Geoffrey Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales (1475)
The Canterbury Tales are written accounts of different stories told during a mass pilgrimage to visit the grave of Thomas Becket in Canterbury - a cardinal who was later made a saint. Tales were told as part of a competition started at Tabard Inn in Southwark, London where the pilgrimage began. The author of the best tale told during the journey would receive a free meal at the Inn on return to London. Pilgrims from all walks of life tell tales as part of Chaucer's story: including a knight, cook, lawyer, friar, clerk, squire, physician, monk and a parson to name a few.
Chaucer was writing during the medieval period. The texts written at this time were largely of moral cause; closely linked with the religious devotion that was so deeply rooted in society at the time, tales created to be told to the illiterate masses. That is one of the reasons why Chaucer's work is so celebrated and rare; most of the population did not know how to read or write at the time it was written. This is a clear reason as to why Chaucer portrays his work as spoken out loud stories. Most of Chaucer's tales are written in rhyming couplets and therefore, the rhythmic device is made apparent through the spoken word.
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