The opening lines of Canterbury Tales
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licur
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye,
So priketh hem Nature in hir corages,
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially, from every shires ende
Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.
I know someone - an English major - who got his first job on Wall St. by being able to quote these first lines of the Prologue of Canterbury Tales in an interview when challenged by a partner. Here's a good Canterbury Tales site. If you read enough Chaucer, you start speaking Middle English - or really early Modern English. I took a one-semester Chaucer course in college. Great fun. We'd just go around the class and read the section out loud in the beginning of class, trying to find Chaucer's accents and rhythms. Many are not aware that Chaucer made his money importing claret from France. Writing was a hobby for this prosperous, well-educated, and well-travelled Londoner.
