[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-318362-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-318362-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","the-canterbury-tales-the-prologue","The Canterbury Tales - The Prologue","","The Prologue from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (translated by Nevill Coghill) introduces a gathering of pilgrims at the Tabard Inn in Southwark. It frames how Chaucer depicts medieval English society through dramatic structure and detailed characterization across clergy, aristocrats, and commoners, including speech, actions, others’ responses, and the narrator’s direct comments. Reading strategies guide paraphrasing difficult passages and interpreting key vocabulary in context. Activities include characterization-focused reading and quickwriting to invent a new character.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/","Literature",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-canterbury-tales-the-prologue/318362/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-canterbury-tales-the-prologue/318362.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Eliana","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-28","2026-09-20",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",13,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What is the purpose of the Prologue in The Canterbury Tales?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The Prologue introduces the pilgrims and presents a vivid portrait of English society in the Middle Ages. It sets up the storytelling framework where each pilgrim tells a tale.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How does the Prologue help readers understand characterization?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"It shows multiple ways Chaucer develops characters, including descriptions of appearance, examples of speech/thoughts/actions, others’ reactions, and the narrator’s comments.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What reading strategies does the document recommend for Chaucer’s text?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It recommends paraphrasing difficult passages in simpler language and using context to infer the meaning of key vocabulary words.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},318362,1790018098,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,91,95,100,105,110,115,120,123,127],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":122},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":126},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":128,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":130},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":132},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":133,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":26,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":145,"read_time":146},4398048949847,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/400002536579ef2da7f?_k=1778318612642679267","The Age of Chaucer  \nREADING 3 Evaluate the changes in sound, form, figurative language, and dramatic structure in poetry across literary time periods.  \nThe Prologue  \nfrom The Canterbury Tales  \nPoem by Geoffrey Chaucer Translated by Nevill Coghill  \n\n| VIDEO TRAILER | | | KEYWORD: HML12-142A |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n\nMeet the Author  \ndid you know?  \nGeoffrey Chaucer . . .  \n• was captured and held for ransom while fighting for England in the Hundred Years’War.  \n• held various jobs, including royal messenger, justice of the peace, and forester.  \n• portrayed himself as a foolish character in a number of works.  \nGeoffrey Chaucer made an enormous mark on the language and literature of England. Writing in an age when French was widely spoken in educated circles, Chaucer was among the first writers to show that English could be a respectable literary language. Today, his work is considered a cornerstone of English literature.  \nBefriended by Royalty Chaucer was born sometime between 1340 and 1343, probably in London, in an era when expanding commerce was helping to bring about growth in villages and cities. His family, though not noble, was well off, and his parents were able to place him in the household of the wife of Prince Lionel, a son of King Edward III, where he served as an attendant. Such a position was a vital means of  \nadvancement; the young Chaucer learned of upper-class life and  \ncame into contact with influential may have been during this  \nChaucer met Lionel’s brother, John of Gaunt, who would become Chaucer’s  \nlifelong patron and a leading political figure of the day.  \nKnight and a  \nWriter Although  \nChaucer wrote his first  \nimportant work around 1370, writing was always a sideline; his primary career was in diplomacy. During Richard II’s troubled reign (1377 to 1399), Chaucer was appointed a member of Parliament and knight of the shire. When Richard II was overthrown in 1399 by Henry Bolingbroke (who became King Henry IV), Chaucer managed to retain his political position, as Henry was the son of John of Gaunt.  \nDespite the turmoil of the 1380s and 1390s, the last two decades of Chaucer’s life saw his finest literary achievements—the brilliant verse romance Troilus and Criseyde and his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, a collection of verse and prose tales of many different kinds. At the time of his death, Chaucer had penned nearly 20,000 lines of The Canterbury Tales, but many more tales were planned.  \nUncommon Honor When he died in 1400, Chaucer was accorded a rare honor for a commoner—burial in London’s Westminster Abbey. In 1556, an admirer erected an elaborate marble monument to his memory. This was the beginning of the Abbey’s famous Poets’ Corner, where many of England’s most distinguished writers have since been buried.  \nGeoffrey Chaucer 1340?–1400  \nadvancement; th  \ncame into co  \npeople. It m  \nperiod that younger b  \nwho w  \nA K  \nC  \nthe customs o  \nlife  \npo  \nW  \nliterary analysis: characterization  \nCharacterization refers to the techniques a writer uses to develop characters. In“The Prologue,”the introduction to The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer offers a vivid portrait of English society during the Middle Ages. Among his 30 characters are clergy, aristocrats, and commoners. Chaucer employs a dramatic structure similar to Boccaccio’s The Decameron—each pilgrim tells a tale. Some of the ways Chaucer characterizes the pilgrims include  \n• description of a character’s appearance  \n• examples of a character’s speech, thoughts, and actions  \n• the responses of others to a character  \n• the narrator’s direct comments about a character  \nAs you read, look for details that reveal the character traits, or consistent qualities, of each pilgrim.  \n reading strategy: paraphrase  \nReading medieval texts, such as The Canterbury Tales, can be challenging because they often contain unfamiliar words and complex sentences. One way that you can make sense of Chaucer’s work is to paraphrase, or restate in","cbCaioi5K0eJj1pV","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaioi5K0eJj1pV","pdf",4665681,27,"English","# The Prologue\n## Meet the Author\n## Characterization\n## Reading Strategy: Paraphrase\n## Vocabulary in Context\n## What Makes a Great Character?\n## Quickwrite","[{\"question\":\"What is the purpose of the Prologue in The Canterbury Tales?\",\"answer\":\"The Prologue introduces the pilgrims and presents a vivid portrait of English society in the Middle Ages. It sets up the storytelling framework where each pilgrim tells a tale.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the Prologue help readers understand characterization?\",\"answer\":\"It shows multiple ways Chaucer develops characters, including descriptions of appearance, examples of speech/thoughts/actions, others’ reactions, and the narrator’s comments.\"},{\"question\":\"What reading strategies does the document recommend for Chaucer’s text?\",\"answer\":\"It recommends paraphrasing difficult passages in simpler language and using context to infer the meaning of key vocabulary words.\"}]","The Canterbury Tales - The Prologue | PDF",1789940127,42]