Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer | |
|---|---|
Manuscript portrait, 1412 | |
| Born | c. 1343 London, England |
| Died | 25 October 1400 (aged 56–57) London, England |
| Resting place | Westminster Abbey, London, England |
| Occupations |
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| Era | Plantagenet |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4, including Thomas |
| Writing career | |
| Language | Middle English |
| Period | Middle English literature |
| Genres | |
| Literary movement | Precursor to the English Renaissance |
| Years active | from 1368 |
| Notable works | The Canterbury Tales |
| Signature | |
Geoffrey Chaucer (/ˈtʃɔːsər/ CHAW-sər; c. 1343 – 25 October 1400) 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 was the first writer to be buried in what has since come to be called Poets' Corner, in Westminster Abbey.
Chaucer also gained fame as a philosopher and astronomer, composing the scientific A Treatise on the Astrolabe for his 10-year-old son, Lewis. He maintained a career in public service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, and member of parliament, having been elected as shire knight for Kent.
Among Chaucer's many other works are The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women, Troilus and Criseyde, and Parlement of Foules. He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman French and Latin. Chaucer's contemporary Thomas Hoccleve hailed him as "the firste fyndere of our fair langage" (i.e., the first one capable of finding poetic matter in English). Almost two thousand English words are first attested in Chaucerian manuscripts.