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Geoffrey Chaucer was one of the first writers to be recognized for his use of vernacular English instead of Latin and is sometimes called the father of English literature. His most famous work is a collection of stories called The Canterbury Tales, although he also wrote a number of other stories and collections of poems.
Chaucer was born in 1343 in London into a family of well-known and reasonably wealthy vintners. Little is known of his education, but he turned up as a young man as a page to the Countess of Ulster. At the age of 17 he joined the countess’ husband Lionel of Clarence in King Edward III’s army on an invasion of France. Unfortunately, Chaucer was captured by the French army and the king was forced to pay a ransom for his release. Subsequent to his release Chaucer worked as a diplomat and courtier. In 1366, Chaucer married one of the Queen’s Ladies in Waiting. They had four children including Thomas who would go onto become chief butler to four kings, envoy to France and Speaker of the House of Commons.
 The following year, records indicate Chaucer became a member of the royal court as an esquire. Many scholars have suggested that he also studied law at the Inner Court. In 1368, he traveled to attend the wedding of Lionel of Antwerp where he met two famous poets in attendance -- Jean Froissart and Petrarch. Around this time Chaucer is believed to have written his first work The Book of the Duchess.
Chaucer joined a military expedition to Italy the following year and there became familiar with Italian poetry. Records show that in 1374 Chaucer was awarded a gallon of wine daily for the rest of his life by King Edward. This reward was usually given for artistic achievement indicating Chaucer had already gained a reputation for his writing.
In 1378, the new king, Richard II, sent Chaucer as an envoy to Milan with mercenary soldier Sir John Hawkwood on whom Chaucer would base the character of The Knight, in the Canterbury Tales.
Chaucer continued to obtain royal appointments and including organizing the king’s building projects and even obtained a seat in Parliament. Chaucer wrote most of his famous works while he held the job of customs comptroller for London from1374 to 1386. His Parlement of Foules, The Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde all date from this time. In 1390, following injuries suffered at the hands of a thief, Chaucer moved to Somerset and continued to work on The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer died in 1400.
The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales are a collection of fictional stories as narrated by a variety of pilgrims on their way to the tomb of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.
The Tales contrast with other literature of the period in the naturalism of its narrative. Each of stories narrated by the pilgrims reflects their social standing and use dialect and a variety of idioms. Chaucer based many of the characters on real people: The Knight was based on Sir John Hawkwood; The Innkeeper was based on a well known keeper of an inn in Southwark; The Cook was based on Royal chef Roger Knight de Ware; and while real-life identities for the Wife of Bath, the Merchant, and the Man of Law are unknown they were certainly based on contemporary sources. Chaucer’s varied careers brought him into contact with a variety of people from all walks of life which provided him with a broad canvas on which to draw his caricatures. He was also able to closely observe these people and replicate their speech, capture their accents and dialects and satirize their manners.
While he is called the Father of English literature the Canterbury Tales are in a London and Kentish Dialect of Middle English. Modern English differs greatly and pronunciation is quite different. This makes reading the Tales in the original quite difficult for modern readers although not impossible. It is possible to trace the evolution of the language from Beowulf to Chaucer to Shakespeare. Chaucer was not the first to write in vernacular English, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was another popular work on the time written in English, but he certainly helped cement its use in English literature.
The characters are introduced in the General Prologue of the book and introduce the themes of courtly love, treachery and avarice. The church and the clergy are also often a source of humour. In many ways its themes resemble The Decameron by Boccaccio. In fact a couple of stories seem very similar suggesting Chaucer adapted stories he had read on his travels.
In terms of poetics Chaucer uses a variety of rhyming and there are also two prose tales. The tales are comical, satirical, serious and dramatic.
The Tales include The Knight's Tale, The Miller'sTale, The Reeve's Tale, The Cook's Tale, The Man of Law's Tale, The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Friar's Tale, The Physician’s Tale, The Summoner's Tale and a number of others. Each is divided into a prologue and a tale. It is believed that Chaucer intended each of the 24 characters relate four tales – two on the way to Canterbury and two on the return home. However, Chaucer abandoned the work before it was complete.
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