Geoffrey Chaucer Biography Notable works & facts

Geoffrey Chaucer Profile

Birth Date: Between 1340-1343

Birth Place: London, England

Death Date: 25 October 1400 

Death Place: London, England

Cause of Death: Unknown cause

Buried Place: Poets' Corner, Westernised Abbey

Aged: 56-60

Nationality: Great Britain

Occupation: Author, Poet, philosopher, Bureaucrat, Diplomat

Era: Plantagenet

Parents : ( Father) John Chaucer, (Mother) Agnes de Copton

Spouse(s): Philippa Roet (m. 1366)

Children: Thomas Chaucer, Elizabeth Chaucer, Agnes Lowys (Lewis)

NOTABLE WORKS

1. The Canterbury Tales
2. Troilus and Criseyde
3. The Parlement of Foules
4. The Pardoner's Tale
5. The Miller's Tale
6. The Friar's Tale
7. The Nun's Priest's Tale
8. The Clerk's Tale
9. The Man of Law's Tale
10. The Franklin's Tale
11. The Book of the Duchess
12. The Legend of Good Women
13. The House of Fame
14. The Romaunt of the Rose
15. Anelida and Arcite
16. Parlement of Foules
17. A Treatise on the Astrolabe
18. Translation of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy as Boece

Short poems

1. An ABC
2. Chaucers Wordes unto Adam,
His Owne Scriveyn (disputed)
3. The Complaint unto Pity
4. The Complaint of Chaucer to his Purse
5. The Complaint of Mars
6. The Complaint of Venus
7. A Complaint to His Lady
8. The Former Age
9. Fortune Gentilesse
10. Lak of Stedfastnesse
11. Lenvoy de Chaucer a Scogan
12. Lenvoy de Chaucer a Bukton
13. Proverbs
14. Balade to Rosemounde
15. Truth
16. Womanly Noblesse

Poems of doubtful authorship

1. Against Women Unconstant
2. A Balade of Complaint
3. Complaynt D'Amours
4. Merciles Beaute
5. The Equatorie of the Planets

Spurious works

1. The Pilgrim's Tale
2. The Plowman's Tale or The Complaint of the Ploughman
3. The Ploughman's Tale
4. Pierce the Ploughman's Crede
5. La Belle Dame Sans Merci
6. The Testament of Love
7. Jack Upland
8. The Floure and the Leafe

Derived works

1. God Spede the Plough

Facts about Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer, the Father of English poetry, and the grandfather of English novel was born about the year 1340 in a distinguished family. The date of his birth is uncertain but it is generally accepted as being 1340. He was born and lived in London and became the centre of English literature.

His father, John Chaucer, was a citizen and wine merchant in London. John Chaucer evidently did good business. For a few years before his son was born, he was one of a distinguished company which attended on Edward III on a journey to Cologne, and this had some link of service with the royal household.

Chaucer himself maintained that link throughout nearly the whole of his life. His father lived in Thames street and it was presumably there that the poet was born, and there he passed the early years of his boyhood. Riverside London in the 14th century was no bad place for a boy with his wits about him and capacity of observation for the doings of men.

It is certain that in his boyhood he had a fair acquaintance with Latin grammar, rhetoric, logic, classical literature, mathematics, geometry and astronomy. He knew French as well as English from his childhood. He was born in London and entered the household of the house of Duke of Clarence and saw the military service abroad where he was captured.

Then he entered the Royal household. Chaucer married Philipa de Roet in 1366. Philipa de Roet was a lady in waiting to Edward III's wife. When Richard II succeeded to the crown, Geoffrey Chaucer was confirmed in his office and shortly afterwards, he was sent to Italy on diplomatic missions in 1367. After that, he suffered a period of depression probably due to the departure of his patron John of Gaunt to Spain. However, his life closed with a revival of prosperity.

Chaucer's literary genius is found truly versatile. In his works are perfectly rolled and mingled his varied and checkered practical experiences of life as well as his intimate contact with foreign literature. His acquaintances with the literature of other countries, particularly of Italy and France, is clearly evident in his earlier works. But Chaucer's genius remains always original, and his English originality, based on his experience as a public man and poet of here found missing in him.

Geoffrey Chaucer literary works

Three periods of Chaucerian Literature

Chaucer's works, so varied and vast may be divided into three periods for the purpose of a convenient study. Of course, it is impossible to ascribe definitely his different works to any particular time. Some tales of The Canterbury Tales, for instance, were written quite early in his life but grouped and arranged in the final production. These three periods are-

1. The French
2. The Italian and
3. The English

But this division is made mainly on the basis of the three distinct phases of his literary life. But it is neither exact nor all fair. These periods do not just indicate the neat manner of classifying his poetry, but also suggest how gradually he came to learn his craft and art, through his association with the authors and works of these languages and also the gradual evolution of his distinct English phase. It gives us an insight into how he came to imbibe different influences and at the same time develop his English identity.

The French Period or The First Period

The literary works of the French Stage are based on French style and this style was clumsy and immature. The most notable work written during this period is “ The Romaunt of the Rose” a legendary allegorical Poem consisting of about 8,000 lines and composed in octosyllabic couplets that was directly based upon “ Let Roman de la Rose”. Earlier it was thought to have been entirely written by Geoffrey Chaucer, but recent researchers have established that only the initial portion was composed by him.

