‘Now as I’ve drunk a draught of corn-ripe ale,
By God it stands to reason I can strike
On some good story that you will all like’
In The Canterbury Tales Chaucer created one of the great touchstones of English literature, a masterly collection of chivalric romances, moral allegories and low farce. A story-telling competition between a group of pilgrims from all walks of life is the occasion for a series of tales that range from the Knight’s account of courtly love and the ebullient Wife of Bath’s Arthurian legend, to the ribald anecdotes of the Miller and the Cook. Rich and diverse, The Canterbury Tales offer us an unrivalled glimpse into the life and mind of medieval England.
Nevill Coghill’s masterly and vivid modern English verse translation is rendered with consummate skill to retain all the vigour and poetry of Chaucer’s fourteenth-century Middle English.
