GEOFFREY CHAUCER

 

GEOFFREY CHAUCER(1304?-1400)

Chaucer is known as the father of English poetry. It was in fact he who was the real founder of English poetry that has been read and enjoyed continuously from his own day to this. He disregarded altogether the old English tradition .He was not mere a bookman; he was the man of world and of affairs.

The word Chaucer is derived from the French word “chaussier” which means a “maker of foot-ware”. This shows that Chaucer’s ancestors were shoe-makers. Chaucer may have attended the Latin grammar school of Saint Paul’s cathedral and it is possible that he studied law at Inns of Court.

Chaucer’s life is known to us mainly through his long career as a royal courtier under three famous English kings Edward lll, Richard ll, and Henry lV.

Chaucer was in fact with an army that Edward ll let into France during the 100 year war. He also travelled on several diplomatic occasions to France, Spain and Italy, where he encountered the works of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio.

Works

Chaucer’s works can be divided into

 

1-   the French period

2-   the Italian period

3-   the English period

 

1-   French period

 

Most of Chaucer’s early works are translations of French writers.

 

a-   The book of duchess

 

The earliest of Chaucer’s original poems of any significance is the book of duchess, a dream poem.

The book of duchess is an elegy recording in an unusually graceful way .the loss which john of gaunt suffered in the death of his first wife.

 

b-  The parliament of foules

 

The Parliament of Foules (modernized: Parliament of Fowls), also called the Parliament of Briddes (Parliament of Birds) or the Assemble of Foules .

 

The parliament of foules, a dream vision poem describes how all bird species assembled to choose their mates. The poem is an allegory which seems to examine various kinds of love. It contains a mixture of light comedy and serious speculation about confusions of love.

 

2-   The Italian period

 

Chaucer was brought into touch with Italian literature at the time of his mission in Italy. Chaucer read the works of famous Italian poets and was profoundly inspired by them.

 

a-   The house of fame

 

The unfinished house of fame is a dream vision poem that owes something to Dante’s divine comedy. The poem lacks religious depth and intensity of Dante.

 

b-  Troilus and Criseyde                                                                             

 

 

It is Chaucer’s another major literary work. Chaucer took the basic plot of pseudo-classical work romance for this poem from Boccaccio’s Tilostrato. It is a tragedy of two lovers, a Trojan prince Troilus and his love for a Damsel Criseyde who got separated o tan arid is the greatest single artistic triumph of Chaucer’s career.

 

 

c-   The legend of good women

 

The poem consists of eight notable ladies who died for true love. It is a dream vision poem where Chaucer meets with the god of love who asked him about good women. The whole poem deals with the betrayal of women by wicked men as a regular theme.

 

3-   The English period

 

Chaucer appears to us in his last period as a great original poet, who was an expert in the art of description, narration and characteristics.

 

a-    Canterbury tales

 

The 18000 lines Canterbury tale is Chaucer’s last and incomplete work. The main theme of Canterbury tale’s a pilgrimage to the shrine of saint Thomas-a-bucket lyng in the Canterbury cathedral. Chaucer described a group of pilgrims who happened to be at tabard Inn on an evening in April. This group was supposed to tell stories on their travel from London to Canterbury as a part of contest. The prize of this contest was a free meal on their return.

Canterbury tales is unanimously seen as Chaucer’s magnum opus, he uses the tales and description of the characters to paint an ironic and critical portrait of English society at that time, particularly of the church. His characters are fictional; yet they offer a variety of insights into customs and practices of the time.

The poem is in rhyming couplets which are divided into stanzas. It is structured with the lines of iambic pentameter. The Canterbury tales is unique for its variety, humor, grace and peerism.

 

b-   Prologue to Canterbury tales

 

Prologue to Canterbury tales is important because it establishes the class structure of society in medieval England .In the prologue, Chaucer described the group of 29 pilgrims and one host. Each tells us four stories. All social type of society has been represented through characters in prologue. Chaucer got this idea from Decameron of Boccaccio which is collection of 100 stories told by 10 people.

 

=>Death 

 

Chaucer died on October 25, 1400. He was the first poet who has been buried in a corner in the later years many other men of letters were buried near him and so this part of Westminster Abbey came to be known as Poet’s Corner.

Chaucer was the great poet of English nation and in the middle ages he stands supreme. After his death there was a decline in English poetry for about 100 years.

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