Creator: Chaucer

Geffory Chaucer

Accomplishments

Chaucer was the most prominent author in the history of English Literature, even before Shakespeare was established. His writing began in 1360s, and he is known as the father of English poetry. His first example of modern English literature is Troilus and Criseyde, and his masterpiece is known as The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer captures the entire medieval period in his Canterbury Tales. This is why his work is so valuable and appealing: “it can be placed among the world’s greatest literary achievements” (Schulz, p. 6).

Life

In his biography Chaucer, Peter Ackroyd gives a brief sketch on the details of Chaucer’s life. Chaucer was born in London between 1340 and 1343, to a prosperous middle-class family. He was trained as a civil servant, a diplomat, and controller of customs from 1374 to 1386. In 1385, Chaucer was appointed justice of the peace and to Parliament in 1386. Chaucer wrote for people in and around the courts of Edward III and Richard II, and was a frequent traveler on diplomatic missions to Flanders, France, Italy, and Spain. On his adventure he was indicted for rape, sued for debt, and captured in battle (Akroyd).

Death

Chaucer died in 1400, and never finished writing the Canterbury Tales. There are ten parts that are unfinished, and it is unclear on the arrangement and positioning of the tales. Since Chaucer did not entirely finish the work, there is no way of knowing the correct order of the tales. Therefore, there are many variations of the tales. The order in which we read Canterbury Tales is copied from the Ellesmere Manuscript.

Because Chaucer did not finish the work, readers will not know his intentions of what he wanted us to learn from his work. For instance, was there a moral lesson, or ethical dilemma that he wanted readers to take away from reading his work? The fact that many versions are not the same forces readers to make their own assumptions about the work. The author is not telling the readers what to think, instead he is sending a message to the readers, but allowing the readers to think on their own and take away different meaning from the storytellers. The unfinished text forces us to make our own meaning out of Chaucer's words/tales, not Chaucer's meaning. Another interesting point about the unfinished work, is that Chaucer created different personas within each pilgrim character, and this can help camouflage Chaucer's true feelings or thoughts about issues. We, as readers do not know what he is thinking. He could be any character, any pilgrim. Chaucer does not want to instruct, but rather lead by example, in other words: "ars poetica"--teaching by example rather than by precept (Fischer, 2006).