Chaucer

Chaucer

Widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London about 1340. Chaucer wrote in Middle English, the form of English used from 1100 to about 1485. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is considered to be among the masterpieces of literature and a fine portrait of a bourgeoning medieval society. It is a collection of humorous, bawdy, and poignant stories told by a group of fictional pilgrims traveling to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket. His works also include The Book of the Duchess, inspired by the death of John of Gaunt's (1st Duke of Lancaster) first wife; House of Fame, The Parliament of Fowls, and The Legend of Good Women. Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, adapted from a love story by Boccaccio, is one of his greatest long poems apart from The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer died on October 25, 1400 in London. He was buried at Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey and was the first poet to be buried there.