The Canterbury Tales recounts the stories told by pilgrims to one another as they travel from London to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. This volume contains the introduction to those tales by describing the characters of those making that journey.
The facing page contains Chaucer's original text as it was written in fourteenth century Middle English. Alongside, there is room in the extra-wide outer margins for students to write their own notes on The General Prologue, or perhaps, to define unfamiliar key words.
The reverse side contains a new translation into modern English which differs only slightly from those found elsewhere. Here, each line is translated separately, which means no words have been substituted or borrowed from adjacent lines simply to help maintain the original rhyming structure. Accordingly, this translation adheres very closely to Chaucer's own original meaning; although, in doing so, it may occasionally contain rather more descriptive explanation than is usual in translated works. Nevertheless, this 'word for word' approach will greatly assist those who are new to Chaucer's middle English.
Readers will be pleased to see The General Prologue contains none of the lewdness or vulgarity which can be found in some other Canterbury Tales. In this regard, it is an ideal text to study at both Middle and High School levels.
This volume contains the complete and unabridged text (with line numbers), a helpful new translation together with a personal study notebook. This means it offers excellent value for money.