1.3 Geoffrey Chaucer

(1343-1400)

Life and Works

Geoffrey Chaucer, known as the father of English poetry, is widely considered as the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages. The life of Chaucer is better documented than that of many a later writer. This is due to the fact that he entered service in one of the royal households at an early age and remained in public service for the rest of his life. His various duties and travels, together with the payments and gifts made to him, are therefore well documented in public records. Chaucer is not only considered as an author, scholar, philosopher, alchemist and astronomer, but he also maintained an active career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat.

Geoffrey Chaucer was born in the early 1340s, most probably in London. His father and grandfather were both vintners and several previous generations had been merchants in Ipswich. His family name derives from the "Old French chaucier…signified rather 'a hosier' than 'a shoemaker'". Chaucer's father, originally a wine merchant, became tremendously wealthy who later increased his fortune through the inheritance of several properties. He was therefore able to send the young Chaucer off as a page to the Countess of Ulster, which meant that Chaucer was not required to follow his ancestors' footsteps and become a merchant. Eventually, Chaucer began to serve Prince Lionel, son of King Edward Ⅲ. In 1359, in the early stages of the Hundred Years' War, Edward Ⅲ invaded France and Chaucer accompanied with Prince Lionel, as part of the English army. Chaucer took part in the war with France before he was twenty, and in 1367 he worked for the king both as a soldier and a diplomat since his knowledge of languages (he knew Italian as well as French and Latin) was among the skills which singled him out for diplomatic missions to Spain in 1366 and to Italy in 1372-1373 and 1378."Chaucer's career has traditionally been divided into three distinct periods—the French (1355-1370), the Italian (1370-1385), and the English (1385-1400)—on the basis of the styles he was imitating and the writers he was reading". Throughout his career, Chaucer continually demonstrated that he was a very well-read man; his writing indicateds that he is familiar with Vergil, Ovid, Boethius, Petrach, Dante, and Boccaccio. He steadily developed his artistic skills and intellectual stature.

Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales is his most popular work. His original plan for The Canterbury Tales was to write about one hundred and twenty stories, two for each pilgrim to tell on the way to Canterbury and two more on the way back. However, Chaucer actually completed only twenty-two, though two more exist in fragments. The extraordinary variety of The Canterbury Tales as well as its large number might well have demanded Chaucer's full energy and attention during the last fourteen years of his life.

Before Chaucer, there was no collection of tales within the framework of pilgrims on a pilgrimage. But it is obvious that Chaucer borrowed a large portion of his stories from earlier ones. In his time storytelling was a popular entertainment and storytelling contests had been in existence for a thousand years.

You will discover that the tales have many themes such as love at the King's Court, betrayal, greed and corruption of the church. The tales are interconnected and some reply to others. It is a rich source of material for historians as it is an introduction to the everyday lives of the English during the late Middle Ages.

The stories are told by 30 pilgrims,travelers,as they get to know each other on the road to Canterbury, England. Chaucer never finished the project so scholars are uncertain about the proper order of the stories. Nevertheless,a few of the tales are grouped together as the pilgrims telling them are engaged in a quarrel. The Friar (holy man) tells a tale of summoner treachery (a summoner is someone the medieval church hired to call people before the court). The Summoner replies with a scandalous tale about a friar. Several tales deal with the problem of happiness in married life (the Marriage Group). The tales also include lessons on morality, human struggles, and comedy. Most are vulgar and surprisingly sexually explicit.

One of the reasons Chaucer is so important is that he decided to write in English."In or around 1378, Chaucer began to develop his vision of an English poetry that would be linguistically accessible to all—obedient neither to the court, whose official language was French, nor to the Church, whose official language was Latin." Chaucer wrote in the language that people in England actually spoke, which is called vernacular. It actually was a bold decision.

While Chaucer was upper-class, a well-educated person, he chose to write The Canterbury Tales in the common language of his country so that that more people would understand. Chaucer showed the beauty of English as a literary language, together with his humor. The Canterbury Tales was Chaucer's most popular work. Although written before the printing press, and none of his own writing has survived, many 15th-century copied manuscripts can be read. The civility of his poetry and his related wisdom about life resulted in many critics referring to him as the "father of English poetry".

This legendary English poet Geoffrey Chaucer died on October 25,1400 of unknown causes in London, England. He was 60 years old. Chaucer was buried in Westminster Abbey. His tombstone became the center of what was to be called Poet's Corner.

Selected Reading

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories mostly written in verse although some are in prose. In addition to describing the characters, the General Prologue makes clear the plan of the framework. The opening scene of the General Prologue is set in the Tabard Inn "beside the Bell" at Southwark on the south side of the River Thames opposite London; the date, to judge from subsequent astronomical allusions, is mid-April, 1387, and the innkeeper's name, we later learn, is Harry Bailly. The narrator joins up with a group of people numbering "a good nine-and-twenty" at the Tabard Inn, who are to ride as pilgrims the sixty miles of much-traveled road to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The narrator gives a descriptive account of twenty-seven of these pilgrims, including the ideal Knight, who has fought against the pagans in all the great battles of the last half-century; his son the Squire, a lover of any love poems; the Prioress without a vocation but with the dogs and jewelry; the hunting Monk and flattering Friar, chief targets of medieval satirists; the too-busy and too-rich lawyer; the prosperous Franklin; the fraudulent Doctor; the Wife—or Archwife—of Bath; the austere Parson; the flamboyant hypocrite, the Pardoner etc. The Host (the Innkeeper) suggests that the group ride together and entertain one another with stories. He decides that each pilgrim will tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back. Whomever he judges to be the best storyteller will receive a free meal at the tavern on their return. The pilgrims draw lots and determine that the Knight will tell the first tale.

The Canterbury Tales

The General Prologue

Questions for Discussion

1. What is the function of time and seasons in the tales?

2. Chaucer chose to write in English at a time when educated people wrote in Latin or French. Think about why Chaucer made such a decision.