The Canterbury Tales

by

Geoffrey Chaucer

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Canterbury Tales makes teaching easy.
The fifth and final of the Wife of Bath’s husbands, and the only one whom she names in her Prologue. Unlike the other husbands, Jankyn is not rich and old, but young and poor: the Wife of Bath marries him for looks, not for money. Jankyn infuriates the Wife of Bath by reading books about wicked women.

Jankyn Quotes in The Canterbury Tales

The The Canterbury Tales quotes below are all either spoken by Jankyn or refer to Jankyn. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Social Satire Theme Icon
).
The Wife of Bath’s Prologue Quotes

And whan I saugh he wolde never fyne
To reden on this cursed book al nyght,
Al sodenly thre leves have I plyght
Out of his book, right as he radde, and eke
I with my fest so took hym on the cheke
That in our fyr he fil bakward adoun.

Related Characters: The Wife of Bath (speaker), Jankyn
Get the entire The Canterbury Tales LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Canterbury Tales PDF

Jankyn Quotes in The Canterbury Tales

The The Canterbury Tales quotes below are all either spoken by Jankyn or refer to Jankyn. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Social Satire Theme Icon
).
The Wife of Bath’s Prologue Quotes

And whan I saugh he wolde never fyne
To reden on this cursed book al nyght,
Al sodenly thre leves have I plyght
Out of his book, right as he radde, and eke
I with my fest so took hym on the cheke
That in our fyr he fil bakward adoun.

Related Characters: The Wife of Bath (speaker), Jankyn