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.
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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)
“Ye purs, that been to me my lives light
And saviour, as in this world down here,
Out of this tonne helpe me thurgh your might,”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“Madame Pertelote, my worldes bliss,
Harkneth these blissful birdes how they sing,
And see the freshe flowers how they spring;
Full is mine heart of revel and solace!’
But suddenly him fell a sorrowful case,
For ever the latter end of joy is woe.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“She leet no morsel from hir lippes falle,
Ne wette hir fyngres in hir sauce depe.
Wel koude she carie a morsel and wel kepe
That no drope ne fille upon hire brest.
In curteisie was set ful muchel hir lest.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“I wol nat lye;
A man shal winne us best with flaterye;
And with attendance, and with bisinesse,
Been we ylymed, bothe more and lesse.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)