The Canterbury Tales - Literary Touchstone EditionPrestwick House, Incorporated, 2005 - 128 pages This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition includes a glossary, sidebars, and reader's notes to help the modern reader appreciate Chaucer's richly layered tales.Includes General Prologue and Five Most Popular TalesIn 1367, King Edward III of England addressed Parliament in the crude language of the masses?English. Before then, the language of the Court and aristocracy had been French, and the language of the University and Church was Latin. In that same year, Geoffrey Chaucer, a young man in the court of the King, began to translate poetry from French into English. He would soon begin to write his own poetry in English'against the best advice from literary and scholarly friends, who insisted that no one would read works written in this vulgar language.They were wrong, and six hundred years later, The Canterbury Tales still reverberates with the keen observations and acerbic wit of this first truly English poet. Chaucer's understanding of human nature has given the world some of the most unforgettable characters in English literature. Travel with the Knight, the Miller, the irrepressible Wife of Bath, and the rest of the pilgrims to Canterbury as they tell the tales that have delighted, instructed, and shocked six centuries of readers. |
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Canterbury Tales: Literary Touchstone Classic - Revised Edition Geoffrey Chaucer Limited preview - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
Absalom Aegeus Alison anon Arcita arms Athens began blood Canterbury Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Tales carpenter Chanticleer Chaucer Christ church clerk clever Nicholas cloth court Creon cried dead dear death dreams Duke Theseus Emily eyes fair fire friars gentle Geoffrey Chaucer glossary God's gold gone grace head hear heard heart holy honour host husband Jesus King kiss knew Knight's tale lady lives lord merry monk naught never night noble Nun's Priest's TALE Osney Palamon pardoner Pertelote Philostrates Pirithous pity play poor pray prison queen quoth replied ride rode Romeo and Juliet Saint sang slain slay sleep sore sorrow speak spoke story sweet tale tell Thebes thing Thomas a Becket thou thought told town truly unto wife Wife of Bath wine wise wives women word worthy