The genre variety of “The Canterbury Tales” by g. Chaucer and the ideas of humanism.

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). The tales, some of which are originals and others not, are contained inside a frame tale and told by a group of pilgrims on their way from Southwark to Canterbury, England (where a tourist attraction entitled The Canterbury Tales may nowadays be viewed) to visit Saint Thomas à Becket's shrine at the cathedral there (later destroyed by Henry VIII ).

The themes of the tales vary, and include topics such as courtly love, treachery and avarice. The genres also vary, and include romance, Breton lai, sermon, and fabliau. The characters, introduced in the Prologue of the book, tell tales of extreme cultural relevance.

The Tales include:

• The Knight's Tale

• The Miller's Prologue and Tale

• The Reeve's Prologue and Tale

• The Cook's Prologue and Tale

• The Man of Law's Prologue and Tale

• The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

• The Friar's Prologue and Tale

• The Summoner's Prologue and Tale

Some of the tales are serious and others are humorous; however, all are very precise in describing the traits and faults of human nature. Religious malpractice is a major theme. Another important element of the tales is their focus on the division of the three estates. The work is incomplete, as it was originally intended that each character would tell four tales, two on the way to Canterbury and two on the return journey.

Perhaps the greatest contribution that this work has made to English literature is in its use of vulgar (i.e. 'of the people') English, instead of using French or Latin, which were usually used for literary works. The structure of Canterbury Tales is also easy to find in other contemporary works, such as Boccaccio's Decameron, which may have been one of Chaucer's main sources of inspiration.

The title of the work has become an everyday phrase in the language and has been variously adapted and adopted, eg. in the title of the British film, A Canterbury Tale. Recently an animated version of some of the tales has been produced for British television. As well as a version with Modern English dialogue, there were versions in Middle English and Welsh.

ParadiseLost was written at the time when the bourgeois revolution had ended unsuccessfully, but the powerful voice of the poet declared that the spirit of revolution was not broken, that it still lived in the hearts of the people, In his PL M shows revolt. PL is an epic poem written in 12 ‘books’. The place of action is the universe. The char-s are: Satan and his rebel-angels, God the Almighty, 3 guardian angels –Raphael, Gabriel [ei] and Michael, and the 1st man and woman – Adam and Eve (A&E). The revolutionary spirit is shown in Satan, who revolts against God, draws to his side many rebel-angels and is driven out of Heaven. They fall down into the Hell. But Satan hasn’t been overcome and is determined to go on with the war against God. A&E are allowed by God to live in of Paradise, in the Garden of Eden, as long as they don’t eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge. Satan assumes the form of a serpent and next morning, while A&E work in diff. parts of the Garden, persuades E to eat an apple from the Tree of Knowledge. E eats an apple and plucks (срывает) another for A. as a punishment for the sin they have committed, God banishes them from Paradise to the newly-created world, where they are to face a life of toil and grief. The angel Michael leads them out of Paradise. From a hill, he shows A a picture of the tyranny which is to befall mankind.

The major theme of PL is the idea of the Fall. The books opened immediately after the fall of Satan and will now close on the fall of mankind. M began his poem by saying that he meant to justify the ways of God to man. But in PL M was not only justifying God's ways to humans in general; he was justifying His ways to the English people between 1640 and 1660. That is, he was telling them why they had failed to establish the good society by deposing the king, and why they had welcomed back the monarchy (at the end of the Civil war -1649- the king -Charles- was beheaded and England was proclaimed a Commonwealth = a Republic). Like A&E, they had failed through their own weaknesses, their own lack of faith, their own passions and greed, their own sin. The failure of the Puritan revolution was equal for M to the people's failure to govern themselves according to the will of God. PL was more than a work of art. It was a poetic explanation for the course that English history had taken.

A sense of religiosity and patriotism drive M's work. On the one hand, he felt that he could best serve God by following his vocation (призвание) as a poet. On the other hand, his poetry would best serve England by putting before it noble and religious ideas in the highest poetic form. In other words, Milton sought to write poetry would serve to teach delightfully. In PL M tries to harmonize these intentions and becomes the Christian singer.