Canterbury Tales

This work is part of the Great Middle English Poetics. Written by Geoffrey Chaucer " The Father of English Poetry", it was a verse about tales of pilgrims to Canterbury. Note that this work remained unfinished yet as it was the last work of Chaucer. Neville Coghill's fluid translation conveys both the rhyme and readibility.

That the basic human psychology remains the same irrespective of different lands and different epochs.

A must read even if you are not a literature student.

It's a good book

It transports to a world where sun shine was in life, a little ale and mischievous male m females

Good

It was in old English, not in English

EL libro cumplió todas mis expectativas. Lo que más me gustó fue el excelente acabado y calidad de materiales que conforman el libro.

Enjoyable book.

A classic book

classic

This edition of The Canterbury Tales actually contains the tales combined with other poetry (disputedly written or not written by Chaucer), depending on the work. I am no English scholar, so my review, like my knowledge of poetry, is limited. I honestly purchased this work after wishing to know what a chanticleer was. I'm sure you are familiar with the phrase "biting off more than you can chew". Years ago I read Great Expectations, which is not an easy read. The Canterbury Tales made that seem easy. I am not educated enough to explain the form of poetry within, even knowing it is not the iambic pentameter that Shakespeare used. I consider this the Mount Everest of literature. Even modernized in translation, this poetry from the Middle Ages is not simple to read due to two factors: the juxtaposition of the words in each line throws your present-day reading comprehension for a loop, although sometimes you luckily fall into a rhythm, once you get the hang of it. Also, due to the use of Old (?) English terms we may not understand (followed by asterisks), the modern substitutes for them are provided at the end of the line, helpful but requiring one to start a line, jump to the end and then jump back to continue the line. I understand the meaning of "you knew the job was hard when you took it" and my personal quirks required me to finish this important work of literature once I started it. Reading this work required a substantial time investment. Maybe because this material exceeds my intelligence and a true scholar finds it a cake walk. But, honestly, once I finished, I felt like my brain had climbed Everest and was ready for something lighter. Whatever your motivation to read this, your most important qualities are patience and perseverence as you press on. Enjoy what I consider a hard-won battle to read Chaucer and learn about poetry from the Middle Ages and its contribution to English literature.