Canterbury Tales, Notes

Cliff Notes was purchased for my husband to try and get through "Canterbury Tales". That about says it all. Great participation.

I'm one of those rare people who have actually read all of THE CANTERBURY TALES in the original Middle English. However, when teaching the tales for the first time to my senior high school students, I realized there was a lot I had forgotten. The first place I went for assistance was CLIFFSNOTES: THE CANTERURY TALES by Dr. James L. Roberts. The book includes a brief biography about Chaucer's life, an introduction to the work, a list of characters, a summary and commentary about each one of the tales, character analysis of selected characters (Harry Bailey, the Knight, the Miller, the Wife of Bath, the Pardoner), a few selected essays, a review, and a list of further resources. I found Cliffsnotes extremely helpful in preparing to teach THE CANTERBURY TALES for the first time and I know that some of my students found it just as useful as well (Middle English and high school students don't mix very well together). A great tool to supplement one's reading, studying, and teaching of Chaucer's THE CANTERBURY TALES.

The CliffsNotes booklet on THE CANTERBURY TALES is a helpful supplement which will lead the user to a deeper understanding of a fairly difficult subject. It contains information about Geoffrey Chaucer and his work in addition to an introduction, brief synopsis and character map. Critical commentaries on The Prologue, individual tales and Chaucer's Retraction are included as well as character analyses of Harry Bailey, the Host, the Knight, the Miller, the Wife of Bath and the Pardoner. Three critical essays are added plus an index. Properly used this guide will make the learning experience more meaningful as long as the student reads the entire literary work and completes all classroom assignments.

Since "The Canterbury Tales" can be rather daunting for the student, I think this is an exceptional way to garner more of the needed information. The definitions are to the point, and the summaries aren't lengthy and over-bearing. If this is something to be read in the classroom, I see no reason why this shouldn't accompany the text.

The notes are really helpful as a supplement to the book. I had to do a paper on it, and it gives a lot of insight on important topics to consider.