Geoffrey Chaucer

A soldier, a civil servant, a diplomat - Geoffrey Chaucer has been busy all his life on many more fronts besides being a pioneer of the world of literature. Chaucer was the first poet to use many meters and stanza forms, and to blend the French and Italian styles of writings with English. He, for the first time in history of English literature, brought into words the contemporary English world. Canterbury Tales is set on the road between London and Canterbury. He dealt with realism and humanism extensively and produced some masterpieces like Troilus and Criseyde, Romance of the Rose and Canterbury Tales.

Chaucer is admired the most for alleviating the English consciousness from the streets into the volumes of classics. He drew his characters with such a fine pointed brush, filled them with such realistic energy and life, revealing their inner selves, that the reader could immediately identify themselves with them.

On finishing his education, John Chaucer did not force young Geoffrey to join his wine business. Instead, he worked for Elizabeth de Burgh, Countess of Ulster and daughter-in-law of the King of England, around 1357. He also participated in the war against France in 1359. He was captured by the French army but was rel

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Geoffrey Chaucer was very frequently employed on diplomatic missions. He was also influenced by the great 13th century dream allegory Le Roman de la Rose by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun.

During this period, he also translated and adopted religious, historical, and philosophical works. Chaucer appointed as the Comptroller of the Customs.

Chaucer wrote The Parliament of Fowles. The culture of the English upper class was still predominantly French, and his earlier works were influenced by French poets Guillaume de Machaut and Jean Froissart. His unfinished work The House of Fame gives a humorous account of the poet’s frustrating journey in the claws of a giant golden eagle to the palace of the goddess Fame.

1380

Chaucer was released from all actions in the case of the rape as Cecily Chaumpaigne signed a document. It was a tragic love story of the Trojan prince Troilus who wins Criseyde (Cressida) and then loses her to the Greek Warrior Diomede. In October, Chaucer was paid in order to carry letters from Calais to England by Prince Lionel. It is an elegy for John of Gaunt’s first wife, Blanche, who died in 1369.

1372

Chaucer traveled to Genoa and Florence, Italy, on a diplomatic mission. Back home, he underwent his first diplomatic mission as a letter-bearer.

1357

Geoffrey Chaucer became a page in the household of Elizabeth de Burgh, Countess of Ulster.

One traditional categorization of Chaucer’s works has been to divide them into three periods :

1).

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