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Updating antique spelling preserves literary voice for modern readers

Modernizing fourteenth-century orthography allows readers without specialized linguistic training to experience early English masterpieces directly. D. Laing Purves retains essential rhymes and archaic terms where metre demands, removing unnecessary transcriber noise while avoiding full translation. Chaucer laid the foundation of English verse in the mid-fourteenth century, followed two centuries later by Edmund Spenser. Clearing away dusty scribal quirks brings the vivid portraits of medieval society back into clear view.

PREFACE. → LIFE OF GEOFFREY CHAUCER.

A shared journey brings contrasting social classes into equal dialogue

April rains trigger a gathering of twenty-nine pilgrims at the Tabard inn in Southwark, all bound for Canterbury to visit St. Thomas Becket's shrine. Harry Bailly, the host, organizes a story competition among travelers spanning every layer of estate, from the noble Knight and courtly Squire to the humble Yeoman. Each pilgrim is described through precise details of clothing, equipment, and personal habits. This shared road forces highborn knights, churchmen, and tradesmen to interact as social equals.

THE CANTERBURY TALES. → THE PROLOGUE.

Noble ideals crumble when passion transforms sworn brotherhood into rivalry

Duke Theseus returns victorious to Athens with Queen Hippolyta and her sister Emily, bringing captive Theban knights Palamon and Arcite. Imprisoned in a tower, both knights fall instantly in love with Emily upon seeing her in the garden below, instantly shattering their oath of brotherhood. Release and banishment lead both men back to Athens in disguise, where Theseus discovers them fighting fiercely in a grove. Rather than executing them, the Duke organizes a formal tournament with grand temples dedicated to Mars, Venus, and Diana to resolve their rivalry.

THE KNIGHT’S TALE <1> → THE TALE.

Drunken vulgarity provokes retaliatory stories among rival tradesmen

Robin the drunk Miller interrupts the Host's order of storytelling by bellowing a bawdy tale about an old carpenter cuckolded by a clever student named Nicholas. Oswald the Reeve, a former carpenter himself, takes personal offense at the Miller's mockery and vows immediate revenge. He responds with a Tale detailing how two Cambridge clerks outwit and humiliate a thieving miller named Simpkin. The feud demonstrates how personal insults and professional rivalries drive the informal competition along the pilgrimage route.

THE REEVE’S TALE. → THE TALE.

Time slips away relentlessly while legal duty demands absolute performance

The Host checks the sun's shadow on April twenty-eighth to calculate that mid-morning has already arrived, warning the company against wasting precious hours. He calls upon the Man of Law to fulfill his initial agreement and deliver a worthy story. The Sergeant of Law agrees in formal Anglo-Norman legal terms, noting that keeping one's promise is a primary civic duty. He claims Chaucer has already catalogued all notable romantic heroines in his Legend of Good Women, leaving him to speak in plain prose.

THE MAN OF LAW’S TALE. → THE TALE. <1>

Female sovereignty forms the core of domestic harmony and marital bliss

Dame Alice of Bath relies on her personal experience of five marriages rather than clerical authority to argue that multiple marriages are entirely lawful. She details how she dominated her elderly husbands through sharp speech, calculated jealousy, and control over marital property. Her tale follows a knight of King Arthur's court who must learn what women desire most to avoid execution. An ugly hag grants him the answer—sovereignty over their partners—and transforms into a young, faithful wife when he yields total control to her.

THE WIFE OF BATH’S TALE. → THE TALE.

Greed disguised as pious begging invites grotesque and humiliating vengeance

Enraged by the Friar's story depicting a summoner taken to hell, the Summoner delivers a blistering retaliatory attack on mendicant friars. He depicts friars nesting inside Satan in the underworld before shifting to a story set in marshy Holderness. A hypocritical friar moves house to house begging for money for his convent while offering empty spiritual promises to a sick villager named Thomas. Fed up with the friar's insatiable avarice, Thomas promises a hidden gift that results in a absurdly humiliating physical joke.

THE SOMPNOUR’S TALE. → THE TALE.<1>

Self-deluded old age buys betrayal by treating marriage as mere indulgence

The Merchant steps forward, bitterly lamenting his two months of marriage to a deceitful woman whose wickedness surpasses the legendary patience of Griselda. He tells of January, a sixty-year-old Lombard knight who foolishly marries a young woman named May, convinced that marriage is a terrestrial paradise. January builds a walled garden for their private pleasures, but sudden blindness leaves him vulnerable to May's affair with his young squire Damian. Even when Jupiter restores January's sight mid-betrayal, May easily persuades him to disbelieve his own eyes.

