In the following essay, Lenaghan examines the "General Prologue" as a historical document, asserting that it offers "a richer sense of a civil servant's values than the usual documents afford."
The "General Prologue" is often called a picture of its age and, frequently in the next breath, a satire. In English Lit. this usually draws a stern lecture about confusing the distinction between literature and history, but in this essay, unobserved by my sophomores, I propose to talk about the "General Prologue" as a picture of its age and then, tentatively, about some uses such history might be put to by historians and literary students.
The "General Prologue" has an obvious historical interest as a series of discrete bits of.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 4,622 words. This
study guide contains 79,794 words (approx. 266 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our The Canterbury Tales Access Pass.
