Geoffrey Chaucer ( /ˈtʃɔːsər/; c. 1343 – 25 October 1400), known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey. While he achieved fame during his lifetime as an author, philosopher, alchemist and astronomer, composing a scientific treatise on the astrolabe for his ten year-old son Lewis, Chaucer also maintained an active career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat. Among his many works, which include The Book of the Duchess, the House of Fame, the Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde, he is best known today for The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer is a crucial figure in developing the legitimacy of the vernacular, Middle English, at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were French and Latin.
Read more about Geoffrey Chaucer: Life, Works, Popular Culture
Famous quotes by geoffrey chaucer:
“And therfore, at the kynges court, my brother,
Ech man for hymself, ther is noon oother.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340–1400)
“A clerk ther was of Oxenford also
That unto logyk hadde longe ygo.
As leene was his hors as is a rake,
And he nas nat right fat, I undertake,
But looked holwe, and therto sobrely.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“A shipman was ther, wonynge fer by weste.
For aught I woot, he was of Dertemouthe.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“I have swich love-longinge,
That lik a turtle trewe is my moorninge:
I may nat ete namore than a maide.’”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“‘Wommen desyren to have sovereyntee
As wel over hir housbond as hir love,
And for to been in maistrie him above;
This is your moste desyr, thogh ye me kille,
Doth as yow list, I am heer at your wille.’”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)