THE MERCHANT’S TALE. → THE TALE.<l>

Exotic gifts from distant lands stir imagination with artificial wonder

King Cambuscan of Tartary celebrates his twentieth year of reign at Sarra with a grand feast attended by his sons Algarsife and Camballo and daughter Canace. A mysterious knight arrives bearing four magic gifts from the King of Arabia: a brass horse capable of instant flight, a mirror revealing incoming danger, a ring permitting speech with birds, and a sword that cuts through any armor. Canace uses the ring to hear a falcon lament her lover's infidelity. The tale breaks off, showcasing exotic eastern chivalry and mechanical marvels.

THE SQUIRE’S TALE. → THE TALE.

Purity chooses death over submission to corrupt judicial tyranny

Virginius, a noble Roman knight, possesses an exceptionally virtuous fourteen-year-old daughter named Virginia, whose natural beauty and moral purity outshine artistic creation. A corrupt judge named Apius covets Virginia and conspires with a villain named Claudius to claim she is a kidnapped slave. When Apius awards custody of the girl to Claudius, Virginius realizes escape is impossible. Virginia chooses death over dishonor, asking her father to strike off her head, which he delivers directly to the corrupt court.

THE DOCTOR’S TALE. → THE TALE.

Treachery and avarice turn a quest against death into mutual destruction

The Host is deeply shaken by Virginia's death and demands a merry story, but the Pardoner pauses at a roadside alehouse to eat and drink. In a remarkably frank confession, the Pardoner explains how he uses false relics and emotional sermons on avarice solely to extract money from gullible villagers. His moral tale follows three drunken Flemish rascals who set out to kill Death during a plague. Guided by an old man to a tree filled with gold coins, their greed turns them against each other until all three perish.

THE PARDONER’S TALE. → THE TALE. <1>

Devotional innocence withstands violence through miraculous divine intercession

The Host courteously invites the Prioress to speak next, and she begins with a solemn hymn praising the Virgin Mary. Her story concerns a seven-year-old Christian schoolboy living in an Asian city who reverently learns the hymn Alma Redemptoris Mater. As he walks daily through the Jewish quarter singing the hymn, assassins murder him and throw his body into a pit. Miraculously, the boy continues singing clearly through a pearl placed on his tongue by Mary, revealing the crime to his mother and the city magistrate.

THE PRIORESS’S TALE. → THE TALE <1>

Patient deliberation and forgiveness overcome impulsive urges for violent…

The Host cuts short Chaucer's doggerel rhyme of Sir Thopas, calling it tedious drafty speech, and demands a serious narrative in prose. Chaucer responds with a lengthy moral treatise about a wealthy young man named Melibœus whose home is invaded by enemies while he is away. His daughter Sophia suffers five wounds, driving Melibœus into a vengeful rage. His wise wife Prudence restrains his anger through patient counsel, quoting scripture and philosophers to demonstrate that peaceful reconciliation is far superior to endless blood feuds.

CHAUCER’S TALE OF MELIBŒUS. → THE TALE.<1>

Fortune turns unexpectedly, bringing the mighty down into tragic ruin

The Host complains about his aggressive wife Goodelief before asking Dan Piers the Monk for a lively story. The Monk responds with a solemn catalog of seventeen historical and mythological figures who fell from high prosperity into utter ruin. He details the tragic demises of Lucifer, Adam, Samson, Hercules, Nebuchadnezzar, Croesus, Alexander, and Julius Caesar. The relentless parade of fallen rulers continues until the Knight finally intervenes, stating that hearing of sudden falls causes great distress and demanding a cheerier tale.

THE MONK’S TALE. → THE TALE. <1>

Active spiritual labor protects the faithful from the snare of sloth

The Second Nun begins her tale by warning that idleness is the porter of vices that allows the devil to ensnare unsuspecting souls. She invokes the Virgin Mary before recounting the holy life and martyrdom of Saint Cecilia. On her wedding night, Cecilia persuades her noble husband Valerian to respect her vow of virginity, leading to his conversion by Pope Urban and a vision of an angel bearing crowns of roses and lilies. Cecilia's steadfast faith withstands tortures and executions, inspiring widespread Christian conversions.

THE SECOND NUN’S TALE <1> → THE TALE. <1>

Unrestrained speech brings severe punishment while silence remains a safeguard

Approaching Bob-up-and-down near Canterbury, the Host tries to rouse the heavily intoxicated London Cook, who falls off his horse from drunkenness. The Manciple steps in to take his turn, offering the Cook wine to appease him before telling his story. He relates how Apollo kept a white crow that could sing and imitate human speech. When the crow reveals that Apollo's wife has been unfaithful, Apollo slays his wife in a fit of rage, then punishes the bird by plucking its white feathers, removing its song, and turning it black.

