Main directions of the English Literature in the Early Middle ages

11. Realistic expression of life in “Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer. In 1386 chaucer began composing his masterpiece “The Canterbury Tales”. “THE CANTERBURY TALES”, for which Chaucer’s name is best remembered, is a long poem with a general introduction (“The Prologue”), the clearest picture of late medieval life. The framework, which serves to connect twenty-four stories, told in verse, is a pilgrimage from London to Canterbury. In the prologue thirty men and women from all ranks of society pass before the readers’ eyes. Chaucer draws a rapid portrait of thirty men and women from all ranks of society, thus showing his characters. Chaucer himself and a certain Harry Bailly, the host of a London inn, are among them. Harry Bailly proposes the following plan: each pilgrim was to tell two stories on the way to the shrine and two on the way back.

The Canterbury Tales are a series of stories written verse. The framework, which serves to connect them, is a pilgrimage to Canterbury. The distance from London to Canterbury is CO miles, but in those days there was no straight road to go by. Pilgrimages of every kind were extremely common in Chaucer's time. Such journeys were no doubt very valuable as a means by which to break the monotony of life in days when there were no newspapers, no printed books, nor any theatres. Many people looked forward to them as to pleasant holiday excursions. The months for these pilgrimages were April and May, because spring is the best season in the British Isles. The most popular English pilgrimage was to Canterbury. Second to Canterbury was the town of Chester where people could see plays based on Bible stories performed in the churches. Pilgrimage towns were crowded with inns and churches. Bells were constantly ringing. Some churches had relics of the saints, and people believed these had the miraculous power to cure diseases. Other people were attracted by the beautiful monuments. At Canterbury Cathedral, there is the shrine of Thomas Becket, a bishop of the 12th century, who struggled against the king for the independence of the Church. He was murdered by the order of King Henry II, and later made a Catholic saint. The pilgrimage was a "democratic institution", which means that rich and poor, noble and peasant rode side by side and stopped at the same inns. Chaucer opens his work with a prologue to the whole work. In the prologue thirty men and women from all ranks of society pass before eyes. Chaucer draws a rapid portrait of each traveller, thus showing his character.