Chaucer, Geoffrey

Chaucer, Geoffrey (about 1345-1400), poet, b. London.

As a boy, Geoffrey Chaucer served as a page to a noblewoman.

Afterwards he followed a varied career, first as a soldier with the English armies in France, later an agent of the King travelling in foreign countries, chief Customs officer in the port of London, the person responsible for the upkeep of the King's buildings, and, finally, deputy forester in the west of England.

After his day's work, Chaucer studied and wrote poetry. His travels helped him to learn about French and Italian literature, and he translated a French story, Le Roman de la Rose, into English.

They also gave him a chance to study people, and his most famous work, The Canterbury Tales, shows how well he did this. The Prologue describes a company of pilgrims on their way to the tomb of St Thomas a Becket at Canterbury. It is followed by tales supposedly told by different pilgrims.

Chaucer was the first great English poet and the first to be buried in Poet's Corner at Westminster Abbey.

See Margaret Stanley-Wrench Teller Of Tales The Story Of Geoffrey Chaucer