Life:
Geoffrey Chaucer was born in good ol' London sometime between 1340 and 1344. His pops, John Chaucer, was a fancy wine merchant and a big shot in the king's crew. Thanks to his dad's connections, Geoff got to do all sorts of cool gigs when he was young. He worked as a page for a fancy lady, hung out at court, did some diplomatic stuff, worked for the government, and even collected scrap metal (random, right?). We don't have all the juicy details about his early life and education, but from what we can tell from his writings, he was pretty smart and could read French, Latin, and Italian.
In 1359, Chaucer joined the English army and went to France as part of the Hundred Years' War. But guess what? He got caught and became a prisoner. Luckily, King Edward III paid his way out in 1360. Geoff wasn't just lucky; he had game. In 1366, he married this chick named Philipa de Roet, who was like a fancy assistant to the queen. The king was pretty impressed and gave Geoff a lifetime allowance. That's when things got interesting.
Chaucer started going on trips for the king, doing all sorts of diplomatic stuff. On his journeys to Italy in 1372 and 1378, he stumbled upon some awesome writers like Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch. Those dudes rocked his world and totally influenced his own writing style. Pretty rad, huh?
Chaucer's early stuff was all about love poetry from France, like the Romaunt of the Rose and Saint Cecilia. Then he got a job as the Controller of Customs in London, dealing with wools, skins, and hides. He did that for twelve years. During that time, he got into Italian stuff and wrote some in-between works like Anelida and Arcite, Parlement of Foules, and Troilus and Criseyde. Chaucer moved to Kent, became a big shot as a justice of the peace and a member of Parliament in 1386. Unfortunately, his wife died the next year.
But that's when Chaucer really hit his stride as a writer. He started working on the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales, which he kept tinkering with until he kicked the bucket in 1400. This work is a big deal and is considered the foundation of English literature. It's got twenty-nine different characters from medieval society, and it's pretty smart and funny.
Chaucer is now known as the "Father of English literature." Back in the day, most court poetry was written in fancy languages like Anglo-Norman or Latin, but Chaucer was all about writing in everyday English. The way he wrote in verse with ten syllables per line, called decasyllabic couplets, later became the standard for epic and narrative poetry. Chaucer was also the first to make regular use of the iambic pentameter, which is a fancy way of saying his rhythm and meter were on point.
Chaucer's Major Works:
The Romaunt of the Rose:
The Romance of the Rose is this cool allegorical poem, taken from the French original Roman de la Rose with - get this - not one, but two authors! First, we got Guillaume de Lorris, and then his successor, Jean de Meun.
So, in the first part by Guillaume, the narrator talks about this super trippy dream he had five years ago. He finds himself in this awesome garden, with a crazy Fountain of Narcissus and rose bushes all around. But then, bam! The God of Love shoots him in the back with love arrows, and he's head over heels for one special flower.
Naturally, the dude tries to grab the flower, but the garden guardians are all like, "Uh-uh, not happening!" They take the rose away and make it totally out of reach. Along the way, he meets a bunch of minor characters, each representing challenges and vices. And that's where Guillaume's part ends.
Now, here comes Jean's continuation, and it's wild! The boy gets crafty and manages to nab that rose for himself. So, now we got forbidden knowledge and all that jazz. Jean wraps up the poem with some deep thoughts on themes from Guillaume's part, like free will and the whole fate and gods thing. It's a real mind-bender, I tell ya!
In the Middle English version of the Romance of the Rose, Geoffrey Chaucer, took Guillaume de Lorris's part and some of Jean de Meun's, making it around 1,705 lines from the first guy and 3,000 lines from the second.
Now, here's the cool part - this original version had such a huge impact on Chaucer's writing that it gave him the whole idea of idealized love, which he stuck to from his young days to when he was an old-timer. But that's not all! Chaucer got inspired for a bunch of other stuff too, like philosophizing, scientific interest, satire, and even some raunchy comedy in his later works. The dude found a goldmine of poetic goodness in the Romance of the Rose!
The Book of the Duchess
Chaucer's first big piece, The Book of the Duchess, is like a sad song about Blanche, John of Gaunt's first wife who passed away. The poem has all these fancy French touches, but what's really cool is how it tells the story of the narrator, who's kind of like Chaucer himself, and this grieving guy in black, who represents Gaunt. It's a dream-poem, written by Chaucer around 1369, and it's about 1,334 lines long, written in these eight-syllable couplets.
So, the poet, who's all lovesick, falls asleep while reading about Ceix and Alcyone's story, and then he ends up tagging along with a hunting party. There, he meets this knight dressed in black who's totally heartbroken over losing his lady. The knight goes on and on about how amazing she was, how beautiful and virtuous, and tells the dreamer that she's dead. Suddenly, the hunting party shows up again, and a bell rings twelve times, waking up the poet, who finds his book still in his hand. It's one of Chaucer's earliest works and it's really lovely and well done. It's based on this French tradition where dreams are used to talk about love and stuff.
The House of Fame
So, there's this 2005 lines long poem called "The House of Fame" by Chaucer. It's divided into three books and written in a dream-like style. The main character, who's like Chaucer himself, falls asleep and wakes up in a glass temple with famous people and their accomplishments depicted all around. An eagle becomes his guide, and together they start thinking about fame and whether it's trustworthy. Chaucer also ponders on the role of poets in telling the stories of famous people and how much truth can actually be found in those tales.
