Canterbury Tales Absolon Quotes

Now was ther of that chirche a parissh clerk,
The which that was ycleped Absolon.
Crul was his heer, and as the gold it shoon,
And strouted as a fanne large and brode;
Ful streight and evene lay his joly shode.
His rode was reed, his eyen greye as goos.
With Poules wyndow corven on his shoos.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Miller’s Tale. Absolon is the vain parish clerk who attempts to woo Alison, whom he admires when he sees her at his parish church. His physical description here is having golden hair combed out like a great fan, red cheeks and grey eyes. And don’t forget the stained-glass windows carved on his shoes.

In twenty manere koude he trippe and daunce
After the scole of Oxenforde tho,
And with his legges casten to and fro,
And pleyen songes on a smal rubible;
Therto he song som tyme a loud quynyble;
And as wel koude he pleye on a giterne.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Miller’s Tale. What a multi-talented guy this Absolon is! Why any woman would automatically desire him. An accomplished dancer, fiddler, guitarist and singer – but will Alison whom he wants to impress look his way? Or is he just being set up for a figure of fun by the author?

He ne hadde for his labour but a scorn.
And thus she maketh Absolon hire ape,
And al his ernest turneth til a jape.
Ful sooth is this proverb, it is no lye,
Men seyn right thus, "Alwey the nye slye
Maketh the ferre leeve to be looth."
For though that Absolon be wood or wrooth,
By cause that he fer was from hire sight,
This nye Nicholas stood in his light.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Miller’s Tale. The Miller speaks about Alison’s two admirers. Absolon is the distant lover who tries to woo her by singing to her outside her window, but she and Nicholas make him into a fool and a joke by laughing at him. Nicholas is the lover closer to Alison, so if Absolon was crazy with love Alison would not notice him, because he was so far from her sight Nicholas "stood in his light" and cast him in the shadow, metaphorically speaking. The proverb suggests the nearby lover has the advantage over the distant one.

"Allas," quod he, "allas, I ne hadde ybleynt!"
His hoote love was coold and al yqueynt;
For fro that tyme that he hadde kist hir ers,
Of paramours he sette nat a kers,
For he was heeled of his maladie.
Ful ofte paramours he gan deffie,
And weep as dooth a child that is ybete.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Miller’s Tale. Absolon is completely cured of his "maladie" (sickness): his desire for love-making. And not just with Alison, but with all woman, as he renounces further adventures in love and sex. Amazing what a little humiliation by the right woman can do.

Of gooth the skyn an hande-brede aboute,
The hoote kultour brende so his toute,
And for the smert he wende for to dye.
As he were wood, for wo he gan to crye,
"Help! Water! Water! Help, for Goddes herte!"

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Miller’s Tale. It’s payback time for Absolon. When Nicholas sticks his rear end out the window and farts at him, Absolon brands Nicholas’s buttocks with a red-hot iron poker that he has brought with him. Nicholas leaps up and cries out for water like he was crazy.

For whan he spak, he was anon bore doun
With hende Nicholas and Alisoun.
They tolden every man that he was wood;
He was agast so of Nowelis flood
Thurgh fantasie that of his vanytee
He hadde yboght hym knedyng tubbes thre,
And hadde hem hanged in the roof above;
And that he preyed hem, for Goddes love,
To sitten in the roof, par compaignye.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Miller’s Tale. There is much deceit in the tale, but the declaration by Nicholas and Alison that John is crazy when he tells everyone about the predicted flood and the tubs has to be one of the most cruel. Thinking the flood was coming, John had cut the rope that held his boat-tub to the ceiling and it crashed to the floor startling the neighbors. They all laugh at his lunacy when they hear of his elaborate preparations for the second deluge!

Thus swyved was this carpenteris wyf,
For al his kepyng and his jalousye,
And Absolon hath kist hir nether ye,
And Nicholas is scalded in the towte.
This tale is doon, and God save al the rowte!

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Miller’s Tale. The concluding lines of the tale nicely resolve the story with a reckoning and a kind of justice for the flawed characters involved. The jealous carpenter John has been cheated on by his wife. His wife Alison has been bedded by another man. The foolish parish clerk Absolon has kissed Alison’s backside. And the cheating student Nicholas has had his behind burned by a red-hot poker in revenge by Absolon.
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