Geoffrey Chaucer
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Geoffrey Chaucer 1342(?) – 1400
“The father of English Poetry”
Language of Chaucer = Middle English, the vernacular Language of aristocracy = Latin and French
Chaucer was born into a middle-class family in London. Rose to political power; became a member of Parliament.
In 1373 and 1378, Chaucer traveled to Italy; influenced by Dante and Petrarch.
Began Canterbury Tales in 1387 but never completed
Dominant meter is iambic pentameter – ten syllables per line with a pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
Couplet – two lines of rhymed poetry
The Canterbury Tales Told during a pilgrimage from London to Canterbury
The General Prologue . journey takes place in the spring . pilgrims start at the Tabard Inn in Southwark . poet-pilgrim and twenty-nine others embark to visit the shrine of Thomas a Becket . The host of the tavern suggests each pilgrim tell two tales each way of the journey