The Canterbury Tales

In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer offers a poetry first published in 1400. The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems is a collection of stories written chiefly from 1387 to 1400. A group of pilgrims journey to Canterbury, each tasked with telling tales along the way. Held together by this frame story, the work remains unfinished, fewer than a quarter of the projected tales were completed before Chaucer's death. The intended order of the tales is uncertain, with various arrangements appearing across different manuscripts. Questions surrounding Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400, Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages, and English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500 deepen the book beyond its surface movement. Form and tone matter throughout, with a compressed, musical style in which rhythm, image, and sound shape meaning. At roughly 157,917 words with a fairly easy reading profile, it offers a reading commitment that is easy to judge before beginning while still leaving room for close attention. Its continuing value lies in its contribution to poetic tradition and its invitation to reread slowly. It remains worth reading for the precision with which it turns Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400 and Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages into a sustained literary experience.