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Geoffrey was an English Author, poet, and Civil Servant. In English Literature, he was known as the “Father of English Literature” or the “Father of English Poetry”. Mainly, he was famous for his Canterbury Tales. Geoffrey Chaucer Facts was the first writer to be buried in the Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.
He gained fame as an astronomer and a philosopher when he composed the scientific “A Treatise on the Astrolabe” for his son Lewis who was 10 years old at that time. He also maintained a career in civil services.
Now let’s have a look at his early life and his struggles to see under which circumstances he started writing.
Early Life
Geoffrey Chaucer was born to John Chaucer and Agnes Copton in 1340, in London, United Kingdom. John was an affluent wine merchant and deputy to the King’s butler. In his early life, Geoffrey held multiple positions through his father’s connections.
He serves as a courtier, a noblewoman’s page, a civil servant, a collector of scrap metal, and a diplomat. Geoffrey’s early life and education were not documented completely although from his works it can be surmised that he could read Italian, French, and Latin.
Life After Joining Army
Chaucer joined the English Army’s invasion of France in 1359 during the Hundred Year’s War. He was taken prisoner and King Edward III of England paid his ransom in 1360. Later in 1366, he married Philipa de Roet.
She was a lady-in-waiting to Edward III’s wife. Chaucer was given a life pension by the King in 1367 and he began traveling abroad on diplomatic missions. During his trips to Italy in 1372 and 1378, he discovered the works of Petrarch, Dante, and Boccaccio.
Each of these discoveries highly influenced Chaucer’s literary endeavors. From his work, it is clear that his early work is influenced strongly by Love Poetry of the French tradition including Saint Cecilia and Romaunt of the Rose.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s Period of Italian Influence
Geoffrey was named Controller of Customs on skins, wools, and hides for the port of London in 1374. He continued to work in this post for 12 years. Within this time, Chaucer’s period of Italian influence began including transitional works like
- Anelida and Arcite – 1379
- Parlement of Foules – 1382
- Troilus and Criseyde – 1385
After that, Chaucer established residence in Kent. In 1386, he was elected a member of Parliament and a justice of the peace. In the following year, his wife died. In September 1390, Chaucer was robbed and injured while conducting business.
Because of this, he stopped working in this business on 17 June 1391. After that, he began as Deputy Forester in the royal forest of Petherton Park in North Petherton on 22 June. By writing the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer started his period of artistic maturity.
He continued to work on these tales for many years until his death in 1400. His tales gather 29 archetypes of late-medieval English society and present them with humor and insight. Chaucer is considered the “Father of English Literature” as written in the English Vernacular.
In addition to that, his poetry was written in Latin or Anglo-Norman. He used the decasyllabic couplet for most of the Canterbury Tales. But later the decasyllabic couplet evolved into the heroic couplet that is used commonly for narrative and epic poetry in English.
He is also credited with pioneering the daily use of iambic pentameter. Like other English writers, he did not have a limit in words but had a limited lifetime. Until less than a year before he expired, he remained Clerk of Works of the Palace of Westminster.
Famous Work by Geoffrey Chaucer
During his lifetime, Geoffrey Chaucer Facts, wrote many books but none of them has exact publishing dates. However, publishers managed to keep the copy of his books so that people can benefit from his literary work. Now, have a look at the wonderful books written by Chaucer.
- Tales of Canterbury
- Chanticleer and the Fox
- Troilus and Criseyde
- The Riverside Chaucer
- The Wife of Bath
- The Portable Chaucer and many more.
The artistic work of Geoffrey Chaucer Facts is not only limited to English people as his poems were written in Latin. If you have not read any of Chaucer’s books then you must give them a try.