Geoffrey chaucer literary works

Geoffrey chaucer nationality
When was geoffrey chaucer born
Geoffrey chaucer birth and death date

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Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London sometime between 1340 and 1344 to John Chaucer and Agnes Copton. John Chaucer was an affluent wine merchant and deputy to the king's butler. Through his father’s connections, Geoffrey held several positions early in his life, serving as a noblewoman’s page, a courtier, a diplomat, a civil servant, and a collector of scrap metal. His early life and education were not strictly documented although it can be surmised from his works that he could read French, Latin, and Italian.

In 1359, Chaucer joined the English army’s invasion of France during the Hundred Years’ War and was taken prisoner; King Edward III of England paid his ransom in 1360. In 1366, Chaucer married Philipa de Roet, who was a lady-in-waiting to Edward III’s wife. In 1367, Chaucer was given a life pension by the king, and began traveling abroad on diplomatic missions. During trips to Italy in 1372 and 1378, he discovered the works of Dante, Giovanni Boccaccio, and Petrarch—each of which greatly influenced Chaucer’s own literary endeavors.

Chaucer’s early work

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Son of a wine merchant and born in London around 1340, Geoffrey Chaucer is often considered as the first truly great English writer and is most well-known for his work The Canterbury Tales. Familiar to literary students across the world, this series of poems recounts the stories of various people whilst on a pilgrimage to Canterbury and is written in Middle English.

Not much is known about Chaucer’s life and history but his work has survived down the ages and is now more widely read than ever. He came from a reasonably prosperous family and went into public service which is why we have a little more information about him than would otherwise be the case. He became page to the Countess of Ulster, a job which would have taken the young writer into close contact with the influential court circle. During his life he would work as a courtier, a diplomat and even at some point directly for the King.

He accompanied the Duke of Clarence during the 100 Years War, was captured in France and released when the ransom of £16 was paid by the King Edward III. After traveling for a while, Cha

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Who was Chaucer?

Chaucer’s Canterbury Road

In 1386 Geoffrey Chaucer endured the worst year of his life, but he also made his best decision, or at least the decision for which we’re most grateful today. This was when, after experiencing every kind of worldly and professional reversal, he set out to write his Canterbury Tales.

That mysterious thing we now sometimes call the “creative process” eludes most attempts at explanation. The ambitious biographer can summon all kinds of life-details without coming much closer to the work itself, and how it came to be written. In Chaucer’s case, the division between life and art is especially glaring: 494 different “records” of his life survive, including matters such as courtly and civic posts he held, awards he received, and at least one place he lived … but not one of them mentions that he was a poet. Why, then, bother to look at these records? What had Chaucer’s busy London life and world of work to do with his poems, other than preventing their completion? Or with his decision to embark on his immortal collection of tales?

Geoffrey chaucer literary works