Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer

"Hey, do you know that poem that goes to the beat of "We Will Rock You?" A girl asked sitting in the courtyard.

"I really can not remember, not off the top of my head. Let me think on it a while" I said.

Okay, she replied and skipped away.

While in the courtyard it came to me as I began to hum it as I jumped rope. "I figured it out, come and listen." I shouted. However, I was nervous even though we were too young to like each other. We were considered geniuses where we were. You know like Baby Genius, the movie.

What is it!! She began jumping hysterically.

It is The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer! Why do you want to know so badly?

I just want to know more about him, that's all.

Well let me give you a few facts about him since I recently studied him.

Okay, she said. Twisting her hips and skipping away.

How can I make this interesting so that she will read it, this pondered through my head all night. Maybe I should just talk about his life, the middle ages, and his works. So I began to write down my thoughts.

Imagine a writer who is equally at home with romantic adventure and devotional mediation, or who brings the fullest measure of brilliance to comedy and grave tragedy alike. This writer is Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer took his narrative inspiration for his works from several sources, but still remained an entirely individual poet, gradually developing his personal style and techniques.

Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London between 1340 and 1344. There is not record of his exact death, but it is said to be in the 1400's (Nevo). Little is known of his early childhood, but his works show that he could read French, Latin, and Italian. Chaucer was the son of a prosperous wine merchant and deputy to the king's butler, and his wife Agnes (Bloom). After this Chaucer's life is uncertain, but he seems to have traveled in France, Spain, and Flanders as a messenger and perhaps even gang on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Later he married to Philippa Roet, the sister of John Gaunt's future wife (Chaucer). She bored at least two children. Chaucer studied law in the Inner Temple about the time, although definite proof is lacking. His wife also received a pension for court employment. He traveled many times, at least some of them in his role as a valet.

Chaucer lost his unemployment in 1358 and rent-free home and moved to Kent where he was appointed as a justice of the peace. Also, between 1358 and 1361 he was imprisoned in France during the Hundreds Years War and was ransomed in March 1360, for a rather large sum (Chaucer).

He was buried in Westminster Abbey, in the part of the church, which afterwards came to be called Poet's Corner. However, there was a monument erected to him in 1555 (Chaucer).

Ring, Ring.....the phone frightened me because I was so passionate about finishing the paper. So I ran to catch the phone on the last ring. "Hello, may I help you?"

It was Becky on the other end.

"Are you finished with my research on Chaucer?" she asked eagerly.

"No not quit, however I am working very quickly."

"Okay, thanks! See you tomorrow."

I have to really hurry and finish this and hope that she will like the research. I put my glasses on and began to indulge back into my work.

During the period of Chaucer there were two important wars: the Hundred Years' War and the War of the Roses, the latter was a dispute between rival families (Traversi).

The longest and most significant of these began in 1337 when Edward III claimed the French crown with the justifications that his mother was the sister of the French king (Bloom). The war was to continue on and off for well over a century and became known as The Hundred Years' War from 1337-1453.The