Chaucer, Geoffrey Books

The Canterbury Tales (Penguin Classics)

Geoffrey Chaucer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Too bad I bought this book. 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 46 people found this review helpful.

I find it very unfortunate that I wasted my money on this book when I could have read the entire story on the Internet. Of course, the story is out of copyright, and you'll find it all over the Internet, in complete.

Don't waste your money like I did. Even worse, I never even read the book.

My rating is only on the size of the book, because like I said, I never read it, and I am forced to issue a rating (I only wanted to enter a comment).

The Hobo Philosopher 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I suppose that any freshman college student has read some of these Tales. I had a professor who read a few of them to us in the Olde English. It was really fun and you really got a grasp of where the English language was coming from - and poetry.
I went on from my English class and read the whole works. They are good, classic short stories. You are really going back to the basics here. The stories are all easy to read and are about the everyday type people and their everyday lives. You get classic English literature, history, short story writing techniques, and the roots of the English language all in one medium sized book. Can't beat it. It's a bargain.

Editorial Review:

With their astonishing diversity of tone and subject matter, The Canterbury Tales have become one of the touchstones of medieval literature.

Translated here into modern English, these tales of a motley crowd of pilgrims drawn from all walks of life-from knight to nun, miller to monk-reveal a picture of English life in the fourteenth century that is as robust as it is representative.

Translated by Nevill Coghill

The Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 82 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Children's Version! Not for the literary afficianado... 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I was trying to find an illustrated version of the original Chaucer as a wedding gift for a friend of mine, and found this one. I didn't realize (my fault--it's in the Publisher's Weekly review) that this was a child's version of the classic. The illustrations are nice, and, quite frankly, I haven't read the author's interpretation, but I wanted to make it clear to folks that it's not the original text, nor even an unabridged translation.

canterbury tale review 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

What would it be like if you had to make a very long journey on horse back? Pretty boring, right? But what if someone had the brilliant idea of telling stories on the way there? That would make the trip go a lot faster. This is the premise of the Canterbury Tales. There are a lot of people who all want to go to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. They all met at a pub when the pub owner said that they should all tell one story on the way there and one on the way back. The version of the Canterbury tales only consists of four of the one hundred twenty eight that were told.
The first story that is told by the Nun's priest. This story is about a poor widow who lives on a farm. As you get further in this story it starts retelling the story of a chicken and a hen. This chicken had many wonderful hens around him. "This noble rooster ruled over seven hens, whose work it was to please him. They were his sisters and his wives." (pg. 20) But there was one hen named Lady Pertelote that he liked the most. One night he had a dream about a fox eating him. The next morning he told Lady Pertelote and she thought it didn't mean anything. A couple of days later a fox tricked him to shut his eyes and then the fox snuck up behind him and snatched him in his mouth. He was saved by the widow.
The next person to tell was the pardoner. His story was about greed. There were three people who were searching for death because they heard of all the horrible things he had done and wanted to kill him. While on their way they met an old man who told the men, "If you're so anxious to find Death, turn up this crooked road. I left him in that grove, under a tree and there he'll stay." (pg. 41) So that's what they did. When they got there they saw a sack full of gold and decided not to chase after Death but take the gold by night. They decided for one of them to go into the city and get wine to celebrate. The person that went was the youngest of them all. While he was gone the two thought up a plan to kill the third one so that they only had to split the money between them. The third boy wanted the money all to himself so he poisoned two of the bottles of wine and left one free of poison for himself. As he got the tree the two men killed him and they celebrated by drinking the wine and they died too. In the end they all got there wish. They met Death.
Those two were my favorite and the next two are by the Wife of Bath and the Franklin. The wife of Bath is about a man who threatens the life of another if they don't tell him what women want. The franklin's tale is about women who loved a man who left her and she was very sad. Nothing could make her feel better. If you want to know what happens at the end of these stories you'll have to read the book.
Historically this book is very good. It is based in the year of 1386. It show the life style of people who lived in the middle ages. It taught me that not all people were rich back then. It is historically spot on but the thing about this book is because it was written in the middle ages all the living conditions are right but it's very whimsical. Chickens can't talk, and Death isn't a person. In a way it shows how people thought back then. It tells us that some people might have wanted to meet death. Maybe in a physical way because they wanted to die or they just wanted to see someone death took away from them.
The reason I liked this book was because of the old English. I like taking in the metaphors and deciphering it. If you like Shakespeare then you'll most likely like this book. It is very whimsical and magical. It shows the people in the middle ages in a very metaphorical way. This book shows how life can be mystical and great even when you don't except it.

