The Canterbury Tales

Chaucer’s tales of his motley band of travelers on their pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas a Becket have become legendary and still represent in John Dryden’s words, “God’s plenty”.
The Canterbury Tales, compiled in the late fourteenth century, is an incisive portrait, infused with Chaucer’s wry wit and vibrant, poetical language. He evokes a spectrum of colorful characters, from the bawdy Wife of Bath to the gallant Knight, the fastidious Prioress and the burly, drunken Miller. As they wend their way from Southwark to Canterbury, tales are told to pass the time, and the stories are as diverse as the narrators, encompassing themes such as adultery, revenge, courtly love, lechery, avarice and penitence.
As humorous today as when it was written over six centuries ago, The Canterbury Tales remains one of the most popular and enjoyable of the classic works of literature.