GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1340-1400)

FATHER OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, ENGLISH POETRY

BOOK OF DUCHESS, CANTERBURY TALES (CLASSICS)
SEVERAL POSITIONS – NOBLE WOMAN’S PAGE, A COURTIER, A DIPLOMAT, A CIVIL SERVANT, A
COLLECTOR OF SCRAP MATERIAL
JOINED ENGLISH ARMY’S INVASION OF FRANCE DURING 100 YRS WAR (1359) & TAKEN PRISONER
 100 YRS WAR (BETWEEN ENGLAND & FRANCE – LASTED FOR 116 YRS – KING EDWARD III &
PHILIP VI – DISPUTE OVER FEUDAL RIGHTS – BATTLE FOR FRENCH CROWN

DURING HIS TRIPS TO ITALY, ON DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS, DISCOVERED WORKS OF DANTE,

BOCCACCIO & PETRACH – INFLUENCED CHAUCER’S OWN ENDEAVOURS

NAMED CONTROLLER OF CUSTOMS ON WOOLS, SKINS & HIDES (SHELTER FOR WILDLIFE) FOR THE
PORT OF LONDON IN 1374 & CONTINUED FOR 12 YRS

APPOINTED JUSTICE OF PEACE & MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT IN 1386 (REMARKABLE PERIOD)

HIS PERIOD OF ARTISTIC MATURITY BEGAN AT THIS TIME – THE CANTERBURY TALES

EARLY 14 TH CENTURY:

▪ DEMOGRAPHIC (SHRINKING POPULATION) & ECONOMIC DECLINE FOLLOWED BY RECOVERY, END

OF WESTERN RELIGIOUS UNITY, EMERGENCE OF NATION STATE

▪ LITERARY PERIOD – LATE MEDIEVAL (1300-1400)

▪ …CRISIS OF LATE MIDDLE AGES WAS A SERIES OF EVENTS IN THE 14TH & 15TH CENTURIES THAT
ENDED CENTURIES OF EUROPEAN STABILITY.

▪ MAJOR CRISIS THAT LED TO RADICAL CHANGES –

1)DEMOGRAPHIC COLLAPSE 2)POLITICAL INSTABILITY 3)RELIGIOUS UPHEAVALS

❑ LATE MEDIEVAL PERIOD REGARDED AS A TIME OF CALAMITY & CRISIS (THE PERIOD WHICH LED
TO DECLINE IN POPULATION) – THE BLACK DEATH WHICH KILLED MILLIONS

❑ CHAUCER’S TRAVEL – ON POLITICAL INTRIGUE (MARRIED DAUGHTERS OF FRENCH KNIGHT –

THUS ENTERED POLITICAL REGIME)

❑ USED FRENCH TRANSLATION OF LITERARY TEXTS (LIVED IN A PERIOD WHEN UPPER CLASS
ENGLISH SPOKE FRENCH)

❑ USAGE OF LANGUAGES - SAXON, FRENCH, LATIN

❑ LINGUISTIC DISTINCTION WAS A CLASS DISTINCTION IN CHAUCER’S ENGLAND

❑ HE DEVELOPED ENGLAND/ENGLISH INTO A HIGHLY FLEXIBLE LITERARY LANGUAGE

❑ CHAUCER’S AGE - PERIOD WHICH SUFFERED STRONG DISLIKE FOR CHURCH’S INTERFERENCE
IN SOCIETAL AFFAIRS WHICH WAS INTIALLY A MORAL AUTHORITY & SOCIAL PRESTIGE

❑ MIDDLE CLASS EMERGED AS A STRONG SOCIAL STRATUM/ STRONG NATIONALISTIC

STRATUM

❑ TRANSITION FROM A FEUDAL SOCIAL SET UP TO A FREE SOCIETY

❑ TRANSITION FROM AGE OF MEDIEVALISM TO AGE OF MODERNISM (CHAUCER WAS THE STAR)

❑ PANDEMIC – BLACK DEATH /PLAGUE AFFECTED SOCIAL DYNAMICS

CHARACTERISTICS OF CHAUCER’S PERIOD:
EMERGENCE OF STANDARD ENGLISH LANGUAGE (PREVIOUSLY INFLUENCED BY LATIN &
FRENCH)

EAST MIDLAND DIALECT FORMED THE ACCEPTED FORM OF STANDARDISED ENGLISH –

CHAUCER’S LANG – BEAUTY, SIMPLICITY, HUMOUR, VITALITY, SIMPLE SENTIMENT

CRITICISM ON ESTABLISHED ORDER AND RELIGION – CHURCH’S CONTROL OVER TEMPORAL

AFFAIRS OF COMMON MEN WAS CHALLENGED DURING THIS PERIOD

THEME OF DERISION OF ROMANCE(DISBELIEF)- DRAMA TAKES PROMINENT STAGE

REGARDED AS THE PRECURSOR TO THE RENAISSANCE MOVEMENT OF ELIZABETHAN AGE

FORMATION OF ALLEGORY WAS REFINED – RETURN OF ALLITERATION WHICH WAS

REPLACED WITH RHYMES IN MIDDLE AGES

BIRTH OF ENGLISH POETRY – AGE OF CHAUCER SAW THE AMALGAMATION OF RELIGION,

HUMANISM & SECULAR PASSIONS (CHAUCER WAS SOCIABLE & MINGLED WITH PEOPLE FROM
DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS)