The Wife of Bath

The Wife of Bath

Summary

'Those husbands that I had,
Three of them were good and two were bad.
The three that I call "good" were rich and old...'


One of the most bawdy, entertaining and popular stories from The Canterbury Tales.

Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.

Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1343-1400). Chaucer's works available in Penguin Classics are The Canterbury Tales, Love Visions and Troilus and Criseyde.

About the author

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London in about 1342, and is known as 'the father of English Literature'. He rose in royal employment to become a knight of the shire for Kent and a justice of the peace, and was well-read in several languages and on many topics, such as astronomy, medicine, physics and alchemy. His works include The Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde and The Parliament of Fowles. He died in 1400 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
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