Chaucer's The Prologue and The Knightes Tale

New York, NY: American Book Company, 1898 American Book Company, New York. c1898. Hardcover. First Edition (NAP). Book is tight, square, and unmarked. Book Condition: Very Good; light shelfwear to tips; small mottling patch at head; light soiling to boards. No DJ. Brown cloth over boards with dark brown lettering on the spine; brown lettering and decorations on front board. Clean internals; interior hinges are sound and not split. 150 pp 16mo. Geoffrey Chaucer was a great epic poet of the 1300s who is buried in Westminster Abbey, and is recognized today as the father of English literature. The General Prologue is the first part of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. It introduces the frame story, in which a group of pilgrims traveling to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury agree to take part in a storytelling competition, and describes the pilgrims themselves. The Knightes Tale) is the first tale from Chaucer's magnum opus, The Canterbury Tales. The Knight is described by Chaucer in the "Prologue" as the person of highest social standing amongst the pilgrims, though his manners and clothes are unpretentious. We are told that he has taken part in some fifteen crusades in many countries and also fought for one pagan leader against another. Though the list of campaigns is real, his characterization is idealized. Chaucer's portrait of the Knight in the "Prologue" "is generally thought to show a man of unsullied ideals, though some see him as a mercenary." He is accompanied on his pilgrimage by the Squire, his 20-year-old son. The story introduces themes and arguments typically encountered in the literature of knighthood, including courtly love and ethical dilemmas. A clean very presentable copy.