Chaucer's Retraction is the final section of The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. The tales are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at...

. It is written as an apology, where Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...

 asks for forgiveness for the vulgar and unworthy parts of this and other past works, and seeks absolution for his sins.

Wherfore I biseke yow mekely, for the mercy

Of God, that ye preye for me that crist have

Mercy on me and foryeve me my giltes;/ and

Namely of my translacions and enditynges of

Worldly vanitees, the whiche I revoke in

My retracciouns:/ as is the book of Troilus

Troilus and Criseyde

Troilus and Criseyde is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Criseyde set against a backdrop of war in the Siege of Troy. It was composed using rime royale and probably completed during the mid 1380s. Many Chaucer scholars regard it...

;

the book also of Fame; the book of

The xxv. Ladies

The Legend of Good Women

The Legend of Good Women is a poem in the form of a dream vision by Geoffrey Chaucer.The poem is the third longest of Chaucer’s works, after The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde and is possibly the first significant work in English to use the iambic pentameter or decasyllabic couplets...

; the book of the duchesse;

The book of seint valentynes day of the parlement

Parlement of Foules

The "Parlement of Foules" is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer made up of approximately 700 lines. The poem is in the form of a dream vision in rhyme royal stanza and is interesting in that it is the first reference to the idea that St...

of briddes

Parlement of Foules

The "Parlement of Foules" is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer made up of approximately 700 lines. The poem is in the form of a dream vision in rhyme royal stanza and is interesting in that it is the first reference to the idea that St...

; the tales of counterbury,

Thilke that sownen into synne;/ the book of the

Leoun; and many another book.

It is not clear whether these are sincere declarations of remorse on Chaucer's part, a continuation of the theme of penitence from the Parson's Tale

The Parson's Prologue and Tale

The Parson's Tale seems, from the evidence of its prologue, to have been intended as the final tale of Geoffrey Chaucer's poetic cycle The Canterbury Tales. The "tale", which is the longest of all the surviving contributions by Chaucer's pilgrims, is in fact neither a story nor a poem, but a long...

 or simply a way to advertise the rest of his works. It is not even certain if the retraction was an integral part of the Canterbury Tales or if it was the equivalent of a death bed confession which became attached to this his most popular work.

Retractions, often called palinodes, were common in works of this era and the nature of some of Chaucer's works (such as those dealing with the Church) possibly needed forgiveness. The book of the Leoun seems to be an unknown work by Chaucer. With the retraction he manages to call an end and complete what is otherwise regarded as an unfinished work. It concludes as a prayer:

That thanke I oure lord Jhesu Crist

and his blisful mooder, and alle the seintes of hevene,

bisekynge hem that they from hennes forth unto my lyves ende

sende me grace to biwayle my giltes,

and to studie to the salvacioun of my soule,

and graunte me grace of verray penitence, confessioun and satisfaccioun

to doon in this present lyf,

thurgh the benigne grace of hym that is kyng of kynges and preest over alle preestes,

that boghte us with the precious blood of his herte;

so that is may been oon of hem at the day of doom that shulle be saved.

Qui cum patre et spiritu sancto vivit et regnat deus per omnia secula. Amen.

External links

• Modern Translation of Chaucer's Retraction and Other Resources at eChaucer