The Canterbury Tales A Prose Version in Modern English [Paperback]

A clear modern prose translation of Chaucer’s masterpiece of Middle English storytelling by the acclaimed poet David Wright.
 
The Canterbury Taleshas entertained readers for centuries, with its comic animal fables, moral allegories, miniature epics of courtly love, and rollicking erotic farces that bring fourteenth-century England to life on every page. The gloriously varied stories, narrated by a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, are peopled with saints, sinners, and ordinary mortals in a vivid panorama of the medieval world. This prose translation renders these tales as accessible and irresistible to modern readers as they were to Chaucer’s contemporaries.“A delight . . . [Raffel’s translation] provides more opportunities to savor the counterpoint of Chaucer’s earthy humor against passages of piercingly beautiful lyric poetry.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Masterly . . . This new translation beckons us to make our own pilgrimage back to the very wellsprings of literature in our language.” —Billy Collins

“The Canterbury Taleshas remained popular for seven centuries. It is the most approachable masterpiece of the medieval world, and Mr. Raffel’s translation makes the stories even more inviting.”—Wall Street Journal
GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1343–1400) was England’s most famous medieval poet and writer, sometimes called the father of English literature.
 
DAVID WRIGHT (1920–1994) was born in South Africa and died in England. He was a poet who drew inspiration fromBeowulfandThe Canterbury Tales, both of which he translated into modern English.The Knight’s Tale

The old legends tell us there was once a Duke called Theseus who was lord and ruler of Athens. In his time there was no mightier conqueror under the sun. He had overrun many rich kingdoms, and by his generalship anlc°