The Canterbury Tales
About this book
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.
Subjects
- aeration
- bibliothèque nationale de france
- british and irish fiction (fictional works by one author)
- canterbury
- chaucer, geoffrey, -1400
- children's fiction
- children's stories
- children's stories, english
- christian pilgrims and pilgrimages
- christian pilgrims and pilgrimages in fiction
- christian pilgrims and pilgrimages in literature
- criticism and interpretation
- death
- early works to 1800
- england
- english language
- english literature
- english manuscripts
- english narrative poetry
- english poetry
- english poetry, history and criticism, middle english, 1100-1500
- facsimiles
- fiction
- grammar
- great_books_of_the_western_world
- great britain, history, norman period, 1066-1154, fiction
- history and criticism
- juvenile poetry
- manuscripts
- manuscripts, english (middle)
- mathematical models
- medieval civilization
- medieval manuscripts
- medieval tales
- middle ages
- modernized versions
- open_syllabus_project
- pilgrims and pilgrimages in literature
- poetry
- poetry (poetic works by one author)
- pollution
- prologues and epilogues
- short stories
- storytelling
- storytelling in fiction
- storytelling in literature
- textual criticism
- translations into arabic
- treasure troves
- water