The Parson’s Tale, by Geoffrey Chaucer

The final Canterbury Tale is the longest and least interesting

The Parson’s Tale has to be the least approachable of all the Canterbury Tales, with the possible exception of Chaucer’s Tale of Melibee. For one thing, it is not a tale but a long digression on penitence and confession. It has been described as a sermon, but that is not an accurate description because, although it starts with a text from Jeremiah, it uses the text more as a general theme for a wide-ranging treatise. At some 1,000 lines of prose text, a sermon this long would send even the most dedicated congregation to sleep! According to the Tale’s prologue, the Parson starts speaking as evening is fast approaching. It must have been long after dark before he finished.

We have met the Parson before, in the passage that is generally headed “The Epilogue to the Man of Law’s Tale”. The Host invites the Parson to tell the next tale, and describes him as a Lollard, which, to the Host, is not a problem. However, the Shipman objects strongly to such a man being allowed to preach to them: “He schal no gospel glosen here ne teche. … He wolde sowen som difficulte, or springen cokkel in our clene corn.” There are a number of problems with this passage, but the point here is that the label of Lollard is not apparently objected to by the Parson, although there…