The Canterbury Tales
Overview
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories
Stories
Stories may refer to:* Height of more than one Storey * Stories , a greatest hits compilation album by Randy Stonehill...

 written in Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....

 by Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...

 at the end of the 14th century. The tales (mostly in verse
Verse
- Poetry :* Verse , a metrical structure, a stanza* Blank verse is a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme* Free verse is a type of poetry written without the use of strict meter or rhyme, but is still recognized as poetry...

, although some are in prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...

) are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...

 to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....

. The prize for this contest is a free meal at the Tabard Inn
The Tabard
The Tabard, an inn that stood on the east side of Borough High Street in Southwark, was established in 1307, when the abbot of Hyde purchased the land to construct a hostel for himself and his brethren, when business took them to London, as well as an inn to accommodate the numerous pilgrims headed...

 at Southwark on their return.

Following a long list of works written earlier in his career, including Troilus and Criseyde
Troilus and Criseyde
Troilus and Criseyde is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Criseyde set against a backdrop of war in the Siege of Troy. It was composed using rime royale and probably completed during the mid 1380s. Many Chaucer scholars regard it...

, House of Fame, and Parliament of Fowls, the Canterbury Tales was Chaucer's magnum opus
Magnum opus
Magnum opus , from the Latin meaning "great work", refers to the largest, and perhaps the best, greatest, most popular, or most renowned achievement of a writer, artist, or composer.-Related terms:Sometimes the term magnum opus is used to refer to simply "a great work" rather than "the...

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