Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – October 25 , 1400 ) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat (courtier), and diplomat. Chaucer is best known as the author of The Canterbury Tales . He is sometimes credited with being the first author to...
Perhaps we must first realize what a curious phenomenon it is that Geoffrey Chaucer became the first English author. It would have been surprising in the fourteenth century for anyone to think of writing in his native tongue, and this was particularly...
Perhaps the modern reader must first realize what a curious phenomenon it is that Geoffrey Chaucer became the first English author. It would have been surprising in the fourteenth century for anyone to think of writing in his native tongue, and this...
The English author and courtier Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1345-1400) was one of the greatest poets of the late Middle Ages and has often been called the father of English poetry. His best-known works are The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde. The...
1340?-1400 English poet and civil servant who wrote the literary classic The Canterbury Tales, among other works, and held numerous government posts during the reigns of Edward III, Richard II, and Henry IV. Fluent in French (the language of the wine...
Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – October 25, 1400) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat courtier, and diplomat. Although he wrote many works, he is best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative The Canterbury Tales. Sometimes called...
Monarch Notes 01-01-1963 Preface Anyone who presumes to add another book to the growing list of outlines, commentaries, modernizations - even children's versions - of Chaucer's poetry must begin with an apology. Modernizations (and there are some good ones) tend sometimes to be even...
Monarch Notes 01-01-1963 The Canterbury Tales: Summary: Chaucer stops off at the Tabard Inn on his way to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas a Becket. He falls in with twenty-nine other pilgrims, and in the famous General Prologue to the Canterbury...
The WriterBorn in 1343, Geoffrey Chaucer is second only to Shakespeare in the annals of English literature. The son of a London wine merchant, Chaucer worked as a courtier for King Edward III before becoming a civil servant and diplomat, representing his country during missions...
Today is Thursday, Oct. 25, the 298th day of 2007. There are 67 days left in the year.Today's Highlight in History:On Oct. 25, 1854, the "Charge of the Light Brigade" took place during the Crimean War as an English brigade of more than 600 men,...
In the following essay, Dinshaw maintains that in his works Chaucer figuratively associates literary activity with the human body. This association, argues Dinshaw, may be seen in the poem “Adam Scriveyn,” as well as in a number of Chaucer's other works. Dinshaw further contends that for Chaucer all literary activity is gendered, and that the characters in his works who control language are associated with masculine power in patriarchal society.
In the following essay, Bloch points out that apparent discrepancies exist between the motivation and actions of the characters in Chaucer's “The Physician's Tale.” The key to making sense of such disparity, Bloch maintains, is understanding how the character Virginia's virginity would have been understood by medieval readers. Bloch explains how the Church Fathers of the time would have viewed the story, noting that once Virginia is looked upon with desire by Appius, she ...
Lowes is noted for his essays and lectures on poetry and is the author of Geoffrey Chaucer and the Development of His Genius. In the following excerpt from one of his published lectures, Lowes provides cultural, biographical, and literary sources for Chaucer's works.
Explores the life of writer Geoffrey Chaucer. Describes his early life, education and early works, includng his most famous, The Canterbury Tales. Comments on the mixture of jest and earnest characteristic of Chaucer's work.
Geoffrey Chaucer's views on feminism in the Middle Ages can be ascertained in his works of literature, especially in the characters of Griselda from "The Clerk's Tale" and the Wife of Bath in the "Wife of Bath's Tale."
