The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

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Recommended: Short note on Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucer’s Claim to Fame: Entrepreneurial Skills Seen in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Life Chaucer is not some unknown literary author who is known only by a dozen people in the English field. Besides Shakespeare, Chaucer is probably one of the most well-known contributors to English literature, if not the most well-known. His name is instantly recognizable, and many a high school student learned of him through the oftentimes-painful reading of his most famous work, The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer’s work is an extremely important text in terms of the evolution of the English language; The Canterbury Tales set itself apart from other literary works at the time by being one of the first pieces of literature to be written in English instead of French, and its extreme popularity spurred the creations of even more English literature, allowing the language to regain its prominence and evolve into the English we know today (“Chaucer”; Kemmer). Today, it’s the most prominent example of Middle English work, and is studied not just for its literary worth but as evidence of what the language was like at the time. The Canterbury Tales and Chaucer’s importance are extreme, and the author enjoyed his fame during his life as well as long after, largely due to his abilities to make sound decisions, take risks, learned to learn as a professional, and transfer knowledge, skills that people even today can utilize to be successful. Chaucer’s life was well-documented for someone of the time, and sound decisions made early in his life allowed him to gain positions of importance at a relatively young age. Born in 1343 to a wine merchant father, there is indication that Chaucer’s family was upper class and very profitable (Polland). With his famil... ... middle of paper ... ...fer knowledge making the story enduringly popular and an important work of literature that is read to this day. The skills Chaucer possessed can be utilized by anyone then and now to become successful, and are in fact required to prosper in whatever discipline one plans to work in. Works Cited "Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales." Learning English: Timeline. The British Library Board, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. . Kemmer, Suzanne. "Chronology: History of English." Chronology: History of English. Rice University, 16 Sept. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. . Pollard, AW. "The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer." Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. Anniina Jokinen, 3 Sept. 2006. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. .

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