilia, and there upon he blanched and cried out, "Ah," as if he had been smitten to the heart.

So Palamon is looking out of the window.

and by total chance, he spies through this iron bird window, Emily or Emilia, how she's referred to in this line, wandering around in the garden below.

And he suddenly goes pale and cries out.

"Ah," though he's been smitten to the heart as though he's been shot to the heart.

He feels a physical pain.

Let's take a moment then to see if we've understood what's happening here.

In a second, I'd like you to pause the video and you're going to consider the four options, that could be the answer to the question here.

when Palamon blanched and cried out, "Ah," as if he had been smitten to the heart.

What does this mean? Is it option one, Palamomn's heart was breaking from being imprisoned.

Option two, Palamom was still in physical pain from his wounds that he'd received during battle.

Option three, when Palamon saw Emily it was like he'd been shot through the heart or option four, when Palamon saw Emily he was disgusted and felt physically ill.

Pause the video now and make a decision as to which of these options answers the question.

Great effort.

Let's see how you've got on.

It was of course, option three.

When Palamon saw Emily it was like he'd been shot through the heart like he'd had a physical injury to his heart.

The love that he felt immediately was so strong.

As the idea of courtly love suggests, when Palamon first sees Emily from his prison window, he falls immediately in love with her.

The emotion is so strong that it feels like a physical blow to his heart and makes him cry out.

And this is the epitome of courtly love.

A love so intense and so immediate, that it causes physical pain like a physical injury.

Let's take a moment now to check our learning so far.

If we remember the story, it follows like this, Theseus fights and slayers King Creon of Thebes.

The scavengers find the injured bodies of the two Theban Princes.

Theseus saves the princes lives and imprisons them in his tower.

The Princes Palamon and Arcita are distressed and anguished at being imprisoned.

However, when Palamon sees Emily from the tower window and falls in love, he feels as though he's been physically struck to the heart.

Okay, in a second, we're going to move on to our main activity.

In a moment, you're going to move on to the next slide and pause the video.

There will be some sentences that I'm going to ask you to expand.

All right, in a moment when you pause the video, you're going to write out these three sentence starters and then expand them below.

Sentence one, courtly love is, using you're learning from this video, you're going to write out what courtly love is, what it means what its definition is.

Question two.

An example of courtly love in the Knight's Tale could be when you're going to use your learning from today's lesson to talk about where courtly love is shown in the Knight's tale.

And three, Palamon's love for Emily might be a problem because now this is going to require you to infer here you're going to assume what the issues might be, with Palamon falling so madly in love with Emily.

Perhaps you'll think about where they are, where their positions in Athens are and the problem that Palamon currently has.

Okay.

Pause your video now and expand the three sentences.

Fantastic job you've worked so hard there.

Now let's have a look at what you've done.

Sentence one courtly love is.

Well you could have written courtly love is when love is prized above all else in importance, and this is very true.

Love is priced above everything else.

However, if we'd wanted to develop this answer further, we could have written courtly love is when love is prized above loyalty and friendship.

It can cause physical pain to the lover and even cause physical changes in appearance.

Now, the reason that this answer is better is because we've included several different ways that courtly love can be referenced, not only the idea of it being prized above all else, loyalty and friendship, but also that it can cause physical pain and even physical changes in appearance.

If you wrote something close to either of these answers, then congratulations, particularly if you've got the great answer.

Don't forget, we're not expecting you to write exactly what you see on the slide.

But if you're having some common words and a common thread, then that's good enough.

Let's look at sentence two.

Sentence two.

An example of courtly love in the Knight's tale could be when Palamon sees Emily and feels as though he's been shot through the heart.

Now this is a perfectly good answer.

Indeed, when Parliament does see Emily he does feel as though he's been shot through the heart and this is an example of courtly love.

However, as always, we could have expanded on that answer, and we could have written an example of courtly love in the Knight's Tale could be when Palamon falls immediately in love with Emily and feels physical pain from the emotion causing him to cry out.

The reason that this is a more developed answer is because it not only refers To the physical pain, but it also talks about the immediacy of him falling in love, and also uses the term that is used within the piece itself that he cried out because of the emotion.

If you wrote something close to either these answers, that's a fantastic effort.

If you feel you need to go back and revisit this learning, then feel free to go back in the video now.

Let's move on to sentence three and a bit more of a challenge.

Palamon's love for Emily might be a problem because now this requires you to infer and give some thought to why it could be a problem.

One answer might have been Palamon's love family might be a problem because Palamon is a prisoner in the tower while Emily is free.

That certainly is a problem.

Palamon is stuck in a tower with no chance of being ransomed out or ever escaping.

Even if he did escape.

Well, Emily is the sister of Theseus' wife, so it's unlikely at she would want to run off with a prisoner.

We could of course develop this answer even further.

Palamonn's love for Emily might be a problem because Palamon is a prisoner and can only look at Emily from the tower.

Emily doesn't know of Palamon's love, and this may continue to cause Palamon physical pain.

This answer is better because what it does is not only address the idea that Palamon is a prisoner, and Emily is free, but it makes the point that Emily doesn't even know that Palamon is there, let alone the idea that Palamon is in love with her, and if she can't reciprocate this love, if she can't give that love back then this physical suffering, this physical pain of courtly love may continue to cause Palamon physical pain, even as we know from earlier in the video, it could physically change the way that he looks.

If you've written something approximating either of these answers, then a fantastic effort, particularly if you've gone for that good answer because that was a real challenge this time, massive well done if you've managed that.

Okay, we've reached the end of lesson four now, and you've put in a fantastic effort today.

So a huge well done.

Lots of the concepts and ideas in this video are very challenging.

So if you've understood then feel confident with those ideas, then you've really really impressed everyone.

If at any point, you're not entirely comfortable with some of those ideas, do feel free to go back in the video and review your learning.

Before we finish the video, I'd like you to do a couple of things.

In a second, I want you to go back through your notes from today's lesson and find for me the three most important things.

Now these are totally up to you.

It might be three bits of new vocab, three new ideas, or three points from the plot or a mixture of all of those, but I want you to write them down and review them before you come back in the next lesson.

The second thing I'd like you to do is to think about any of the work that you've done today, particularly things you're proud of, perhaps that third question that we've just challenged yourself with, I'd like you to get a parent or carer to take a photograph that of that, and email it into your teacher back at school.

I know they certainly want to see what an incredible effort you're putting in.

If you can, and you do take that photograph, perhaps also get a parent or carer to email, or send in to our Twitter at Oak National and tagging #LearnwithOak, because I'd love to see the fantastic effort that you're putting in as well.

However, that's now the end of our lesson.

I'd love to see you again shortly for our fifth lesson in the series on "The Canterbury Tales," the Knight tale, but until then, bye for now, and a huge well done.