Question

1. In lines 1-14, mark vivid sensory details describing the time of year. Why does Chaucer focus on these sensory details? What impression of the season do these details create?

Answer 1

Answer:

See explanation below

Explanation:

The lines describing the time of the year are:

When April with his showers sweet with fruit ----- 1

The drought of March has pierced unto the  

root                                                                      ---------2

When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath, ----------5

Quickened again, in every holt and heath, ----------------6

Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage ---------------------13

Chaucer focuses on these sensory details because he is trying to emulate some Latin and Greek authors who introduce their poems by creating inspiration through a muse. Chaucer then chooses to create inspiration by describing a natural phenomenon of the earth replenishing itself.

From the lines above, the season of the year is spring just after winter. The description implies spring as a symbol of rebirth and new life. A time when the earth replenishes itself after the dry air of winter, a time when there is rain, fresh air and when people long to go on pilgrimage.