How would you describe Chaucer's realism and discuss the "General Prologue" to The Canterbury Tales as a mirror of English society in the 14th century?

Chaucer's realism acts as tool to reflect his Modernism. The real life style of the people of England is portrayed effectively by him. His early poems have the tradition of courtly love, allegory, and dream poetry. But his attention slowly gets diverted to the life and people of his times. His Prologue to Canterbury Tales is an epitome and archetype of the 14th century England. He has sketched the life and people of his times with force anand realism. His characters are real and life like with human weaknesses. They are individuals as well as types.
The presentation of his age is found as a whole and not in fragments. So A. C. Wards says, "Chaucer is the first great painter of characters." The setting in the Prologue is highly realistic. The pilgrimage was the common sight in his period. He relates the stories of the pilgrimage which gives the illusion of a real world. His idea is to portray men and women truthfully and to give an exact picture of life. Blake says, "As Newton numbered the stars and as Linnaeus numbered the planets, so Chaucer numbered the classes of men" and Lowes says that "Chaucer is another God in creating characters visible, nowhere yet present everywhere".

Chaucer's realism is inextricably linked to the way his poem The Canterbury Tales mirrors English society in the 14th century. To see how this trend works, it helps to look at the "General Prologue" of the poem, in which Chaucer describes (often in minute detail) the personalities, physical appearances, and occupations of the pilgrims he's traveling with. Chaucer achieves his realistic tone by writing about pilgrims who occupy a wide variety of social standings, perform many different societal roles, and represent countless classes. For instance, Chaucer describes a Reeve, Miller, Prioress, Knight, Yeoman, Parson, an entrepreneurial woman (the Wife of Bath), and many more. In short, Chaucer's group of pilgrims is essentially a microcosm of England during the 14th century, and so he realistically represents the diverse range of people in English society. Of course, some scholars note it would be highly unlikely that such a diverse range of people would travel together, and this point has its merits. This does not necessarily take away from the realism of the poem, however, as Chaucer still realistically represents the characters he chooses to portray and provides a realistic portrait of England's many different classes and social roles.