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Despite the importance of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the continual evolution of the English language has rendered his words unfamiliar to many. This new translation by Burton Raffel—most famous for his popular translation of Beowulf—brings Chaucer's poetry back to life for the modern reader, retaining Chaucer's celebrated wit and insight.
Lively, absorbing, and outrageously funny, The Canterbury Tales is an epic poem that gathers twenty-nine of literature's most indelible archetypes—from the exalted Knight to the bawdy Wife to the humble Plowman—in a vivid group portrait that captures the full spectrum of late-medieval English society.
Praise for The Canterbury Tales:
"Burton Raffel has done a masterly job of carrying Chaucer into modern, highly readable English while retaining the rhythm and formal charm that so distinguish The Canterbury Tales. This new translation beckons us to make our own pilgrimage back to the very wellsprings of literature in our language." —Billy Collins, former Poet Laureate of the United States