The coherence of creation in the word: The rhetoric of lines 1–34 of Chaucer’s General Prologue

Abstract

Geoffrey Chaucer’s introduction of the pilgrimage motif in lines 1–34 of the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales combines the pursuit of the beatific vision with an evident interest in life in this world. Participation in God as coherence in Christ, who addresses and sustains the created order, informs the rhetorical structure and intensifying themes and playfulness of these lines. Resonant with the first sentence, the second performatively displays an obediential quality and emergent self and sociality, as Chaucer responds to the demands that the Incarnation places on the Christian poet.