Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales

by Gail Ashton

Detailed textual analysis of the tales of the Miller, the Nun's Priest, the Wife of Bath and the Pardoner, as well as the General Prologue, invites the reader to sharpen critical faculties, extend knowledge and engage with the text itself in order to appreciate the work of this fascinating, complex and surprisingly modern writer more fully. This study has something for expert and student alike, as it demonstrates various approaches that can be adopted to learn about style, structure, multiple voices and the key themes of Chaucer's work. It offers careful support and a thoughtful framework upon which to base analysis and challenges to form ideas and opinions.

206 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1998

About the author

Gail Ashton is an academic, writer and poet with research and publishing interests in medieval and women's literature, poetry and contemporary literary theory. Recent books include Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (Continuum, 2007) and the co-edited Teaching Chaucer (Palgrave, 2007).