GEOFFREY CHAUCER

HE WAS…

• English poet and author. Widely considered the greatest English poet
of the Middle Ages.

• Chaucer has been styled the "Father of English literature" and was the
first writer buried in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.

• He is seen as crucial in legitimizing the literary use of the Middle

English vernacular at a time when the dominant literary languages in
England were still French and Latin.
 CANTERBURY TALES

• The Canterbury Tales (Middle English: Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of 24

stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400.

• 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 from London to
Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.

• The prize for this contest is a free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark on their return
TALES
THE WIFE OF BATH'S TALE