The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales introduces some of the most memorable characters in all of English literature. The introduction to one of the greatest poems in the English language, the Prologue increases with its own vitality that of the entire text.

The title, Geoffrey Chaucer's The General Prologue To Canterbury Tales, part of Chelsea House Publishers' Modern Critical Interpretations series, presents the most important 20th-century criticism on Geoffrey Chaucer's The General Prologue To Canterbury Tales through extracts of critical essays by well-known literary critics. This collection of criticism also features a short biography on Geoffrey Chaucer, a chronology of the author's life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University.