Canterbury Tales Study Guide

The Texts

The Friar, the Summoner, the Friar's Prologue and the Friar's Tale Provided by brooklyn.cuny.edu, Middle English with side notes.
Canterbury Tales: Prologue. Parallel texts, provided by Fordham U.
Canterbury Tales. Provided by Michigan U., no notes.
Canterbury Tales. Modern English provided by Universidade de São Paulo.

Reading Quizzes

General Prologue
Introduction to Chaucer, General Prologue, and Miller's Tale
The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale and The Nun's Priest's Tale
The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

Background and Summary

Here are some background readings:

The Canterbury Tales. Background provided by Wikipedia.
The Wife of Bath's Tale. Background provided by Wikipedia.
The Knight's Tale. Background provided by Wikipedia.
The Pardoner's Tale. Background provided by Wikipedia.
The Miller's Tale. Background provided by Wikipedia.
All England. Fun reading provided by the New Yorker.
The Great Vowel Shift
Visualizing Chaucer
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/chaucer_geoffrey.shtml. Provided by the BBC.
Our Canterbury Tales, England. Photos provided by OurWorldforYou.com.

The Middle English Language of Canterbury Tales

Middle English. Provided by David Lynch, British Library.
Middle English Pronunciation. Provided by Historia Lengua Inglesa.
Introducing ME pronunciation. Provided by Alaric Hall.

The Progress of England as a Nation

Historical Context for the Canterbury Tales. Instructional video podcasts in English Literature for students at University School of Nashville, Nashville, TN.

Canterbury Tales and Other Story Cycles

Classroom Activites with Canterbury Tales

Reenactments. Break up into an appropriate number of people per group and then plan a pilgrimage to somewhere on campus or in the city. Decide whether each "pilgrim" should tell a very short story or a joke during this pilgrimage. Have some in another group film this pilgrimage.

Posters. Teams of three will develop posters depicting the key aspects of Canterbury Tales.

Modern settings. Write a short story or one-act play recreating something in Canterbury Tales but in a modern setting.

Back to the schedule page.

Programs and information provided by davidm@austincc.edu.