Aspects of Literature

The Nun’s Priest is one of the pilgrims in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales of whom we know virtually nothing before he tells his tale. In ...

The Monk’s Tale is unusual among Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in several respects. For one thing, it is interrupted by another pilgrim ...

Andrew Marvell (1621-78) was a fascinating character who does not fit easily in any pigeonhole, whether artistic or political. He liv...

The Tale of Melibee is one of the least read of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and it is not hard to understand why. Like the similarly ...

Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1340-1400) was not only the greatest writer of the Middle English period, but also English Literature’s first humo...

Chaucer’s Prioress is a very worldly lady who happens to have found herself in charge of a convent. This would not have been unusual ...

Emma, by Jane Austen (1775-1817), was published in December 1815 although the date on the original title page is 1816. It was therefo...