prologue to the canterbury tales - masterpiece work- landmark of history of literature

a collection of 24 stories that runs to over 17000 lines in middle english

greatest contribution to english literature - popularized the english vernacular in mainstream literature

The tales were used to point an ironic af critical portrait of the english society and particularly the church

the tales are presented as a story telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together from london to canterbury to visit the shrine of SAINT THOMAS BECKET AT CATERBURY CATHEDRAL

not a poet of people - a court poet who wrote for cultured readers and refined poetry

frank pleasure of good things of life - undertones of his poem

adopts french method of regular metre and end rimes.

most voluminous poet - left behind a poetry of 14000 lines

poetic output is prodigious - - amounting at a conservative account to 145000 lines

a distinct voice in the notheren renaissance at a time when culture was a cusp between medieval and renaissance

mainly consist of narrative works - highly inventive in their story techniques

generally achieved an uncanny balance of humor and high seriousness

complex worldview - questioned the church
one of the finest in scots language - a subtle rhetorician