The pilgrims' tales include a variety of medieval genres...

The pilgrims' tales include a variety of medieval genres from the humorous fabliau to the serious homily, and they vividly indicate medieval attitudes and customs in such areas as love, marriage, and religion. Chaucer was a master storyteller and craftsman, but because of a change in the language after 1400, his metrical technique was not fully appreciated until the 18th cent. Only in Scotland in the 15th and 16th cent. did his imitators understand his versification.

Chaucer was among the first to use English to create a great work of poetry, in an age when courtly languages like Latin and French were typically favoured for poetry and stories. Previous…