The Reeve's Prologue and Tale with the Cook's Prologue and the Fragment of his Tale

by Geoffrey Chaucer, A.C. Spearing (Editor), J.E. Spearing (Editor)

A well-established and respected series. Texts are in the original Middle English, and each has an introduction, detailed notes and a glossary. Selected titles are also available as CD recordings.

Genres: Poetry, Medieval, Short Stories, Geoffrey Chaucer, Classics

138 pages, Paperback

First published June 29, 1979

About the author

Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1343 - 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He was the first writer to be buried in what has since come to be called Poets' Corner, in Westminster Abbey. Chaucer also gained fame as a philosopher and astronomer, composing the scientific A Treatise on the Astrolabe for his 10-year-old son, Lewis. He maintained a career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, and member of parliament.
Among Chaucer's many other works are The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women, and Troilus and Criseyde. He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman French and Latin. Chaucer's contemporary Thomas Hoccleve hailed him as "the firste fyndere of our fair langage" (i.e., the first one capable of finding poetic matter in English). Almost two thousand English words are first attested to in Chaucerian manuscripts. As scholar Bruce Holsinger has argued, charting Chaucer's life and work comes with many challenges related to the "difficult disjunction between the written record of his public and private life and the literary corpus he left behind". His recorded works and his life show many personas that are "ironic, mysterious, elusive [or] cagey" in nature, ever-changing with new discoveries.

Reviews

[Vaishali]

Note : I've already read and reviewed The Reeve's Tale
(please see https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)

This review just covers The Cook's Tale, which Goodreads doesn't have a separate listing for.

The shortest Canterbury Tale, and considered by some scholars to be an unfinished work. Entertaining and scandalous considering its brevity, but too brief to have a core and development of character.


.

[Brandi Palmateer]

Bruh biggest revenge: sleeping with the wife AND daughter of the guy who screwed you over 🤣

But it lowkey sounded like rape 😬 not okay brah…especially since yall were BIBLE salesmen

Essay coming soon…

[Ruby Saggers]

I love Chaucer

[Grace Akins]

That one friend who makes the roast session extremely personal

[emilia]

not as good as the Miller's Tale

[Carlye Krul]

Also made me want to stab my eyes out

[TopBob]

Structurally, "The Reeve's Tale" serves as a rancor-wridden riposte to the Miller. Its absurd and grotesque to gratuity, and its tonally somewhat more uncomfortable in comparison to the Miller.

The tale has an interesting historical spot, as the first mocking of an accent in the English canon. Yay?

Regardless, it's a good addition to the Canterbury tales, and its issues can be overlooked if one imagines its frothing progenitor growling through the tale.

"The Cook's Tale" - 2 stars. It's unfinished, although the main character is promising. Normally, I'd give the incomplete tale a 1 star, but the unfinished plot "A cook gets fired and then moves in with some asshole and his criminal wife" as entirety is really funny to me.

[Zain Ahmed]

Within the Canterbury Tales, the Reeve's Tale is a direct product from the Miller's Tale in which the Reeve (formerly a carpenter) took the Miller's story of a old carpenter too seriously. He decides to vengefully tell a story of a miller in return. However, I didnt wholly enjoy this tale in comparison to the Miller's Tale, as the comedic and linguistic features just didn't stick out in comparison to the Miller's.

[William_Furneaux]

chaucer my child what were you thinking.

like ok i actually get why the reeve did that but i don't respect it at all jeez bro what on earth compelled you to write this

[Gabi Leoncini]

The Reeve's Tale- 3.5 stars.
The Cook's Tale- 2.5 stars.

[Kay]

The same as the Miller's Tale, except I debated even more about giving it two or three stars, because it's an even grosser fabliau... and I'm quite glad the Cook's Tale was never finished!

[Jacky Chan]

Lollollol what is this story - I have nothing intellectual to say about it lol but this is just so raunchy

[Shameeleon]

!!

[Bronte Madeleine]

probably my favourite of chaucer’s fabliaux, and i do love the whole bed trick
plus i’m convinced the two young clerks are really attractive so it’s all fine

[Shimmi]

These Tales, the Reeve’s being in response to the Miller’s, are alright, but I think the Miller’s Tale is better.

[Asher Allen]

Churlish.

[Sophie Murray-Morris]

I studied this text as part of my English degree. At the start I was uncertain about whether or not I'd be able to enjoy it and definitely didn't think that I would answer a question in the exam on the text (choice of 2 texts out of 8). Yet I found the context surrounding Chaucer very interesting, particularly the French Fabliaux. In the exam I wrote for an hour and a half on the use of local and contemporary setting in the Reeve's Prologue, what I believe to be a key theme. I also read a great amount of secondary material concerning Chaucer's control and skill over English language, such as his use of sexual innuendo in the tale (the imagery of milling, for example). I'm not sure whether I will ever read Chaucer for pleasure as I far prefer contemporary texts, but a heavy analysis of his work was definitely highly educational.

[Phil]

Wow, Chaucer could be filthy when he put his mind to it. The Reeve's tale and the preceeding Miller's tale are two dirty little tales based on petty revenge, sexual infidelities and greed. The Cook's tale looks like it's heading the same way and ends on one of the greatest cliffhangers in literary history:

And hadde a wyf that heeld for contenance
A shoppe, and swyved for hir sustenance.

So we're left with a tale about a wife who keeps a shop for appearances sake, but makes her money through prostitution. I so wanted to read that story!

Chaucer always made A level English Lit more interesting.

[Keith]

Reeve’s Tale ****
This is another bawdy tale of a cuckold -- this time a Miller (as told by a carpenter). The Reeve’s short prologue is particularly rich with well-wrought images about old age -- the rotting of fruit, and the pouring out of wine. (07/16)

The Cook’s Tale ***
The Cook’s prologue includes some playful banter with the host, but the story itself is unfortunately either lost or unfinished. It starts out rather interestingly as another bawdy tale. Where would it have gone?

[Candace]

Funny, too--but so vengeful and spiteful. Revenge and ire all in one during the 14th century. The Reeve bests the Miller at his own game.

[Matt Miles]

Yes, I'm reviewing a fragment (The Cook's Tale). Was it intended as an unfinished story, showing how morally debase life can get and then stopping there? It's an intriguing way to look at it.

[Loren Harway]

You tell him Oswauld.