GEOFFREY

CHAUCER .
‘’CENTERBURY TALES’’
Geoffrey Chaucer - was born in London sometime
around 1343, though the precise date and location of his
birth remain unknown and died on 25 October 1400
(aged 56–57) . He known as the ,, Father of  English
literature’’, is considered one of the most famous English
poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to be
buried in Poet's Corner  of Westminster Abbey .
Geoffrey Chaucer also was  philosopher , bureaucrat and
diplomat . Chaucer wrote in continental accentual-
syllabic meter, a style which had developed since around
the 12th century as an alternative to the alliterative
Anglo-Saxon metre . Chaucer is known for metrical
innovation, and from inventing the rhyme royal .
 Geoffrey Chaucer also was one of the first English poets
who use the five-stress line .  The arrangement of these
five-stress lines, first seen in his "The Legend of Good
Women" , was used in much of his later work and became
one of the standard poetic forms in English . Chaucer is
sometimes considered the source of the English
vernacular tradition.
During his life he wrote many works . Some of them are :
" Book of Duchess" (1369), " The House of
Fame" (1379-1384) ," The Legend of Good Women
" (1384-1386) and " Troilus and Criseyde "  (1382-1385).
But he is best known today for ,,
The Canterbury Tales,, .
‘’The Canterbury Tales’’ is one of the most famous and most
frustrating works of literature ever written. The tales (mostly
written in verse, although some are in prose ) are presented as
part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they
travel together on a journey from London to Canterbury in
order to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at  Canterbury
Cathedral. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote ‘’The Canterbury Tale’’
between 1387 and 1400. ,,The Canterbury Tales’’ was
written during a turbulent time in English history. This
work appears to develop a critique of society during his
lifetime. He uses the tales and the descriptions of it’s
characters to paint an ironic and critical portrait of
English society at the time, and particularly of the
Church.
The Tales reflect diverse views of the Church in
Chaucer's England . Several characters in the Tales are
religious figures, and the very setting of the pilgrimage
to Canterbury is religious , this thing making religion a
significant theme of the work. Chaucer used classes
and types of people which was without precedent in
English . In present there are 83 surviving manuscripts
of the Canterbury Tales (in whole or part), along with
sixteen of Troilus and Criseyde, including the personal
copy of Henry IV. This is taken as evidence of the tales'
popularity during the century after Chaucer's death
.Fifty-five of ,,The Canterbury Tales’’ manuscripts are
thought to have been complete at one time, while 28
are so fragmentary that it is difficult to ascertain
whether they were copied individually or as part of a
set.
,, The Canterbury Tales ,, is divided into 10 fragments :
 Fragment I (Group A)
General Prologue | The Knight's Tale | The Miller's Prologue | 
The Miller's Tale | The Reeve's Prologue | The Reeve's Tale | 
The Cook's Prologue | The Cook's Tale
 Fragment II (Group B1)
The Lawyer's Introduction | The Lawyer's Prologue | 
The Lawyer's Tale | The Lawyer's Epilogue
 Fragment III (Group D)
The Wife of Bath's Prologue | Words between the Summoner
and the Friar | The Wife of Bath's Tale | The Friar's Prologue | 
The Friar's Tale | The Summoner's Prologue | The Summoner's Tale
 Fragment IV (Group E)
The Student's Prologue | The Student's Tale | Chaucer's Envoy | 
The Merchant's Prologue | The Merchant's Tale | 
The Merchant's Epilogue
 Fragment VI (Group C)
The Physician's Tale | The Pardoner's Introduction | 
The Pardoner's Prologue | The Pardoner's Tale
 Fragment VII (Group B2)
The Skipper's Tale | 
Merry Words of the Host to the Skipper and the Lady Prioress | 
The Prioress's Prologue | The Prioress's Tale | The Prologue of Sir Topaz | 
The Tale of Sir Topaz | The Prologue of the Tale of Melibee | The Tale of
Melibee | The Monk's Prologue | The Monk's Tale | 
The Nun's Priest's Prologue | The Nun's Priest's Tale | 
The Nun's Priest's Epilogue
 Fragment VIII (Group G)
The Second Nun's Prologue | The Second Nun's Tale | 
The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue | The Canon's Yeoman's Tale
 Fragment IX (Group H)
The Manciple's Prologue | The Manciple's Tale
 Fragment X (Group I)
The Parson's Prologue | The Parson's Tale | Chaucer's Retraction
 Geoffrey Chaucer Quotes from "The Canterbury Tales":
"Whanne that April with his shoures sote
The droughte of March hath perced to the rote."
- "Prologue"

"Min be the travaille, and thin be the glorie."

- "The Knight's Tale"

"Loke who that is most vertuous alway,

Prive and apert, and most entendeth ay
To do the gentil dedes that he can,
And take him for the gretest gentilman."
- "The Wife of Bath's Tale"

"Full wise is he that can himselven knowe."

- "The Monk's Tale"
The end