This edition is designed to make the text of a great medieval English classic more reader-friendly to students and general readers, especially to those who are not English majors and those not interested in becoming medievalists.It is NOT a translation. The words are Chaucer’s line for line. I have been a great deal moreconservative than a great poet and critic like Coleridge was willing to allow: I did not ?strike out” any of Chaucer’s words and replace them with others. Only the spelling is modernized, as it is inShakespeare texts.This version is more faithful than a translation but is a lot less demanding than the standard Middle English text. It is better than a translation because it keeps the verse and in Chaucer’s own language, but in a friendlier form than the old text.With this text, readers have the language that Chaucer wrote, but without the frustration of trying to master the vagaries of Middle English spelling. The change is meant to allow the reader to enjoy Chaucer not merely endure him.