Redigerer Geoffrey Chaucer (avsnitt)

=== Chaucers engelske språk ===
Selv om Chaucers språk er mye nærmere moderne engelsk enn teksten til ''[[Beowulf]]'' er det, skiller den seg nok ut til at de fleste utgivelser moderniserer (og stundom «[[Thomas Bowdler|bowdleriserer]]») hans formspråk. Det følgende er et eksempel fra prologen til ''Stevningsmannens fortelling'' (''Summoner's Tale'') som sammenligner Chaucers tekst med en moderne oversettelse:

{| cellspacing="0" style="white-space: nowrap;"
| '''Tekst''' || '''original''' || '''Oversettelse'''
|-
|  || ''This frere bosteth that he knoweth helle,''
| This friar boasts that he knows hell,
|-
| || ''And God it woot, that it is litel wonder;''
| And God knows that it is little wonder;
|-
|  || ''Freres and feendes been but lyte asonder.''
| Friars and fiends are seldom far apart.
|-
|  || ''For, pardee, ye han ofte tyme herd telle''
| For, by God, you have ofttimes heard tell
|-
|  || ''How that a frere ravyshed was to helle''
| How a ravished friar went to hell
|-
|  || ''In spirit ones by a visioun;''
| In spirit, once by a vision;
|-
|  || ''And as an angel ladde hym up and doun,''
| And as an angel led him up and down,
|-
|  || ''To shewen hym the peynes that the were,''
| To show him the pains that were there,
|-
|  || ''In al the place saugh he nat a frere;''
| In the whole place he saw not one friar;
|-
|  || ''Of oother folk he saugh ynowe in wo.''
| He saw enough of other folk in woe.
|-
|  || ''Unto this angel spak the frere tho:''
| To the angel spoke the friar thus:
|-
|  || ''Now, sire, quod he, han freres swich a grace''
| «Now sir», said he, «Are friars in such good grace
|-
|  || ''That noon of hem shal come to this place?''
| That none of them come to this place?»
|-
| || ''Yis, quod this aungel, many a millioun!''
| «Yes,» answered the angel, «many a million!»
|-
|  || ''And unto sathanas he ladde hym doun.''
| And the angel led him down to Satan.
|-
|  || ''--And now hath sathanas,--seith he,--a tayl''
| He said, «And Satan has a tail,
|-
|  || ''Brodder than of a carryk is the sayl.''
| Broader than a large ship's sail.
|-
| || ''Hold up thy tayl, thou sathanas!--quod he;''
| Hold up your tail, Satan!» he ordered.
|-
|  || ''--shewe forth thyn ers, and lat the frere se''
| «Show your arse, and let the friar see
|-
|  || ''Where is the nest of freres in this place!--''
| Where the nest of friars is in this place!»
|-
|  || ''And er that half a furlong wey of space,''
| And before half a furlong of space,
|-
|  || ''Right so as bees out swarmen from an hyve,''
| Just as bees swarm from a hive,
|-
|  ||''Out of the develes ers ther gonne dryve''
| Out of the devil's arse there drove
|-
|  || ''Twenty thousand freres on a route,''
| Twenty thousand friars on a route,
|-
|  || ''And thurghout helle swarmed al aboute,''
| And they swarmed all over hell,
|-
|  || ''And comen agayn as faste as they may gon,''
| And came again as fast as they had gone,
|-
|  || ''And in his ers they crepten everychon.''
| And every one crept back into his arse.
|-
|  ||''He clapte his tayl agayn and lay ful stille.''
| He clapped his tail again and lay very still.<ref>Den original e-teksten er tilgjengelig online ved [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=Cha2Can.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/lv1/Archive/mideng-parsed&tag=public&part=17&division=div2 Universitetet i Virginias nettsted]{{død lenke|dato=juni 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}, oversettelse Wikipedia.</ref>
|}