The furore over the poet of The Canterbury Tales being culled from English Literature courses taught at various universities, in an attempt at “decolonising” the syllabus, is the worst sort of cultural censorship. The idea of scrapping medieval literature, and cancelling Geoffrey Chaucer, in favour of “modules on race and sexuality”, is mistaken. The son of a London wine merchant, he was a well-travelled court diplomat. The Tales come out of his time in Italy where he read Boccaccio. His 14th-century pilgrim’s tale is essentially a “roustabout” Christian holiday fable. The road to Canterbury is a metaphor for Jerusalem. Perhaps what offends the academic thought police is that not only was Chaucer an MP but, worst of all, he was a Christian poet, buried in Westminster Abbey.
10:31 AM
Poetic Justice for Geoffrey Chaucer
the furore over the poet of the canterbury tales being culled from english literature courses taught at various universities, in an attempt ...
The Catholic Herald
2 min read
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