The most remarkable Chaucerian work of the French period “The Dethe of Blanche the Duchesse”, a courtly and aristocratic lady was written about 1368-69 to commemorate the death of Blanche, the first wife of Chaucer's patron, John of Gaunt. This is mainly allegorical. Even though it bears out decisively Charucer's lyricism. Conceived on a novel line, it combines finely fancy and reality, artificiality and naturalness.

The allegorical element of the poem carries a note of glorification for beauty, signified by the late duchess. In Chaucer's poetry, art and morality are perfectly balanced and harmonised. The longest of his earlier poems, this does nowhere appear abstract. Although it's much of traditional elements-dream, mythology, fancy, and so on. It contains enough substance of reality in the character of the Duchess herself and in the grief of her death.

Two other important works of this period are ‘Compleynt unto Rity', ‘An A.B.C’ and ‘Compleynt of Mars’, ‘Queen Anelida’ and The ABC. They are all interesting on account of their experimentations with various stanza forms.

The Italian Period or The Second Period

Geoffrey Chaucer's second period extends roughly from 1379 to 1385 and shows the influence of the Italian poets in this period, he rises above translation to imitation and the chief poems of this period are-

1. The Parliament of Fowls
2. The House of Fame
3. Troilus and Criseyde and
4. The Legend of Good Women.

Though “The Parliament of Fowls” and “The House of Fame” generally attributed to Chaucer's Italian period, bear actually the French influence. Both these poems are in the pattern of French allegorical poetry and stand out as Chaucer's significant contributions to English allegorical literature. Both the poems built-in dream conventions indicate Chaucer's highly realistic sense and his power to blend allegory with realism.

Moreover, Chaucer enjoyable sense of wit and humour is well borne out in these works too. In fact, they remain quite vigorous, engaging and original allegories, under the French influence, and are found to inspire the works of Spenser. Of course, ‘House of Fame’, ‘The influence of the Divina Commedia’ of the celebrated Italian poet, Dante, is also perceived. But Chaucer's pattern is French, and poem, rather lively, is different from Dantesque.

Geoffrey Chaucer, as a diplomat, had to visit Italy and some of the neighbouring countries. During his visit, he came in contact with the mighty masters of Italian literature like- Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio and Giotto. He was immensely influenced by them just as the French allegorical and chivalrous literature had inspired his earlier works.

The Italian influence on Chaucer is superficially felt in his two famous romances “The Knight's Tale” and “Troilus and Criseyde”. For the subject matter of these romances, his indebtedness goes to Boccaccio, the celebrated Italian storyteller. Both of them deal with the romance of love and adventure, with the spirit of heroism and the sense of devotion. Of course, Chaucer is no imitator of Boccaccio and remains fresh and original all through.

Troilus and Criseyde, written probably in 138o, reveals in particular, Chaucer's poetical genius. His keenness as a story-teller in verse, psychologist and metrical technician is here triumphantly demonstrated. Chaucer seems to possess used here his varied powers together in absolute harmony. Chaucer is also the Italian influence evident in found “The Complaint of Pity” and “The Complaint of Mars”, “The Clerke's Tale”.

These are more imaginative, revealing Geoffrey Chaucer's genius as a storyteller as well as a lyricist. Another famous poem called “The Complaint of Venus”, is a translation from French. Geoffrey Chaucer is another masterly work of his Italian period is “The Legend of Good Women” which tells us tales of virtuous women of antiquity. His inspiration here is the Italian legends of the noble and fair women who were martyrs of love. The work is not allegorical, and only The Prologue is actually allegorical. The poem is written in heroic couplet.

The English Period or Third Period

Third period or the English period contains the greatest of his literary accomplishment. The achievement of this period is “The Canterbury Tales”. For the general ideas of the tales, Chaucer is indebted to “Boccaccio”. But in every important features, the work is essential English.

For the purpose of his poem, Chaucer draws together 29 pilgrims including himself. They meet at “The Tabard Inn” in order to go on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Thomas A Backet at Canterbury. The 29 are carefully chosen people from all categories of life, man and woman and from knight to a humble ploughman. Their occupations and personal peculiarities are many and diverse.

By the suggestion of the host of the “Tabard" and to relieve the tiredness of the journey, each pilgrim was to tell two tales on the outward journey and two on the return. In its entirety, the plan of the poem is a collection of over 100 tales. But Chaucer could finish only 20 and left four partly complete.

Every tale has an individual prologue. Therefore, even the incomplete work is small literature with a variety of wit and humour, narration and description, dialogue and digression. In other words, each story serves to characterize the teller.

Chaucer's rich comedy, wit, humour, pathos, narrative and descriptive, dialogue and study on character, makes him greatest of poets of his time and one of the future ages. Chaucer's “The Canterbury Tales” is a collection of the story told by pilgrims. It is a novel work in English Literature.

The poet's interest in life and man is the main inspiration of the tales. The picture he presents of man and woman, manner and morals are loveable, healthy and kindly humourous. In this respect “The Canterbury Tales” is both a work of drama and novel at the same time