Geoffrey Chaucer

The procession that crosses Chaucer's pages is as full of life and as richly textured as a medieval tapestry. The Knight, the Miller, the Friar, the Squire, the Prioress, the Wife of Bath, and others who make up the cast of characters -- including Chaucer himself -- are real people, with human emotions and weaknesses. When it is remembered that Chaucer wrote in English at a time when Latin was the standard literary language across western Europe, the magnitude of his achievement is even more remarkable. But Chaucer's genius needs no historical introduction; it bursts forth from every page of The Canterbury Tales. If we trust the General Prologue, Chaucer intended that each pilgrim should tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two tales on the way back. He never finished his enormous project and even the completed tales were not finally revised. Scholars are uncertain about the order of the tales. As the printing press had yet to be invented when Chaucer wrote his works, The Canterbury Tales has been passed down in several handwritten manuscripts.

As part of Bedford/St. Martin's innovative Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism series, this edition of Wife of Bath contains carefully seclected critical essays which approach the book from several contemporary critical perspectives.

A well-established and respected series. Texts are in the original Middle English, and each has an introduction, detailed notes and a glossary. Selected titles are also available as CD recordings.

Here are tales told by members from all parts of English society of the 14th century, reflecting on life as they travel the road from Southwark to Canterbury.

Six-hundred-year-old tales with modern relevance. As well as the complete text of the Nun's Priest's Prologue and Tale, the student will find illustrated information on Chaucer's world, including a map of the Canterbury pilgrimage, a running synopsis of the action, an explanation of unfamiliar words, and a wide range of classroom-tested activities to help bring the text to life. Guided by the suggestions for study and the wide range of helpful information, students will readily appreciate Chaucer's wit and sense of irony, his love of controversy and his delight in character portrayal.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Presents the text of Chaucer's General Prologue, from the Riverside text with support on the portraits of individual pilgrims. This edition has notes on the text and an Approaches section offering commentary and activities on key themes, such as Chaucer's portrayal of medieval society and his ironical tone.

A well-established and respected series. Texts are in the original Middle English, and each has an introduction, detailed notes and a glossary. Selected titles are also available as CD recordings.

Essential Reading for Students of Medieval LiteratureThe Pardoner's Tale is one of the most interesting of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The tale on its own is a neatly told exemplum on the dangers of greed, but the tale and its prologue also casts a light on one of Chaucer's most interesting characters: the Pardoner himself, and his own love of greed and deception. This edition presents three versions of the General Prologue description of the Pardoner, the Introduction, Prologue and the Tale. The three versions are:Original version in Middle EnglishDual Middle English and Modern English version - with a line by line translation rather than a parallel prose translationModern English versionThere is also a brief introduction to the tale.

Six-hundred-year-old tales with modern relevance. As well as the complete text of the Wife of Bathr's Prologue and Tale, the student will find illustrated information on Chaucer's world, including a map of the Canterbury pilgrimage, a running synopsis of the action, an explanation of unfamiliar words, and a wide range of classroom-tested activities to help bring the text to life. Guided by the suggestions for study and the wide range of helpful information, students will readily appreciate Chaucer's wit and sense of irony, his love of controversy and his delight in character portrayal.

Considered one of Chaucer’s finest poems, second only to The Canterbury Tales in richness and depth, Troilus and Cressida is a tragic love story set against the background of the siege of Troy by the Greeks. Written in the 1380s, it presents Troilus, son of Priam and younger brother of Hector as a Trojan warrior of renown who sees, and falls deeply in love with the beautiful Cressida. Cressida is the daughter of Calchas, a Trojan priest and seer who, having divined the eventual fall of Troy, has deserted to Agamemnon’s camp, leaving his daughter in the besieged city, With the help of Pander, friend to Troilus and uncle to Cressida, the young couple meet and merge – but with unhappy consequences. Chaucer’s long poem is cast in seven-line rhymed stanzas, and is eased out of Middle English to be presented here in a lively modern verse translation by George Philip Krapp, who has retained not only the structure, but its spirit. Emotions run high, the love is intense, the story unfolds with a dramatic urgency that draws the listener ever onwards; yet Chaucer is Chaucer, and there are times when a deft line, a light insinuation, suggests the smile, the benevolence and the immediacy of the author of The Canterbury Tales. Troilus and Cressida, though often overshadowed by the Tales and time (and even Shakespeare who took up the story) is a monument in its own right in the canon of English literature. Once read it will never be forgotten.