Sonnet, Chaucer, Research

Record music and voice >>
"To the United States of America" by Robert Bridges
 Brothers in blood! They who this wrong began
 To wreck our commonwealth, will rue the day
 When first they challenged freemen to the fray,
 And with the Briton dared the American.
 Now are we pledged to win the Rights of man;
 Labor and Justice now shall have their way,
 And in a League of Peace--God grant we may--
 Transform the earth, not patch up the old plan.
 Sure is our hope since he who led your nation
 Spake for mankind, and ye arose in awe
 Of that high call to work the world's salvation;
 Clearing your minds of all estranging blindness
 In the vision of Beauty and the Spirit's law,
 Freedom and Honor and sweet Loving kindness.
I picked this sonnet because of its connection with a relatively modern occurrence(WW1) and because it seems easy to memorize.

 Chaucer Fun Fact
"In 1359, the teenage Chaucer went off to fight in The Hundred Years’ War in France. At Rethel he was captured for ransom. Thanks to Chaucer’s royal connections, King Edward III helped pay his ransom."
http://www.biography.com/people/geoffrey-chaucer-9245691
I picked this because I thought it was interesting that as a teenager he went off to fight and that he got bailed out by the king/had royal connections.  If he had this royal connection, why did he fight? Did he want to?

 Analysis Video on Pardoner's Tale
 
This video not only gives summary on the tale, but also provides some analysis as well.