The Canterbury Tales (Puffin Classics)

Geoffrey Chaucer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Just say "no!" to translations 1 out of 5 stars.
16 of 37 people found this review helpful.

If you're going to read the Canterbury Tales, read them in the original Middle English (which is alot more understandable than Old English and much closer to our own Modern English). You will surely miss out on the rhythm, poetry, and humor of these fabulous stories were you to read them in translation. I would recommend the Riverside Chaucer instead.

Fun to read 5 out of 5 stars.
16 of 19 people found this review helpful.

If you want a modern english version that's funny and easy to read, this is the book for you. If you are looking for something scholarly and/or more difficult to read, get a different version.

Teacher's Delight 4 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Finally, help in getting children to comprehending and enjoy the art of Old English Ballads and the historical value of the storyteller.

This is not the Canterbury Tales! 1 out of 5 stars.
8 of 20 people found this review helpful.

This is a retelling of the Canterbury Tales, very simplified...in some cases leaving out the best parts! I believe it may have been originally intended safe for children.

If you're looking for a translation into modern English, keep looking. I am.

Editorial Review:

Here are tales told by members from all parts of English society of the 14th century, reflecting on life as they travel the road from Southwark to Canterbury.

The Canterbury Tales (Norton Critical Editions)

Geoffrey Chaucer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This Norton Critical Edition includes the most admired of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Each is presented in the original language, with normalized spelling and substantial annotations for modern readers. Among the new added to the Second Edition are the much-requested "Merchant's Tale" and the "Tale of Sir Thopas."

"Sources and Backgrounds" are included for the General Prologue and for most of the tales, enabling students to understand The Canterbury Tales in light of relevant medieval ideas and attitudes and inviting comparison between Chaucer's work and his sources.

"Criticism" includes nine essays, four of them new to this edition, by leading Chaucerians, among them F. R. H. DuBoulay, E. Talbot Donaldson, Barbara Nolani, and Lee Patterson.

A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.

The Riverside Chaucer (Oxford Paperbacks)

Geoffrey Chaucer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

sitting on the dock of a bay... 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 13 people found this review helpful.

To gauge Chaucer's merit as a poet and as a HUMAN is in our time demanding and therefore questionable. Velleity MAY yield amusement. I will quote Ezra Pound:

"Anyone who is too lazy to master the comparatively small glossary necessary to understand Chaucer deserves to be shut out from the reading of good books for ever. ... As to the relative merits of Chaucer and Shakespeare, English opinion has been bamboozled for centuries by a love of the stage, the glamour of the theatre, the love of bombastic rhetoric and of sentimentalizing over actors and actresses; these, plus the national laziness and unwillingness to make the least effort, have completely obscured the values."

Pound the iconoclast. He does however wake one up to something beyond conjecture:

"Chaucer wrote when reading was no disgrace... Chaucer really does comprehend the thought as well as the life of his time... The Wife of Bath's theology is not a mere smear... 'conseilling is nat comandement.' Chaucer wrote while England was still a part of Europe. He was more compendious than Dante. ...Chaucer uses French art, the art of Provence, the verse art come from the troubadours. He is La Grand Translateur. He had found a new language, he had it largely to himself, with the grand opportunity. Nothing spoiled, nothing worn out. Dante had had a similar opportunity, and taken it, with a look over his shoulder and a few Latin experiments. ...Chaucer and Shakespeare have both an insuperable courage in tackling any, but absolutely any, thing that arouses their interest..."

It goes on and on. One CAN trace the metamorphoses of English verse. Its origin is with Chaucer.

Editorial Review:

This peerless new edition of Chaucer's complete works is the fruit of many years' study, and replaces Robinson's famous edition, long regarded as the standard text. Freshly edited and annotated, the Riverside Chaucer is now the indispensable edition for students and readers of Chaucer.

Troilus and Cressida

Geoffrey Chaucer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

misleading information 1 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Your web-page is misleading. It quotes, and the image displays, the Middle English original of the poem. The inside pages shown are from the Middle English edition. However, (and the modernized title should be a giveaway, but it wasn't) the edition on this page is in modern English -- a translation, not Chaucer's poem. You need to clean up this page, take away the Middle English quotations, state that it's a modern translation, and refer the prospective buyer to the actual, modernized edition -- which the buyer may or may not want (in my case I did not), with assistance in finding the actual Middle English masterpiece.

