Chaucer's

Geoffrey Chaucer
1343-1400

Member of the unrecognized "middle class" of English medieval society

Although literary works and the law indicated a huge wall between the aristocracy and the common

Some 14th-century commoners bridged the gap

Chaucer was one of those

Son of a wine merchant

Became a page at the royal court in his early teens

Served the kings Edward III, Richard II, and Henry IV

Later captured in a continental battle during a stint as a soldier

At other times in his career...
-a valet
-a trade diplomat
-a government functionary

Married a minor member of the aristocracy

He wasn't considered nobility, but his children were

Chaucer was not a "professional" writer

Made his living doing other work while writing on the side

During his early career, Chaucer's writing was influenced by French and Latin models

For example, he translated a French allegorical poem "The Romance of the Rose" and Boethius's "The Consolation of Philosophy"

Later, he traveled to Italy...

-encountered at least the works of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio

Of these three Italians...
Boccaccio is the most important direct model for Chaucer's own writing

The Canterbury Tales

1386
Chaucer began to write The Canterbury Tales
..........
project would continue until his death in 1400

Poem's prologue

Indicates his plan to write 120 stories....
-two for each pilgrim on the way to Canterbury
-two on the way back

He actually completed only 22 tales, along with two fragments

Inaugurated another tradition of English literature

Poets who conceived a grand plan

Instead produced an unfinished masterpiece

The Canterbury Tales was probably first conceived when Chaucer was living in Greenwich

From his house, he might have been able to see the pilgrim road that led to the shrine of Thomas á Becket, a 12th-century martyr

In 1170, Becket was murdered in his own cathedral by four knights

Miracles of healing at his shrinehastened hiscanonization and fed into the great social movement of pilgrimage that was a cause for much medieval travel

Chaucer uses the pilgrim journey, which was religious and yet recreational, to provide a cross-section of English society at the time

Notice that, though the pilgrims are described in a way that one would consider "realistic," they are named for their roles in society

Chaucer even made himself a character in the poem

When Chaucer the pilgrim tries to tell a tale ("the tale of Sir Thopas"), the other pilgrims dislike it so much that they don't let him finish

There is an ironic dichotomy between the character "Chaucer the pilgrim," who seems wide-eyed and naïve, and "Chaucer the author," who actually conceived all the characters and appears not to be naïve at all.

Instead he appears to be an ironic humorist

Anthology version of The Canterbury Tales is in the London dialect of Middle English

Though the words may be spelled differently than is normal for modern prose, if read aloud, the words become easier to understand

There are also a number of translations of Chaucer into Modern English available

Upcoming...

• Read "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"
• CPA Topic 2 Wk 4 Part 1
• (Benchmark) Critical Analysis 1 for Topic 1 Due