The Canterbury Tales (Magill Book Reviews)
At a glance:
- Author: Geoffrey Chaucer
- Type of Work: Narrative Poetry
- Genres: Short fiction, Poetry, Frame story, Narrative poetry
- Subjects: Husbands, Wives, Love or romance, England or English people, Adultery, London, Human behavior, Greek or Roman times, Pilgrims or pilgrimages, Middle Ages, Priests, Knights or knighthood, Chivalry
- Locales: London, England, Canterbury, England
It is April. Thirty pilgrims have gathered at the Tabard Inn just south of London prior to departure for the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket, martyred in his cathedral at Canterbury two centuries earlier.
Socially they range from the Franklin, a wealthy landowner, to the Plowman; morally from the Parson, who has taught Christ’s word (“but first he followed it himself”) to the Pardoner, a rascally confidence man. The proprietor of the Tabard offers to accompany them as Host and suggests that they entertain themselves on the way by telling stories in turn; the teller of the...
[The entire page is 553 words long]
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