Editorial Review:

The tragedy of Troilus and Criseyde is one of the greatest narrative poems in English literature. Set during the siege of Troy, it tells how the young knight Troilus, son of King Priam, falls in love with Criseyde, a beautiful widow. Brought together by Criseyde’s uncle, Pandarus, the lovers are then forced apart by the events of war, which test their oaths of fidelity and trust to the limits. Described by editor Barry Windeatt as Chaucer’s “most ambitious single achievement, his masterpiece,” Troilus and Criseyde is the first work in English to depict human passion with such sympathy and understanding.

The Canterbury Tales: (original-spelling edition) (Penguin Classics)

Geoffrey Chaucer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Worth its weight in gold 5 out of 5 stars.
51 of 52 people found this review helpful.

I bought this Penguin Classics edition of Chaucer last year during a visit to Canterbury. I already owned the modernized edition edited by the late Nevill Coghill, but I figured: Hey, I'm in Canterbury--I have to buy a copy. So I bought this one.
For starters, this is the complete text of the Tales, and it is in the original Middle English. While the language may take a while to get used to (for beginners, especially) it's a blast to read. Another plus for this edition is the heavy, heavy glossing and a really extensive notes section which helped even an experienced reader of Chaucer like myself.
If you're new to Chaucer, or even if you're not, this is the edition to have. It's a paperback, so it's portable, and it's complete. You won't be left wanting an odd tale or two with this book.
Highly recommended.

Editorial Review:

One of the greatest and most ambitious works in English literature, The Canterbury Tales depicts a storytelling competition between pilgrims drawn from all ranks of society.

The tales are as various as the pilgrims themselves, encompassing comedy, pathos, tragedy, and cynicism. The Miller and the Reeve express their mutual antagonism in a pair of comic stories combining sex and trickery; in "The Shipman’s Tale," a wife sells her favors to a monk. Others draw on courtly romance and fantasy: the Knight tells of rivals competing for the love of the same woman, and the Squire describes a princess who can speak to birds. In these twenty-four tales, Chaucer displays a dazzling range of literary styles and conjures up a wonderfully vivid picture of medieval life.

Selected Canterbury Tales (Dover Thrift Editions)

Geoffrey Chaucer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Classic 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 11 people found this review helpful.

Chaucer begins a literary tradition by writing about everyday people, not just the nobility. He depicts the characters with humor and insight. The tales themselves say much about the times and people. Just because it's a classic doesn't mean it isn't good. This edition saves you money but still gives you the Chaucer "flavor."

Chaucer was ENGLISH! 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 14 people found this review helpful.

Please realize that the above reviewer is mistaken; Chaucer does not chronicle the lives of Greeks WHATSOEVER. The Tales recount a pilgrimage in England!

Selected Canterbury Tales 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 38 people found this review helpful.

This book was wonderful and exciting. Chuacer, a old Greek writer, was a magnificent author and this book deserves a look. Reviewed by many historians, this book reveals much about Greeks past and is worth the 1.60 price (compared to 2.00 at bn.com). RECOMMENDED

Editorial Review:

Delightful collection includes the General Prologue plus three of the most popular tales: "The Knight's Tale," "The Miller's Prologue and Tale," and "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale." Recast in modern English verse that captures the lively spirit of the originals.

The Complete Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer

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Chanticleer and the Fox

Geoffrey Chaucer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Chaucer's Tale Beautifully Told 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

Chanticleer and the Fox, an adaptation of the Nun's Priest's Tale, is a simple and delightful tale with a moral (or three) at the end. Chanticleer and the other characters learn about the dangers of failing to be watchful, talking when one should be silent, and trusting in flattery. Barbara Cooney's illustrations are simple and warm, yet she gives a glimpse of what life might have looked like for a family in the Middle Ages. The book is suitable for an early reader or for reading aloud to younger children, although older children and adults would enjoy it as well. If you want more Chaucer for older children, without the rhyme or Middle English, you might want to try The Canterbury Tales, Retold by Geraldine McCaughrean, Illustrated by Victor G. Ambrus. Some material in that book, however, might need some parental guidance for younger readers. Chanticleer and the Fox is appropriate for children of all ages.

Editorial Review:

King of the barnyard, Chanticleer struts about all day. When a fox bursts into his domain, dupes him into crowing, and then grabs him in a viselike grip, Chanticleer must do some quick thinking to save himself and his barnyard kingdom.

Winner, 1959 Caldecott Medal
Notable Children's Books of 1940–1970 (ALA)
Winner, 1992 Kerlan Award