Which English author is associated with The Canterbury Tales?

• A. Geoffrey Chaucer
• B. Dante Alighieri
• C. John Wycliffe
• D. William Shakespeare

Answer: (A)

Geoffrey Chaucer is the author most closely associated with The Canterbury Tales, a landmark collection of stories written in Middle English in the late 14th century. Chaucer uses a frame narrative—the pilgrimage—to bring together a diverse group of characters, allowing different social voices to tell their tales. This approach not only showcases a wide cross-section of medieval society but also helps establish English as a literary language with sophisticated verse and storytelling. Dante Alighieri wrote the Divine Comedy in Italian, not English, and is from a different tradition. John Wycliffe was a religious reformer known for translating the Bible into English, but not for this work. William Shakespeare emerged later, shaping English drama during the Renaissance. So the author linked to The Canterbury Tales is Geoffrey Chaucer.