The lines, " But the very ill it was, it seemed to me... deadly sore had he".. expresses Chaucer's discontentment and uneasiness about the dirty and unhygienic habits of the cook.
Step-by-step explanation
- The above lines have been taken from Geoffrey Chaucer's narrative poem, "Prologue to the Canterbury tales". The General Prologue is considered to be the first part of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury tales where each of the twenty-nine pilgrims has their own story to tell.
- The narrator of the prologue begins by giving an account of the season and timing when the pilgrims set off for the pilgrimage, however, Chaucer is extremely uneasy and skeptical about the cook who is so one of the twenty-nine pilgrims on his way to Canterbury.
- In the lines 387-388, Chaucer expresses annoyance and vehemence about the way the cook presented himself. It is however direct characterization since we get to know the cook better. Again, there is the indirect characterization in it because the word sore is used as soar to describe the unhealthy and nasty habit of the cook.