The Canterbury Tales and Other Poems (Annotated)

Differentiated book- It has a historical context with research of the time-The purpose of realizing this historical context is to approach the understanding of a historical epoch from the elements provided by the text. Hence the importance of placing the document in context. It is necessary to unravel what its author or authors have said, how it has been said, when, why and where, always relating it to its historical moment. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of twenty-four short stories written in Middle English by the English writer Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. They were mostly written in verse, although there are two in prose, and are presented as part of a storytelling competition by stories of a group of pilgrims during a trip from London to Canterbury to visit the Tomás Becket shrine in the cathedral of this city. The prize is a meal at the Tabard tavern in Southwark on their return. The stories have a structure similar to Boccaccio's Decameron. The Canterbury Tales is one of the most important works of English literature, and perhaps the best work of the Middle Ages in England. It was the last work of Geoffrey Chaucer, who in 1386 was appointed Comptroller of Customs and Justice of the Peace and in 1389 Scribe of the King's work. The prevailing version of the work today comes from two different English manuscripts, the Ellesmere and the Hengwrt manuscripts. His greatest contribution to English literature was the popularization of vernacular English in literature, as opposed to French, Italian, and Latin. However, English had been used as a literary language centuries before Chaucer, and several of his contemporaries such as John Gower, William Langland, the Poet Pearl, and Juliana of Norwich also wrote prominent literary works in English. It is uncertain to what extent Chaucer was crucial in the evolution of this literary preference.