Introduction
The poem The Abbot of Canterbury, included in our book, is a ballad. Ballads have crude language because fine writing would not be suitable for the telling of this straightforward and amusing folk story. King John ruled England from 1199 to 1219, was a very unpleasant man and a thoroughly bad kind.
Structure of Poem
The Abbot of Canterbury is a ballad of unknown poet telling an ancient story consisting of 100 lines of regular rhythm.
Summary
There was a king of England whose name was King John. He ruled England very cruelly and he always did the wrong thing. Once he came to know that there was an Abbot of Canterbury who was leading life better than the king. He had one hundred servants and each one there wore fifty gold chains and velvet coat. They where always ready to serve the Abbot. For very minor things they used to go to the city of London.
This way of leading life angered the king and his sent for the Abbot to explain his position before the king. The Abbot said to him that he was spending the money so luxuriously because he had inherited a lot of money from his fore fathers. The king disbelieved him and charged him to be a traitor.
The king said to Abbot that his life and properties would be confiscated by the government if he could not answer his three questions. There was given three weeks time to answer those questions.
- The first question was what his worth and value was when he was having such a precious crown on his head.
- The second question was how soon he could make the journey of the whole world.
- The third question was that he was thinking at that time when he was talking to the Abbot of Canterbury.
After listening three questions the Abbot was very much confuse. He confessed that he had no mind to answer those difficult questions. He went to many universities but no one was able to answer him.
Then the shepherd of the Abbot offered him that he would imposter the Abbot prodded he was given the relevant dress of the Abbot.
In reply to the first question he said that his value was twenty-nine pence. In response to the second question he said if he rose with the sun and rode with the same he would complete the journey of the world in 24 hours. In response to the third question he said that he thinking that he was talking to the Abbot by he was not the Abbot but the shepherd. The king was very happy, he rewarded him and pardoned the Abbot.
excellent
ReplyDeletethe moral of the story is dont understimate the power of a common men
Deletehmmmmmmm! nice summary
ReplyDeletegud bt not still not clear!
ReplyDeletelittle bit difficult at the end,but over all gud..
ReplyDeletes0o nice story
ReplyDeletenice one
ReplyDeleteYup its a nyc 1 but who is da writer ov dis story by the way??
ReplyDeletevry vry inststng stry
ReplyDeleteA very nyc explanation & it gave a great help even!!
ReplyDeletethanky0u...it was a great help..=)
ReplyDeletethnkX aloT it Help M3 m3 tO muCh
ReplyDeletefiZa ALi
thnkX aloT It helP M3 ME TOo mucH
ReplyDeletepoo
ReplyDeleteGood explanation but little bit grammar mistakes kindly correct them :).Thank you
DeleteNeed to work on your grammar, you spoiled the main part of the story
ReplyDeleteNot gud not bad
ReplyDeletebetter
ReplyDeleteJust an average explanation.
ReplyDeletenice story i like it very much :)
ReplyDeletegudd
ReplyDeletei love that
ReplyDeletethanx for help me
ReplyDeleteWho so ever has written this summary please correct this that King John ruled england from 1166 to 1216 not from 1199 to 1219
ReplyDeleteNyc
ReplyDeletegood notes
ReplyDeletevery nyss notos
ReplyDeleteis it a true story are not
ReplyDeletegogeous summary
ReplyDeleteHmamama it is nice summary i like it by mashooque ali frm badin
ReplyDeleteNice ... But grammatical mistakes are there.... Please
ReplyDeleteCorrect them !!,
ReplyDeleteWhat was the central idea of this poem
ReplyDeleteSoo Sood
ReplyDeleteWhat was the central idea of this poem
ReplyDeleteWhat was the central idea of this poem
ReplyDeleteVery nice
ReplyDelete