Geoffrey Chaucer
GEOFFREY CHAUCER AND HIS EFFECT ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGEGeoffrey Chaucer has been called the Father of the English language. He did for the English narrative what Shakespeare later did for drama. He was the first writer to use lines of poetry that had an appeal to those interested in nature and books. His writing was very modern for his time, even more modern than the writings of others after he died, but he stayed within the traditions of medieval poetry. Chaucer was born in London, no one knows exactly what date but sometime between 1340 and 1344. Chaucer's father, John Chaucer, was a wine merchant although his last name from the French word chaussier indicates that his ancestors were shoemakers. He would sometimes hold positions in the royal administration and he was a significant member in the business community. Chaucer and his parents were lucky to escape the plague during the times of the Black Death, the epidemic that was spread to European lands from the Middle East. In June of 1348 it entered the coastal towns of England and within a few months two million out of five million inhabitants were dead. At this time, Chaucer was four to eight years old and very fortunate to not have been infected.
In 1386 he started writing The Legend of Good Women, which remains unfinished. Chaucer had a good sense of humor, with and the ability to tell a great story. Chaucer was made controller of wool customs in London in 1374, which he soon realized was a difficult job. s concerning Geoffrey Chaucer's career in civil service come from contemporary documents. While serving this position he noticed that political tensions were forming between court and Parliament and he thought it would be best to move outside of London for a while. Some men even started a "Chaucer Circle. During his three-month stay in Italy, he became accustomed with these writers as well as with Dante, the poet and author of the Divine Commedia, who soon becomes of Chaucer's biggest influences. Chaucer used his experiences in The Hundred Years War to write Troilus and Criseyde. King Edward died in 1377 and his grandson Richard became King Richard II at only ten years old. From these two works Chaucer became a well-known figure in London's literary circle. Troilus dies and goes to heaven where he can keep an eye on Criseyde. Records show that he went Italy a few years after 1368, first Genoa, and then Florence. Chaucer was the first to introduce the seven-line stanza in iambic pentameter. No one knows at what point in his life Chaucer began writing. Petrarch had just finished the Canzoniere and Boccaccio was writing as well.
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