39-42
The Canterbury Tales 39-42 · Who they were, and first a knight39-42Who they were, and first a knight
He promises a portrait of every pilgrim, and begins with the Knight.
· · ·
Of1
of
ech2
each
of3
of
hem4
them
, so5
(so)
as6
as
it7
it
semed8
séémə
seemed
me9
to me
, And10
and
whiche11
what sort
they12
they
weren13
were
, and14
and
of15
of
what16
what
degree17
rankdegree
; And18
and
eek19
also
in20
in
what21
what
array22
clothesarray
that23
(that)
they24
they
were25
were
inne26
in
: And27
and
at33
with
a34
a
knight35
knight
than28
then
wol29
will
I30
I
first32
first
biginne31
begin
. of each of them, as it seemed to me, and what sort they were, and of what rank, and also what clothes they were in: and then I will begin first with a knight.
of each of them, as it seemed to me, and what sort they were, and of what rank, and also what clothes they were in: and then I will begin first with a knight.
Interpretation
of each of them, as it seemed to me, and what sort of people they were, and of what rank, and also what clothes they were in. And so I will begin first with a knight.
Three things, then, for every pilgrim: what sort of person (whiche, which Skeat compares to the Latin qualis), what degree or rank, and what array, their clothes. The Prologue keeps that promise. Its portraits run from the noble Knight down the social scale, and the clothes are always noticed: the Prioress’s brooch, the Wife of Bath’s red stockings.
“So as it semed me,” as it seemed to me, is a small hedge that matters. Every portrait comes through the eyes of this friendly narrator, who admires nearly everyone he meets, and part of the comedy is that the reader often sees more than he says. Skeat notes that inne is the adverb and in the preposition, so the line ends “that they were in.”