Rome, New York Rome, New York Rome is a city in Oneida County, New York, United States, located in the central part of the state. The population was 33,725 at the 2010 census. Rome is one of two principal cities in the Utica–Rome Metropolitan Statistical Area, which lies in the "Leatherstocking Country" made famous by James Fenimore Cooper's "Leatherstocking Tales," set in frontier days before the American Revolutionary War. Rome is in New York's 22nd congressional district. The city developed at an ancient portage site of Native Americans, including the historic Iroquois. It continued to be strategically important to Europeans who also used
The Canterbury Tales that the greatest contribution of "The Canterbury Tales" to English literature was the popularisation of the English vernacular in mainstream literature, as opposed to French, Italian or Latin. English had, however, been used as a literary language centuries before Chaucer's time, and several of Chaucer's contemporaries—John Gower, William Langland, the Pearl Poet, and Julian of Norwich—also wrote major literary works in English. It is unclear to what extent Chaucer was seminal in this evolution of literary preference. While Chaucer clearly states the addressees of many of his poems, the intended audience of "The Canterbury Tales" is more difficult to determine.