Canterbury Tales
Southwark pilgrims' narratives
A 14th-century collection of stories by Geoffrey Chaucer, framed as tales told by pilgrims traveling to Canterbury Cathedral.
The work is foundational to English literature, written in Middle English verse and prose.
The phrase sometimes refers to any long, rambling series of stories: His account of the trip turned into a regular Canterbury Tales.
- Middle EnglishLanguage between 1100-1500
- poetWriter of verse
- iambic pentameterUnstressed-stressed pattern, five feet
- coupletsPaired rhyming verse lines
Recounting events aloud
- satireMockery exposing vice
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
- parodySatirical imitation
romance · beast fable · exemplum · prologue · narrator · contest · social commentary · humor
Land-for-service social structure
- chivalryKnightly code of honor
- knightsTitled warriors on horseback
- courtly loveChivalric romantic ideal
- clergyOrdained religious officials collectively
nobility · peasants · guilds · indulgences · plague · manor · social hierarchy · Middle Ages
Geoffrey Chaucer
- Middle EnglishLanguage between 1100-1500
- poetWriter of verse
- iambic pentameterUnstressed-stressed pattern, five feet
storytelling
Recounting events aloud
parody · romance · beast fable · exemplum · prologue · narrator · contest · social commentary · humor · bawdy
feudalism
Land-for-service social structure
- chivalryKnightly code of honor
- knightsTitled warriors on horseback
- courtly loveChivalric romantic ideal
clergy · nobility · peasants · guilds · indulgences · plague · manor · social hierarchy · Middle Ages
pilgrims
Religious journey takers
devotion · penance · relics · saints · martyrdom · sacred · faith · wayside · fellowship · springtime
Miller
Occupational surname for grain-grinders
- Wife of BathChaucerian character, oft-wed
- FriarMendicant order member
- FranklinSurname or locality
- Medieval EnglishLe Morte d'Arthur, Pearl, Brut, Julian of Norwich, Everyman
- medieval textsmanuscripts, Gutenberg Bible, breviary, codices, missals
- British LiteratureShakespeare, Dickens, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Austen
- Classic BooksPride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Moby Dick, Moby-Dick, Great Expectations
- English LiteratureShakespeare, Dickens, Jane Austen, Bronte, Chaucer
- Literary traditionsmythology, folklore, fables, legends, epics
Canterbury TalesParadise Lost
Epic of humanity's expulsion
Beowulf · The Divine Comedy · Pearl · courtly romance · Hamlet
Canterbury TalesUlysses
Greek hero, Latinized
The Waste Land · Finnegans Wake · Paradise Lost · Mrs Dalloway