Handout
New Advent

Catholic Encyclopedia: Geoffrey Chaucer

For Students 9th - 10th
Quotations and a bibliography accompany this biography of Geoffrey Chaucer from The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Unit Plan
Other

Librarius: "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer

For Students 9th - 10th
This site details a chronology of Chaucer's life and the historical events that occurred during that time. It also has the Canterbury Tales with the Middle English and Modern English in a side-by-side format, and provides a Glossary for...
Activity
Shmoop University

Shmoop: T He Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath's Tale

For Students 9th - 10th
Read and learn more about this fascinating tale in this comprehensive site about The Wife of Bath's Tale.
Website
Other

Univ. Of Wisconsin: Rare Editions of "Canterbury Tales"

For Students 9th - 10th
The libraries of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, have published reproductions of a variety of early printings of "The Canterbury Tales." See selected pages from an early fifteenth-century illustrated edition, from a rare...
Activity
Shmoop University

Shmoop: The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue and Frame Story

For Students 9th - 10th
Read background information on The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue and Frame Story in this informative site that includes a look at the characters.
Handout
Other

Goucher College: "Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale"

For Students 9th - 10th
The following from the Goucher College are examined in regard to Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale" from "The Canterbury Tales": Genre, Characters, Summary, and Issues and General Research Sources. Some thought-provoking...
Activity
Shmoop University

S Hmoop: The Canterbury Tales: The Second Nun's Tale

For Students 9th - 10th
Found in The Canterbury Tales, the Second Nun's Tale is the story of how a woman converts her husband and brother in law to becoming Christians. Read about the other characters in this fascinating tale.
Website
Harvard University

The Chaucer Page: Giovanni Boccaccio

For Students 9th - 10th
From Harvard's Chaucer Page, a brief sketch on Boccaccio mainly focusing on his influence on Chaucer.
Activity
Shmoop University

Shmoop: The Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath's Prologue

For Students 9th - 10th
A most interesting character in The Canterbury Tales, the wife of Bath reveals much about herself and others. This site analysis the themes and other characters in this fascinating story.
Handout
Other

Goucher English / General Prologue

For Students 9th - 10th
This site, prepared for college English literature students, deals with the following aspects of Chaucer's General Prologue from "The Canterbury Tales": Genre, Form, Characters, Summary, Issues, and General Sources. Also contains...
Website
Harvard University

The Harvard Chaucer Page: English Romance

For Students 9th - 10th
A survey of Geoffrey Chaucer's work, which was much influenced by romance, the dominant mode of secular fictional narrative in his time.
Website
Harvard University

Geoffrey Chaucer Page: Comparison of Chaucer and Ovid

For Students 9th - 10th
Full text of John Dryden's (1631-1700) Preface to The Fables (1700), the English poet's translation of Chaucer texts from the middle English. Dryden compares the styles of Ovid, Chaucer, and Boccaccio.
Website
Harvard University

The Geoffrey Chaucer Page: Other Authors

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from The Geoffrey Chaucer Page contains links to many other authors whose work was related to or influenced Chaucer's. Includes links to Petrarch, Dante, Boccaccio, Boethius and more. A great site to check out on the subject.
Website
Harvard University

The Harvard Chaucer Page: The High Style

For Students 9th - 10th
Essay about Geoffrey Chaucer's use of the "high style" in middle English verse, characterized by an elegantly adorned diction reliant upon Latin and French borrowings.
eBook
Open Library of the Internet Archive

Open Library: The Canterbury Tales

For Students 9th - 10th
This ebook version of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales has been made available in multiple formats by the Open Library. Editions of the full novel, organized by year of publication, may be accessed here.
Article
British Library

British Library: Discovering Literature: A Close Reading of Chaucer's 'The Merchant's Prologue and Tale'

For Students 9th - 10th
This article introduces 'The Merchant's Prologue and Tale', exploring the way in which it combines literary genres and traditions, and refuses to give the reader a clear moral or message.
Website
Harvard University

The Harvard Chaucer Page: 14th Century English

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from The Geoffrey Chaucer Page of Harvard University provides biographical information on Chaucer, specifically on his social class and his learning/speaking/writing French. Explanation for why the commoners and aristocrats...
Handout
Towson University

Towson University: Edwin Duncan, ph.d.: A Basic Chaucer Glossary

For Students 9th - 10th
A glossary of the modern equivalents of words most often found in Chaucer's works.
eBook
English Verse

English Verse: Geoffrey Chaucer (C. 1344 1400)

For Students 9th - 10th
While everyone remembers Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" few have read his shorter works. Three of his poems are available on this site, along with a brief biographical sketch.
Website
British Library

British Library: Discovering Literature: Gender and Sexuality

For Students 9th - 10th
Examine representations of gender, sex, and relationships in medieval literature, from the works of women's writers to tales of courtly love to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Website
Bartleby

Bartleby.com: Barltett's Familiar Quotations: Geoffrey Chaucer

For Students 9th - 10th
A list of famous lines from Chaucer, mainly from "The Canterbury Tales."
Handout
Stephen Byrne

History for Kids: Geoffrey Chaucer

For Students 2nd - 7th Standards
History of the famous 14th Century English poet and bureucrat, Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote the well known, Canterbury Tales. Includes teacher resources.
Handout
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: Chaucer's Wife of Bath

For Teachers 9th - 10th
These lesson plans, focusing on Chaucer's Wife of Bath, encourage students to explore the roles of women and the views of marriage during the Middle Ages. Website includes several links to further related information.
Website
Harvard University

The Geoffrey Chaucer Page: Lease Granted to Chaucer

For Students 9th - 10th
The text of a 1374 lease document that sheds light on the legal affairs of Geoffrey Chaucer and the real world of The Canterbury Tales.