Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales (Analysing Texts, 11)

Detailed textual analysis of the tales by the Miller , Nun's Priest , the Wife of Bath and the Pardoner , as well as the General Prologue invites you to sharpen your critical faculties, extend your knowledge and engage with the text itself in order to fully appreciate the work of this fascinating, complex and surprisingly modern writer. Whether you consider yourself an expert or a student, this study has something for you as it demonstrates the various approaches which can be used to learn about style, structure, multiple voices and the key themes of Chaucer's work. It offers a careful support and thoughtful framework upon which to base your own analysis and challenging you to form your own ideas and opinions. "Webster's theatre was also Shakespeare's theatre - but their tragedies are very different. Webster has a reputation for angst-ridden, obsessive and debased characters and the creation of a sick and decaying world. Yet his heroines are amongst the strongest characters, male or female, in Jacobean drama." "This book shows how Webster's plays portray a world in which patriarchal, aristocratic politics are dissected as diseased. Through close analysis of key moments, scenic and dramatic structure, characterisation, theatricality and imagery, this book enables students to appreciate Webster's individual contribution to our dramatic heritage. Through such textual reading, we learn how he uses drama to debate contemporary political and social issues, most explicity those of gender. The book provides students with effective reading, critical and analytical tools with which to approach Webster's plays as not only dramatic scripts for our time, but also of their own time, and thus as rivals to Shakespeare's major tragedies."--Jacket. Detailed textual analysis of the tales of the Miller, the Nun's Priest, the Wife of Bath and the Pardoner, as well as the General Prologue, invites the reader to sharpen critical faculties, extend knowledge and engage with the text itself in order to appreciate the work of this fascinating, complex and surprisingly modern writer more fully. Whether considered an expert or a student, this study has something for you, as it demonstrates various approaches that can be adopted to learn about style, structure, multiple voices and the key themes of Chaucer's work. Front Matter....Pages i-viii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 An Introduction to Chaucer....Pages 3-6 Style and Narrative Skills....Pages 7-42 Voice, Narration and Form....Pages 43-83 Themes, Tensions and Ambiguities....Pages 84-136 Front Matter....Pages 137-137 Chaucer and His Work....Pages 139-147 The Context of Chaucer’s Works....Pages 148-156 Critical Approaches to Chaucer’s Work....Pages 157-195 Further Reading....Pages 196-198 Back Matter....Pages 199-206 Provides textual analysis of the "Tales" by the "Miller", "Nun's Priest", the "Wife of Bath" and the "Pardoner", as well as Chaucer's "General Prologue". This book demonstrates some approaches which can be used to learn about style, structure, multiple voices and key themes in Chaucer's work Covering the whole range of Donne's poetic output and with detailed analysis of individual poems, the practical techniques of his poetry are explained. There is a short history of his life and some contemporary criticism. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales almost 600 years ago, in the late Middle Ages, a historical distance that at first sight might appear problematic. Provides a critical analysis of four of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," and the General Prologue Gail Ashton. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 202) And Index.