Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales

Image taken from: http://www.medievalbookshop.co.uk/ajpics/AJD0082.jpg

Chaucer as many other intellectuals of his era was into philosophy, astronomy and even alchemy. HE was a very smart poet and he is considered, by some people, as the English Literature Father.

One of his most important works is The Canterbury Tales which is the story of some pilgrims traveling to Canterbury Cathedral. This pilgrims narrate their stories, some of they are into the dark side of moral, being corrupted and heretics. The tale also shows the classes (nobles, clerics, poor people) and how they different they are.

Maybe its like kind of a critic for the society at the time, as a joke of how people think and act.

The original is composed of some manuscripts most of which were incomplete and fragmented. the composition is divided in Ten fragments. The controversy arises in phonetic and written transcriptions, this of course for the literary and poetical spheres that like to have everything lyrically and versing.

While doing the research i found that some people considered the Canterbury Tales as a copy of Boccacio's Decameron. Maybe because of the stories told by the characters. However The Canterbury Tales is considered as a masterpiece of literature and it would be good to read it following the historical context of the time and searching the hidden stories and critics of medieval lifestyle.