Geoffrey Chaucer, The Second Nun's Tale

Joseph Luke Grossi (Victoria University)

Ed. by , Richard Utz, Georgia Institute of Technology
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1387

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)
Story

Resources

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Chaucer's

Seconde Nonnes Tale of the lyf of Seinte Cecile

, as the title is worded in the manuscripts, is the first tale in the eighth fragment (formerly Group G) of

The Canterbury Tales

as modern editors have arranged it. It comprises 553 lines of verse in 79 seven-line stanzas, with the rhyme scheme

ababbcc

. One of the shortest narratives in this long poem, the

SNT

comprises both a Prologue (lines 1-119) narrated by the same Prioress' Nun who receives no portrait in the General Prologue, and the Tale itself (120-553). The latter is a re-telling of the

Passio Sanctae Ceciliae

[“Passion” or “Suffering and Death of the Life of St Cecilia”] from the enormously popular collection of saints' lives

Legenda Aurea

, or

Golden Legend

, by Jacobus de Voragine (1228-98), a Dominican friar…

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2246 words

Citation: Grossi, Joseph Luke. "The Second Nun's Tale". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 January 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=19963, accessed 22 November 2024.]

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Second Nun's Tale

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