Canterbury Quintet: A Reader-Friendly Edition

Experience five of Chaucer's most popular stories from his Canterbury Tales: The General Prologue, Miller's Tale, Pardoner's Tale, Wife of Bath's Tale, and the Nun's Priest Tale. This version of Canterbury Tales is different from the other editions that we carry because the text is presented entirely in Old Englishbut with modernized spelling. This keeps the text true to what Chaucer originally wrote, but makes it much easier for students to understand. For a comparison, the opening lines of the Prologue in Old English were originally written thus: Whan that Auerylle with his shoures soote/ The droghte of March hath perced to the roote/And bathed euery veyne in swich lycour This book presents this same passage with modernized spelling as follows: When that April with his showers soot/ The drought of March hath pierced to the root/ And bathed every vein in such liquor(Now, isn't that easier to understand?). For additional help, brief modern "translations" of archaic words and phrases appear in the margins, and footnotes located at the bottom of the pages provide more detailed explanations that assist in understanding passages of Chaucer's text. Other features in the book include a biography of Chaucer and an alphabetical glossary of selected vocabulary words. Edited by Michael Murphy. 176 pgs, pb. ~ Lisa