Although the Host demands a cheerful story from the Monk, the Monk instead offers a series of cameo tragedies, all of which deal with the role of luck in a man's life. The Monk catalogs the fickleness of Fortune through a series of abridged tales about characters such as Lucifer, Adam, Hercules, Samson, Nero, and so on, all who were initially favored but ultimately abandoned by Fortune. The Monk concludes when the Knight interrupts him and begs for a cheerful story. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Monk's series of small tragedies reports the sad news that all wealth and position in the world is pure illusion and nothing can prevent the fall of the proud. The Monk summarizes his theme in the introductory stanza: “Sure it is, if fortune decides to flee, / No man can stop his course or keep his hold; / Let no one trust in blind prosperity.” ("For sure, when fortune wishes to flee, / No man can refrain from the course of hire. / None trusts a prosperous blind man....") Why Chaucer wrote these stories for the Monk is unclear. They are monotonous and the inevitable moral of each - one cannot depend on fickle luck - does not surprise the reader. This tale is often considered one of Chaucer's earliest writings. It certainly has none of the subtlety of most of his other stories. Some authorities believe that Chaucer once considered writing a book of tragedies, and as he never completed them, this perhaps explains their inclusion in the Canterbury Tales. They were simply available and seemed suitable for the Monk to tell. Stanza from the Monk's Tale, an eight-line stanza of five accents with the rhyme scheme ababbcbc. The type was established in "The Monk's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. It has some resemblance to the French ballad form and is one of the forms believed to have influenced Spenserian stanza. Chaucer uses this form ababbcbc in his Monk's Tale, as well as in his Marian poem, the ABC, and so it is often called a "stanza of a monk's tale". It may be that Chaucer arrived at this stanza form as an adaptation of the Italian stanza attiva rima (rhyming abababcc) used by Boccaccio for his Teseida and Filostrato. Catherine Addison discusses the form in an excellent article on "The Effects of Stanza on Poetic Narrative." He describes it as "a rather unsatisfactory stanza, being disappointing because everything seems to lead towards and away from the central couplet [...] Although a stanza like this can serve a disturbing and bathetic function, which is perhaps its purpose in abortive anecdotes." of the Monk's Tale, is not in itself particularly memorable or enjoyable, raising expectations without quite fulfilling them. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom EssayAlthough this form is dysfunctional in one way, in another it is entirely usable and even authoritative. In addition to the possible Italian source of this stanza, there is also a native tradition, established in the late 14th century, of writing political and religious verse in English in eight-line stanzas with four rhyming accents ababbcbC (the capital Chere indicating that each stanza ends with the same refrain).