The Canterbury Tales is a collection of 24 fictional and satirical stories written by English author, poet, philosopher, and diplomat Geoffrey Chaucer, who is commonly regarded as the "father of English literature."

The main story follows the narrator, a fictionalized representation of Chaucer himself, as he joins a large party of pilgrims on their journey to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury. The group meets at the Tabard Inn, where the host Harry Bailly, who is also one of the pilgrims, suggests that each one of them should tell two stories on their way to Canterbury to make the trip more entertaining. The one who is deemed the best storyteller of the group will be awarded with a free meal at the Tabard Inn.

The stories are written in Middle English, specifically in the London dialect. Spelling and grammar were not standardized in medieval England, and the conventions for each varied widely between different cities and regions. The London dialect is generally considered a "standard form" of Middle English, one which most speakers of Modern English can understand with the aid of footnotes and a running gloss. One of the reasons The Canterbury Tales is so significant is because it was one of the first major literary works to be written and published in English rather than Latin or French, which were the established languages of art in the fourteenth century. The Canterbury Tales is a frame narrative (story within a story), and the majority of the stories are written in verse; however, there are also some that are written in prose. Chaucer began writing the stories in the late 1300s and continued to work on them until his death in 1400. Unfortunately, Chaucer died before fully completing his masterwork, and the unfinished tales were published after his death.