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Geoffrey Chaucer: Canterbury Tales
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Geoffrey Chaucer (ca.1343-1400) was an English author, philosopher, diplomat, and poet, and is best known and remembered as the author of The Canterbury Tales. He is sometimes credited with being the first author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of the English language.
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SCOPE: Geoffrey Chaucer was referred to as the greatest poet of medieval England. His poetry incorporates several different styles including lyrics, allegories, bawdy jokes,, and long romances. He is perhaps best known for The Canterbury Tales, a collection of tales reflecting the cultural, social, and intellectual trends of his time. (Magill, Critical Survey of Poetry)
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Geoffrey Chaucer wrote "The Canterbury Tales" between 1387 and 1400. It's a collection of stories about pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, although the full scope of the work seems not to have been fully realized. Some 48 hand-written manuscripts have been passed down in handwritten manuscripts, and the two tales that each of the pilgrims were supposed to tell were never completed.
Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London. His name was of French origin and meant shoemaker. Chaucer was the son of a prosperous wine merchant and deputy to the kings's butler, and his wife Agnes. Little is known of his early education, but his works show that he could read French, Latin, and Italian. The exists no memoirs of Chaucer, but Canterbury Tales perhaps gives a sight of the writer:
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Geoffrey Chaucer (c1345-1400) has been called "the father of English poetry. With his knowledge of Latin, French and Italian literature, he transformed the world of literature. Chaucer's greatest work was his "Canterbury Tales," a collection of stories told by pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. Read more about the life and works of Geoffrey Chaucer.
Geoffrey Chaucer Chaucer's writing developed from a period of French influence in the late 1360s, through his 'middle period' of both French and Italian Influences, to the last period. Chaucer did not begin working on the Canterbury Tales until he was in his early 40s. The book, which was left unfinished when the author died, depicts a pilgrimage by some 30 people, who are going on a spring day in April to the shrine of the martyr, St. Thomas à Becket. En route to and from Canterbury they amuse themselves by telling stories. When Dante's journey in The Divine Comedy ended in spiritual purification, Chaucer's pilgrims learned about the weakness of human nature, women's mastery over men, and how a canon cheated a priest. Among the band of pilgrims are a knight, a monk, a prioress, a plowman, a miller, a merchant, a clerk, and an oft-widowed wife from Bath.
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