The main aim of this text is to advance a method devised through experience of teaching Chaucer's poetry over many years. The method is explained in the introduction, and its underlying objective is a shared experience of reading, and of trying to understand the "Canterbury Tales".

PART 1: The general prologue: the pilgrimage controversy Chaucer's pilgrimage. Two middlemen PART 2: The Knight's tale: a question of context The idea of imprisonment The vagaries of fortune; the bonds of love PART 3: The Miller's tale: the portrait of Alisoun Domestic drama PART 4: The Wife of Bath's prologue and tale: inventing the Wife of Bath The quest for "gentillesse" PART 5: The Merchant's tale: what's in a name? January's garden PART 6: The Franklin's tale: the virtues of patience Dorigen's rocks PART 7: The Pardoner's prologue and tale: the portrait of hypocrisy; dicing with death PART 8: The Nun's Priest's tale: the play of language; taking the moral