Geoffrey Chaucer Essay

Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales is one of the best loved works in the history of English literature. Written in Middle English, the story follows a group of pilgrims who are travelling the long journey from London to Canterbury Cathedral. Setting off from a London inn, the innkeeper suggests that during the journey each pilgrim should tell two tales to help pass the time. The best storyteller, he says, will be rewarded with a free supper on his return. Chaucer introduces us to a vivid cast of characters, including a carpenter, a cook, a knight, a monk, a prioress, a haberdasher, a dyer, a clerk, a merchant and a very bawdy miller. These characters come from all corners of 14th century society, and give Chaucer

He wrote the vernacular the everyday language spoken in London and East Midlands.Had several noble patrons. He wrote great deals,sometimes for personal advancement.He started his first job as a teenage page in a countess’ home,Chaucer always knew the right people. He is remembered far less for his political maneuvering than for the poems he wrote in his off hours. He was born just near the end of a period of serious French influence on English life and culture. He used plot techniques and literary devices. Poet Geoffrey Chaucer was born circa 1340 in London, England. In 1357 he became a public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster and continued in that capacity with the British court throughout his lifetime.The Canterbury Tales became his best known and most acclaimed work. He died October 25, 1400 in London, England, and was the first to be buried in Westminster Abbey’s Poets Corner.In 1368 he became one of King Edward III’s esquires which sent him on diplomatic missions also giving him time to familiarize himself with the work of poets such as Petrarch and Dante. His passion for poetry grew as his career advanced.He lived in Kent for four years but still found little time to write as a parliament member.The Canterbury Tales begins with the introduction of each of the pilgrims making their journey to Canterbury to the shrine of Thomas a

We 're used to hearing the subject come first in the sentence, followed by the verb. But Chaucer will often do the opposite. Take the line "Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages" (General Prologue 12). The subject, "folk," comes after the verb, "longen." Chaucer does this a lot, meaning that sometimes you have to wait until you get to the end of a line before you can really understand what 's happening in the sentence. The reason for it is to help him keep his couplets rhyming, but it makes the Tales harder to read