In both "The Book of the Duchess" and "The House of Fame," Chaucer uses a narrator who's pretty clueless about everything, just like Dante in "Commedia" guided by Virgil. In this case, the talkative Eagle guides our naive "Chaucer" around. They end up at the House of Fame, which is basically a place filled with stories and gossip. Chaucer argues that stories are more important than reality, a theme he also explores in "The Canterbury Tales." In the House of Fame, people are asked whether they want to be great lovers or be remembered as great lovers, and they all choose the latter. So, according to Chaucer, the story is more valuable than the actual experience.
Anelida and Arcite
We've got this cool English poem called "Anelida and Arcite." It's not too long, just 357 lines, but it's got a fancy structure, so pay attention!
So, the poem is all about this queen named Anelida from Armenia. She's a catch, you know? And then comes this sneaky dude called Arcite from Greece, who tries to woo her. But guess what? He's a big fat liar!
The poem starts with this thing called an invocation. It's like the poet is saying, "Yo, I need some divine inspiration for this story, so help me out, gods!"
Then we get into the main story, which has an introduction and a complaint by Anelida. And her complaint is pretty elaborate, my friends. It's got different sections like a preface, strophe, antistrophe, and a conclusion. It's like Anelida is pouring her heart out, talking about how she's been done wrong.
But wait, after the complaint, there are a few lines that might've been added later by some other person. They kind of continue the story, you know? But let's not stress about those too much.
Now, here's the thing, like many of Chaucer's works, this poem ends abruptly. It's like the dude just decided, "Okay, I'm done here, peace out!" Some scholars even think it might be unfinished. So, don't be surprised if you're left hanging at the end.
We don't know exactly when Chaucer wrote this poem. But most peeps think it happened in the late 1370s. The thing is, Chaucer himself never mentioned it, but hey, three manuscripts and even the poet John Lydgate attribute it to him, so we're pretty confident it's his work.
The Parliament of Birds
Dating Chaucer's stuff is tough, but experts think his dreamy poem, "The Parliament of Birds" (around 1378-1381), is probably his third work. It's a bit different from his previous stuff because he starts using this seven-line rhythm thing that he uses later in "Troilus and Criseyde" (around 1382-1386).
In "The Parliament of Birds," Chaucer gets all fancy and makes it an allegory with different birds representing different social classes. The big-shot birds like eagles and hawks stand for the high-and-mighty nobles, while the cuckoos represent the middle-class folks, and the water fowl are the merchants. Oh, and the turtledoves are the farmers. Each class gets its own voice in the poem.
This poem sets the stage for Chaucer's later works, like the ongoing battle between nature and fancy love in "Troilus and Criseyde," and his knack for giving all sorts of characters and social classes different voices, just like he does in "The Canterbury Tales."
Troilus and Criseyde
Troilus and Criseyde is this super long poem by Chaucer, written way back in the 1380s. It's got like 8,239 lines of rhyme and stuff. Chaucer got the story from this dude named Boccaccio, but he changed things up a bit.
In the original story, this guy Troilus falls in love with this chick Criseida, and his friend Pandaro helps them get together.
But then Criseida has to leave and join her dad on the Greek side, and she ends up falling for another dude named Diomede. Chaucer made things more intense by making Pandaro Criseida's uncle and guardian, and he added all these deep conversations between them. He also threw in some philosophical stuff to question whether the lovers really have control over their actions.
The poem ends with a message to the youngins, telling them to focus on what's really important in life and not get caught up in all the drama and uncertainty. People have talked a lot about whether the ending fits with the rest of the story, the whole love thing, and the narrator's personality. It's a pretty cool story that's been retold by other writers like Henryson and Shakespeare too.
Legend of Good Women
Alright, listen up, folks! So, there's this old piece of writing called "Legend of Good Women" that was written back in the 1380s. It's like the last thing Chaucer ever wrote in this dream-vision genre, and it's got a bunch of cool stuff in it.
Basically, the story starts off with the god of love being super pissed at Chaucer because he's always writing about women who betray men. To make up for it, Love tells Chaucer to write about good women instead. Fair enough, right?
Now, the best part is the "Prologue" because it's hilarious! Chaucer's narrator is totally making fun of himself and it's just a riot. Plus, there are these awesome parts where he talks about how great books are and how amazing the springtime is. So, it's not all serious and boring!
As for the stories themselves, well, they're alright. They're all about these famous ladies from way back, like Cleopatra, Dido, and Lucrece. But here's the thing: most of the stories are kinda short and formulaic, with this recurring theme of women getting betrayed by evil men. So, it kinda feels more like a legend of bad dudes rather than a celebration of good women.
The Canterbury Tales
Alrighty, peeps! Check out The Canterbury Tales, a super famous collection of stories written by Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It's like his masterpiece, you know? This thing has a whopping 17,000 lines and is written in Middle English.
Here's the deal: a bunch of pilgrims are on a trip from London to Canterbury to visit this shrine at Canterbury Cathedral. And guess what? They decide to have a contest to pass the time! The prize? A free meal at the Tabard Inn in Southwark when they get back. Yum!
Now, here's the thing about The Canterbury Tales. It's thought to be unfinished. In the General Prologue, Chaucer introduces around 30 pilgrims. His plan was to have each of them tell four stories, two on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back. That would've been a whopping 120 stories! But hey, it looks like Chaucer couldn't quite finish the job. Still, this work is considered a major deal in English lit, so we gotta respect it.
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