THE MANCIPLE’S TALE. → THE TALE. <1>

True pilgrimage requires spiritual repentance rather than entertaining fables

As afternoon shadows lengthen to four o'clock, the Host asks the Parson to finish the storytelling competition with a final tale. The Parson refuses to tell idle fables, quoting Saint Paul to emphasize that Christians should sow truth rather than chaff. He offers a lengthy prose sermon detailing the true spiritual pilgrimage to the Celestial Jerusalem. His treatise systematically breaks down the Seven Deadly Sins and explains the necessary components of true repentance—contrition, confession, and satisfaction—bringing the Canterbury journey to a solemn religious conclusion.

THE PARSON’S TALE. → THE COURT OF LOVE.

Love elevates the human heart despite the cynical insults of detractors

The narrator wanders into a May garden at dawn to hear the nightingale, but suffers the bad omen of hearing the cuckoo first. A lively debate breaks out between the two birds regarding the nature of love. The cuckoo mocks love as a source of sorrow, illness, and foolish delusion, while the nightingale passionately defends love as an exalting, purifying force that brings true honor and virtue. When the nightingale breaks down in tears, the narrator drives the cuckoo away with a stone.

THE CUCKOO AND THE NIGHTINGALE.

Natural order allows reasoned choice when resolving competing claims of love

After reading Cicero's Dream of Scipio, the poet falls asleep and is guided by Scipio Africanus to a lush garden where nature sits enthroned on Valentine's Day. All birds gather to choose their mates, with three noble eagles presenting competing claims for a beautiful female eagle. The birds of prey, water-fowl, worm-fowl, and seed-fowl debate the dispute, each offering perspectives shaped by their station. Nature ultimately defers to the female eagle's desire for a year's delay, affirming that love requires mutual consent rather than forced coercion.

THE ASSEMBLY OF FOWLS. → THE FLOWER AND THE LEAF

Public reputation is governed by capricious chance rather than true merit

The dreamer is carried into the sky by a golden eagle who explains the physics of sound and how all earthly words travel to the House of Fame. Arriving at a palace built atop a melting mountain of ice, the poet observes minstrels, jugglers, and ancient historians supporting the names of empires. The goddess Fame grants or denies renown to crowds of petitioners based entirely on whim rather than desert. Nearby, a whirling house of twigs processes endless rumors, assigning names and durations to every piece of earthly news.

THE HOUSE OF FAME → THE THIRD BOOK.

Unforeseen separation transforms romantic ecstasy into grief and betrayal

Troilus experiences complete happiness in his union with Cressida, celebrating their shared passion and exchange of vows in Troy. Their joy is shattered when Trojan authorities agree to exchange Cressida for the captured warrior Antenor, sending her to the Greek camp. Troilus and Cressida tearfully promise absolute fidelity, with Cressida pledging to return within ten days. Once among the Greeks, however, the persistence of Diomedes and the pressure of circumstances cause Cressida to betray Troilus, leaving him in desolate grief.

THE FOURTH BOOK → THE FIFTH BOOK.

Royal commands redirect poetic talent toward defending womanly fidelity

In a May dream, the poet wanders through a meadow praising the daisy when the God of Love and Queen Alcestis appear. The God of Love severely scolds the poet for writing Troilus and Cressida and translating the Romance of the Rose, accusing him of spreading heresy against love's servants. Queen Alcestis defends Chaucer, pointing out his long service in poetry and persuading the God to assign a penance instead of punishment. She commands the poet to compose a series of stories celebrating faithful women who suffered for love.

CHAUCER’S DREAM. → THE PROLOGUE TO THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN.

Precision in scribal copying is essential to preserve poetic integrity

Chaucer opens his devotional collection with an alphabetical hymn to the Virgin Mary, offering a structured prayer for mercy and salvation. Subsequent short poems include a graceful ballad dedicated to a noble lady and direct personal verses addressing his scribe Adam. Chaucer scolds Adam for careless transcription of Troilus and Boece, noting that frequent errors require him to rub and scrape the parchment to correct mistakes. The collection ends with a sharp reminder that textual accuracy requires meticulous professional discipline.

C. → CHAUCER’S WORDS TO HIS SCRIVENER.

Book

The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems

Readers gain a comprehensive view of fourteenth-century English life, courtly romance, satire, and medieval poetic craft.

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