The Father of English Literature

Introduction

Born and raised in the thriving streets of London city, buried beneath layers and layers of so many different times, our beloved Geoffrey Chaucer, nicknamed The Father of English Literature, proves to be a glorious hero. He rescued the alphabet. He fought for our country. His story will not be forgotten. It is on this day, when I shall reveal his marvelous tale. I shall show it before you.

Birth

He was born in the year, 1343. A year to remember. On that day his father looked down on him and smiled. Why? Might you ask. Well, allow me to take you 27 years before Geoffrey was born.

1316. Our young hero does not exist. John, his father, is working. He is well-respected. He is in a good mood. Not long later he is being grabbed by the ankles, plunged into darkness and taken from what he knows. One week.

A whole week of misery.

He was kept in the dark. Concealed in Evill. Thought to be dead. Then he was greeted by chubby policeman who could have easily been the symbol of courage. Soon the truth was awakened.

John Chaucer had been kidnapped by his aunty. Immediatly, the truth flew into motion.

She had been desparate.

Rumours spoke that her property would soon be passed down into the hands of her nephew. But perhaps there was a way. Her daughter had such longing reflected in her eyes. All hope seemed to be begging to evaporate. The poor girl. There was nothing left for her in the world....

Or was there?

If that greedy aunty could somehow forge a marriage between the daughter and one of the Chaucers, maybe then her heart could leap into joy!

Death

Bad news on the doorstep. In the precise year of 1400 Geoffrey Chaucer was reported dead. What a loss it was! He was a noble man. He did great things. He was a fine writer. But no one can live forever...

Works

Chaucer's first major work, The Book of the Duchess, was an elegy for Blanche of Lancaster (who died in 1369). It is possible that this work was commissioned by her husband John of Gaunt, as he granted Chaucer a £10 annuity on 13 June 1374. This would seem to place the writing of The Book of the Duchess between the years 1369 and 1374. Two other early works by Chaucer were Anelida and Arcite and The House of Fame. Chaucer wrote many of his major works in a prolific period when he held the job of customs comptroller for London (1374 to 1386). His Parlement of Foules, The Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde all date from this time. Also it is believed that he started work on The Canterbury Tales in the early 1380s. Chaucer is best known as the writer of The Canterbury Tales, which is a collection of stories told by fictional pilgrims on the road to the cathedral at Canterbury; these tales would help to shape English literature.

The Canterbury Tales contrasts with other literature of the period in the naturalism of its narrative, the variety of stories the pilgrims tell and the varied characters who are engaged in the pilgrimage. Many of the stories narrated by the pilgrims seem to fit their individual characters and social standing, although some of the stories seem ill-fitting to their narrators, perhaps as a result of the incomplete state of the work. Chaucer drew on real life for his cast of pilgrims: the innkeeper shares the name of a contemporary keeper of an inn in Southwark, and real-life identities for the Wife of Bath, the Merchant, the Man of Law and the Student have been suggested. The many jobs that Chaucer held in medieval society—page, soldier, messenger, valet, bureaucrat, foreman and administrator—probably exposed him to many of the types of people he depicted in the Tales. He was able to shape their speech and satirise their manners in what was to become popular literature among people of the same types.