Canterbury Tales

Canterbury Tales, best-known work of English poet Geoffrey Chaucer, written between 1387 and his death in 1400. In 17,000 lines (mostly heroic couplets) it describes a party of 30 pilgrims going to the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket, and their plan to tell 4 tales each on the journey. Only 24 tales were written, 4 of them unfinished, but the work presents a vivid cross section of medieval society and the tales cover most medieval literary genres.

See also: Chaucer, Geoffrey.