The Canterbury Tales

By John E. Cunningham, Geoffrey Chaucer

Subjects: Short stories, Medieval Manuscripts, Appreciation and interpretation, Canterbury tales (Chaucer, Geoffrey), Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages, Chaucer, geoffrey , -1400, England, fiction, Poetry (poetic works by one author), Middle ages, fiction, Drama (dramatic works by one author), Death, Middle English, Chaucer, geoffrey, -1400, English poetry, Moyen Âge, Treasure troves, England, Histoires pour enfants anglaises, School textbooks, Pilgrims and pilgrimages, Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages in literature, Large type books, Textual Criticism, Criticism and interpretation, Children's stories, Manuscripts, English (Middle), Storytelling--poetry, 821/.1, Manuscripts, Mathematical models, English Manuscripts, Modernized versions, English poetry, history and criticism, middle english, 1100-1500, Medieval Tales, Collections, Children's stories, English, Canterbury, Medieval Civilization, Storytelling, English language, great_books_of_the_western_world, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Aeration, Romans, nouvelles, etc. pour la jeunesse, Storytelling in literature, Water, Early works to 1800, Chaucer, geoffrey, -1400, study and teaching, Prologues and epilogues, Middle Ages, Grammar, open_syllabus_project, Translations into Arabic, Fiction, Great britain, poetry, Children's fiction, Pr1867 .k65 2005, Christian poetry, Storytelling in fiction, British and irish fiction (fictional works by one author), History and criticism, Tales, medieval, English literature, Facsimiles, Great britain, history, norman period, 1066-1154, fiction, Juvenile fiction, Pilgrims and pilgrimages in literature, Poetry, Adaptations, Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages--poetry, English Narrative poetry, Juvenile poetry, Pollution, Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages in fiction

Description: A collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. The tales (mostly in verse, although some are in prose) are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. In a long list of works, including Troilus and Criseyde, House of Fame, and Parliament of Fowls, The Canterbury Tales was Chaucer's magnum opus. He uses the tales and the descriptions of the characters to paint an ironic and critical portrait of English society at the time, and particularly of the Church. Structurally, the collection bears the influence of The Decameron, which Chaucer is said to have come across during his first diplomatic mission to Italy in 1372. However, Chaucer peoples his tales with 'sondry folk' rather than Boccaccio's fleeing nobles.