Geoffrey Chaucer Thesis Statement

Thesis Statement: Geoffrey Chaucer was one of the most influential writers of the

Medieval times.

Geoffrey Chaucer was born later than 1340, but probably earlier than 1345. There aren’t any records on his actual date of birth (Theodore 1). Geoffrey Chaucer’s family name was derived from the French ‘Chaussier’ which implies that his family were shoemakers at one time. His father and grandfather were wine merchants, so they were both successful and rising men (Theodore 7). Chaucer died in 1400 on October 25th. He passed away of unknown causes in London, England. Chaucer was around the age of 60 when he died. Geoffrey was buried in Westminster Abbey, and his gravestone is now the center of Poets’ Corner. Poets’ Corner is located on the south

This unfinished work is considered of the greatest poetic works in English history. Initially he had planned to to tell four stories a piece from each character. The first two stories would tell the character’s trip to Canterbury, and the last two would tell their story as they left Canterbury. If this would have been completed it would be 120 stories. (Biography.com). He later decided to write only one tale from each pilgrim’s trip, but this plan couldn’t be completed. The book is 24 tales, and it ends abruptly before the characters actually make it to Canterbury. The tales exist in groups connected by prologues and epilogues. The order and proper arrangement of the tales isn’t for sure (Notablebiographies.com). The book ended quickly because of Chaucer’s death in 1400. Canterbury Tales did not appear in a printed edition until 75 years after his death (Morrison 5). Although he passed a lot of his techniques and writing styles were influential for many other writers (Hopper 12). Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the first example of a decasyllabic couplet. This is also known as a heroic couplet. A couplet is a literary device where the last word in each line rhymes. “Deca-” meaning ten, means that each line has ten syllables. The original heroic couplet is from Legend of a Good Woman, and it was written in the mid-thirteenth century. It looks like

go bet! prik thou! lat goon, lat goon!

Why nil the leoun comen of the bere,

That I mighte ones mete him with this spere?'

Thus seyn thise yonge folk, and up they kille

These hertes wilde, and han hem at hir wille. (Heroic Couplet)

Heroic Couplets are commonly used for epics and narrative poetry in English (Poets.org). Chaucer wrote many shorter poems and translated a medieval French poem. Chaucer prepared a translation of a Latin article on the use of the astrolabe. An astrolabe is used to predict and find the location of the sun, moon, planets, and stars. Chaucer also could’ve been the translator of a work having to do with the use of an equatorium (Notablebiographies.com). Throughout a lot of Chaucer’s works he wrote in the English vernacular while other poetry was still being written in Anglo-Norman or Latin. Works Cited

‘“Geoffrey Chaucer Biography.” Biography.com. A&E Television Networks, 2016. Web.

15 Jan. 2016.

“Geoffrey Chaucer Biography.” Notablebiographies.com. Advameg, 2016. Web. 20 Jan.

2016.

“Geoffrey Chaucer.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. Encyclopedia.com, 2004. Web.

20 Jan. 2016.

“Geoffrey Chaucer.” Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. Web. 20 Jan.