Geoffrey Chaucer

“the father of English literature”

Biographical Sketch

• Born in London around 1340 and died in 1400. • First great English humorist and short story

writer. • A man of varied experience.

– Page to royal court. – Fluent in Latin, French and Italian. – Soldier, courtier, diplomat, civil administrator,

translator, and scholar.

• Buried in Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey.

Timeline

Renaisance begins

1500 AD

Canterbury Tales

1400 AD

Fall of the Roman Empire

500 AD

1066 -1500

Middle English Period, aka, Middle Ages

Middle Ages

• Religious scene = Age of Faith– The Catholic church is very powerful. – Faith kept people hopeful.

• Politically = Feudalism – King owned everything– Peasants/serfs at the bottom of the social

pyramid.– Orderly system believed to be made in heaven.

• Socially = Age of Chivalry – Chivalé = horseman (someone who fights while on

a horse, like a knight). – Social manners, knights, are are at the top of the

pyramid based on social code called chivalry.

Middle Ages are also called Medieval Period and the Dark Ages

• Disregard for learning/education.• Fear/superstition about the future.• Preceded the Renaissance, which was the

flowering of art, science, learning in Western Europe.

Feudalism • Political and military system in Western Europe during

the Medieval Period.• Developed after strong central government of Rome

collapsed, in response to barbarian disorder and warfare.

• Peaked from 800-1200 A.D.• Disappeared around 1400 A.D.

– Economic revival, growth of cities– Invention of gunpowder, long bow and printing press.

• Involved symbiotic relationship of king, lord, vassal and serf. – Honor (chivalry).– Tenure (landholding).

The Canterbury Tales

• The first collection of short stories in English literature.• Chaucer began writing them in his early forties and

they were left unfinished. • He created a frame story: a story that surrounds

another story or group of stories. – In heroic couplets

• Five beat/10 syllable verses; every two verses rhyme– Canterbury Cathedral = holy shrine– The tales depict the pilgrimage of 30 pilgrims who amuse

themselves with stories while travelling to the cathedral. – The pilgrimage takes about three days. – Chaucer goes along for the ride, as an observer.

– An ironic, sometimes satirical, look at three important social groups:

• Feudal society • Church society• The Middle Class

“The Prologue”

Our journey begins here:

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is about a group of 14th century pilgrims from all walks of life who travel together for several days telling stories to entertain each other on their way to a shrine in Canterbury. The person who tells the most entertaining story wins dinner at the local tavern, courtesy of the other story-telling pilgrims.

• http://mpero.wikispaces.com/The+CAnterbury+Tales+Reading+%26+Responding