English Literature / Unit 4 ENL 0305 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Canterbury Tales: Frame and Pilgrimage
Captions available
The idea
The Canterbury Tales is a frame tale: pilgrims riding to Canterbury tell stories on the road. Unlike Boccaccio's Decameron, Chaucer's frame matters as much as the tales. It was unfinished at his death, and William Caxton printed it in fourteen seventy-six.
In practice
Pilgrims, a road, a storytelling contest.
Where people slip
The frame is a story in its own right.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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