Discovering

GEOFFREY
CHAUCER
made by Olha Drahanchuk
What we'll discuss
Jeoffrey Chaucer. Summary
The French period
The Italian period
The English period
"The greatest scholars are not
usually the wisest people"
Geoffrey Chaucer
Jeoffrey Chaucer. Summary
Chaucer was born in London most likely in the early 1340s,
though the precise date and location remain unknown.
Geoffrey Chaucer was an English poet, author, and civil
servant best known for The Canterbury Tales.
He has been called the "father of English literature", or,
alternatively, the "father of English poetry".
He maintained a career in the civil service as a bureaucrat,
courtier, diplomat, and member of parliament.
 3 Phases
French period
between 1358 and 1372

English period
Italian period 1385-1390
~1372-1385
French period
Influence
He began his literary career under the influence of a
medieval French literature. It included:
satires
romances
fabliaux
Works
he began his translation of the Romance of Rose
he produced his first ambitious original poem, The
Book of the Duchess (1369)
 The Book of the Duchess
It's an elegy on the death of Blanche, the wife of Chaucer's
patron John of Gaunt, written in the form and manner of
contemporary French poets, and with considerable borrowing
from them.
In this poem there are distinctive marks of Chaucer's individual
genius:
the use of the setting to intensify the dreamlike
mood of the poem;
the sense of immediacy in the portrait of the
bereaved knight;
the characteristic flashes of psychological insight.
 Italian period
Geoffrey Chaucer went to ltaly to arrange a commercial treaty
with the Genoese. This journey was reinforced by another visit to
ltaly in 1378, and had a tremendous effect on Chaucer.
Dante, who was dead for half a century, was already a classic,
while Petrarch and Boccaccio were nearing the end of their
literary careers.
Chaucer relied heavily on the works of these author for the rest
of his life.
Theses works taught him:
to individualize his characters and give them
dramatic intensity;
-to seek the rhythms and idioms of popular
speech.
 Poems
-The House of Fame (c. 1374-80),
-The Parliament of Fowls (c. 1377-86),
-The Legend of Good Women (1380-86)
Those poems still contain many of the old familiar features
of this French literary type, even though Chaucer breaks with
the conventional patterns by:
his broader range of ideas,
his greater subtlety of characterization,
his attitude of humorous detachment.
English period
The major work of period is The Canterbury Tales,
with its realistic setting in contemporary England.
Using a pilgrimage as a framing device, Chaucer brings
together people from all walks of life. The diversity of
socioeconomic categories, and the storytelling
competition’s device, allowed for the presentation of a
wide range of literary genres, such as religious sermons,
courtly romances, allegorical tales, and beast fables
English period
Chaucer was always an innovator. He:
He introduced Italian literature to England;
He was the first to use many of the meters and stanza
forms which have become standard in English poetry;
He was the first English poet to deal estensively with
the contemporary scene;
He was the first English poet to draw sharply
individualized portraits;
He was the first English poet to analyze his characters
psychologically;
He was the first English poet to impress his readers as a
personality in his own right.
 References
https://www.mindomo.com/es/mindmap/geoffrey
-chaucer-the-periods-of-his-literary-production-
89f8ebeb18a34c48ad2e003606733177
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucer
https://studycorgi.com/phases-of-geoffrey-
chaucers-poetic-career/
https://nibblepop.com/geoffrey-chaucer-literary-
career-contribution/