Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of accounts about a journey pilgrims made to and from the Canterbury Cathedral, composed by British writer Geoffrey Chaucer in the late 1300’s. “Chaucer greatly increased the prestige of English as a literary language and extended the range of its poetic vocabulary and meters” (Encarta 1). In the tales, the host offers a contest to the pilgrims which requires them to tell four stories during their trip . Chaucer ingeniously integrates …

…of the Middle Ages. The Tale of Sir Thopas was an adequate representation of the civilization in which Geoffrey Chaucer tried to emulate. It was a humorous yet descriptive account of the way of life of medieval Englishmen. The episode helped execute Chaucer’s purpose in an accurate and entertaining manner. However, had Chaucer completed the interrupted tale the audience could have had a better insight into Chaucer’s interpretation of the world around him.