Classic / British English We'll give a free dinner to the person who tells the best story. Now, put up your hands if you agree.' The pilgrims all held up their hands. A group of pilgrims are travelling together for five days from London to Canterbury. On the way, each pilgrim has to tell a story t[...]

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This fast-moving Modern English version of Chaucer' greatest tragic romance highlights the poem' rapid shifts in register and diction as well as its subtle and elusive characterizations, while preserving the enchanting rhyme-royal stanza of the Middle English original. Christine Chism' Introduction [...]

During his life, Geoffrey Chaucer (born c.1340) was courtier, diplomat, revenue collector, administrator, negotiator, overseer of building projects, landowner and knight of the shire. He was servant, retainer, husband, friend and father, but is now mainly known as a poet and 'the father of English [...]

These tales bring together a band of pilgrims who represented most of the occupations and social groups of the time. The diversity of the narrators in turn made possible a varied collection of tales including chivalric romance, spiritual allegory, courtly lay, beast fable and literary satire.[...]

Offers a collection of chivalric romances, moral allegories and low farce. This book includes tales that range from the Knight's account of courtly love and the ebullient Wife of Bath's Arthurian legend, to the ribald anecdotes of the Miller and the Cook.[...]

This daring new translation of 21 of the tales, most of them rendered in iambic tetrameter, conveys the content, tone, and narrative style of the original in a line as expressive as it is economical. An Introduction treats Chaucer's works, influences, life, learning, and the world of 14th-century Lo[...]