English literature
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English literature is a form of literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English
Stained glass at Ottawa Public Library featuring luminaries of English literature
The first page of Beowulf
Piers Ploughman from a 14th-century manuscript
Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales
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The Canterbury Tales are an anthology of twenty-four short stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. They are mostly in verse, and are presented as part of a fiction
English literature
…lasted until the 1470s, when the Chancery Standard (late Middle English), a London-based form of English, became widespread. Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, was a significant figure developing the legitimacy of vernacular Middle English at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were still…
A Tale from the Decameron by John William Waterhouse
Canterbury Cathedral from the north west c. 1890–1900 (retouched from a black & white photograph)
Title page of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the hand of "Scribe B", identified as Adam Pinkhurst, c. 1400.
The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 is mentioned in the Tales.