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The story is an example of a class of stories, popular at the time, known as the "miracles of the Virgin" such as those by Gautier de Coincy.It also blends elements of common story of a pious child killed by the enemies of the faith; the first example of which in English was written about William of Norwich.
Bryant, Margaret (December 1949). "New Books: Chaucer's Pilgrims". College English. 11 (3). National Council of Teachers of English: 169. doi:10.2307/585986. JSTOR 585986. (subscription required) Galway, Margaret (October 1950). "Book Reviews: A Commentary on the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales". The Review of English Studies. 1 (4).
The frame story of the poem, as set out in the 858 lines of Middle English which make up the General Prologue, is of a religious pilgrimage. The narrator, Geoffrey Chaucer, is in The Tabard Inn in Southwark, where he meets a group of 'sundry folk' who are all on the way to Canterbury, the site of the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket, a martyr reputed to have the power of healing the sinful.
The Novice's Tale, The Prioress's Tale. There is no relation between Frazer's title characters and Chaucer's, even when they have the same role in life (e.g. Chaucer's Prioress is a dainty, sentimental woman while Frazer's is an ambitious, domineering one). However, there is the same implication that we are offered a variety of points of view.
Sir Thopas comes after The Prioress's Tale, a poem which is exemplary of the miracle of the Virgin genre and which tells the story of a child martyr killed by Jews. Seemingly wishing to counter the sombre mood that this tale instills in the pilgrims, the Host hails Chaucer and suggests that he: "Telle us a tale of myrth, and that anon" (line ...
It is not clear whether these are sincere declarations of remorse on Chaucer's part or a continuation of the theme of penitence from The Parson's Tale.It is not even certain if the retraction was an integral part of the Canterbury Tales or if it was the equivalent of a death bed confession which became attached to this his most popular work.
The Ellesmere Chaucer, or Ellesmere Manuscript of the Canterbury Tales, is an early 15th-century illuminated manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, owned by the Huntington Library, in San Marino, California (EL 26 C 9). It is considered one of the most significant copies of the Tales.
Carolyn P. Collette is an American literary critic and a specialist in medieval literature, particularly Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. She is Professor Emerita of English Language and Literature at Mount Holyoke College, and a research associate at the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York, in England.