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The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in
prose, the rest in verse). The tales, some of
which are originals and others not, are contained inside a frame tale and told
by a group of pilgrims on their way from Southwark to Canterbury, England (where a tourist attraction entitled The Canterbury Tales may nowadays be
viewed) to visit Saint Thomas à Becket's shrine at the cathedral there
(later destroyed by Henry VIII ).
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| Canterbury Tales Woodcut 1484 |
The themes of the tales vary, and include topics such as courtly love, treachery and avarice. The genres also vary, and
include romance, Breton lai,
sermon, and fabliau. The characters, introduced in the Prologue of the book, tell
tales of extreme cultural relevance.
The Tales include:
- The Knight's Tale
- The Miller's Prologue and
Tale
- The Reeve's Prologue and Tale
- The Cook's Prologue and Tale
- The Man of Law's Prologue and Tale
- The Wife of Bath's
Prologue and Tale
- The Friar's Prologue and Tale
- The Summoner's Prologue and Tale
- The Clerk's Prologue and Tale
- The Merchant's Prologue and Tale
- The Squire's Prologue and Tale
- The Franklin's Prologue and
Tale
- The Physician's
Tale
- The Pardoner's Prologue and
Tale
- The Shipman's
Tale
- The Prioress' Prologue and Tale
- Chaucer's Tale of Sir Topas
- The Tale of
Melibee
- The Monk's Tale
- The
Nun's Priest's Tale
- The Second Nun's Prologue and Tale
- The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue and Tale
- The Manciple's Prologue and
Tale
- The Parson's Prologue and
Tale
- Chaucer's Retraction
Some of the tales are serious and others are humorous; however, all are very precise in describing the traits and faults of
human nature. Religious malpractice is a major theme. Another important element of the tales is their focus on the division of
the three estates. The work is incomplete, as it was
originally intended that each character would tell four tales, two on the way to Canterbury and two on the return journey.
It is sometimes argued that the greatest contribution that this work made to English literature was in popularising the use of
vulgar (i.e. 'of the people') English (rather than French or Latin) as a
literary language. However, several of Chaucer's contemporaries - John Gower,
William Langland, and the Pearl Poet - also wrote major literary works in English, making it unclear how much Chaucer was
responsible for starting a trend rather than simply being part of it.
The structure of Canterbury Tales is also easy to find in other contemporary works, such as Boccaccio's Decameron, which may have been one of Chaucer's main sources of inspiration.
The title of the work has become an everyday phrase in the language and has been variously adapted and adopted, eg. in the
title of the British film, A Canterbury Tale. Recently an animated version of some of the tales has been produced for
British television. As well as a version with Modern English dialogue, there were versions in Middle English and Welsh.
External links
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