Canterbury Tales

Front Cover
Simon and Schuster, 1990 - Fiction - 480 pages
Enriched Classics offer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary. Each book includes educational tools alongside the text, enabling students and readers alike to gain a deeper and more developed understanding of the writer and their work.

The procession that crosses Chaucer's pages is as full of life and as richly textured as a medieval tapestry. The Knight, the Miller, the Friar, the Squire, the Prioress, the Wife of Bath, and others who make up the cast of characters—including Chaucer himself—are real people, with human emotions and weaknesses. When it is remembered that Chaucer wrote in English at a time when Latin was the standard literary language across western Europe, the magnitude of his achievement is even more remarkable. But Chaucer's genius needs no historical introduction; it bursts forth from every page of The Canterbury Tales.
 

Selected pages

Contents

GENERAL PROLOGUE
1
THE KNIGHT
19
THE MILLER
64
THE REEVE
81
THE MAN OF LAW 996
96
THE SHIPMAN
122
CHAUCER
139
THE WIFE OF BATH
166
THE MERCHANT
244
THE SQUIRE
270
THE FRANKLIN
285
THE PHYSICIAN
305
THE SECOND NUN
327
THE CANONS YEOMAN
340
THE MANCIPLE
361
FROM THE CANTERBURY TALES IN MIDDLE ENGLISH
375

THE FRIAR
193
THE CLERIC
218
CRITICAL EXCERPTS
421

Common terms and phrases

Absalom Aella answered Arcite Aurelius began blessed brother Canace canon Canterbury Canterbury Tales certainly Chanticleer Chaucer Christ cleric clothes Constance cursed Damian daughter dear death desire devil Emily eyes faith false friar friends Geoffrey Chaucer God's gold Griselda happy hear heard heart heaven holy honor horse Host husband killed King knew knight Knight's Tale koude lady live lord Madam Manciple marriage married matter Middle English miller Miller's Tale mordre never noble Nun's Priest NUN'S PRIEST'S TALE once Palamon pity poor pray priest Prologue rode sing sorrow soul speak spoke story summoner sure swear tale tell Thebes ther Theseus things thought told took trouble truly Valerian Venus whan wife Wife of Bath wise wish wives wolde woman women words young

About the author (1990)

Geoffrey Chaucer, considered by many to be both the father of modern English poetry and the father of the modern English novel (for Troilus and Criseyde), also distinguished himself in his lifetime as a civil servant and diplomat under three kings of England. When he was taken prisoner by the French, the King himself contributed to his ransom. When, in later years, the King wished to reward Chaucer for his services to the crown, he was granted -- among other favors -- the right to demand a daily jug of wine from the pantry of the royal butler. Toward the end of his career, he became a knight of the shire for Kent. But it is for The Canterbury Tales that he is best remembered. This masterpiece of English literature moved Aldous Huxley to say, "If I dared to wish for genius, I would ask for the grace to write The Canterbury Tales."

Bibliographic information

TitleCanterbury Tales
Enriched Classics
Simon & Schuster enriched classics
AuthorGeoffrey Chaucer
Editionillustrated
PublisherSimon and Schuster, 1990
ISBN0671727699, 9780671727697
Length480 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Fiction / Classics
Fiction / General
Fiction / Literary
Poetry / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
  
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