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1340–1400, English poet, one of the most important
figures in English literature.He was born in London between 1340 and 1344, the son of John Chaucer, a vintner. In 1357 he
was a page in the household of Prince Lionel, later duke of Clarence, whom he served for many years. In 1359–60 he was
with the army of Edward III in France, where he was captured by the French but ransomed.
By 1366 he had married Philippa Roet, who was probably the sister of John of Gaunt's third wife;
she was a lady-in-waiting to Edward III's queen. During the years 1370 to 1378, Chaucer was frequently employed on diplomatic
missions to the Continent, visiting Italy in 1372–73 and in 1378. From 1374 on he held a number of official positions,
among them comptroller of customs on furs, skins, and hides for the port of London (1374–86) and clerk of the king's
works (1389–91). The official date of Chaucer's death is Oct. 25, 1400. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
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Chaucer's literary activity is often divided into three periods. The first period includes his early work (to 1370), which
is based largely on French models, especially the Roman de la Rose and the poems of Guillaume de Machaut. Chaucer's chief works during this time are the Book of the Duchess, an allegorical lament written in 1369 on the
death of Blanche, wife of John of Gaunt, and a partial translation of the Roman de la Rose.Chaucer's second period
(up to c.1387) is called his Italian period because during this time his works were modeled primarily on Dante and Boccaccio. Major works of the second period include The House of Fame, recounting the adventures of Aeneas after the fall
of Troy; The Parliament of Fowls, which tells of the mating of fowls on St. Valentine's Day and is thought to celebrate
the betrothal of Richard II to Anne of Bohemia.Also among the works of this period are the unfinished Legend of Good Women,
a poem telling of nine classical heroines, which introduced the heroic couplet (two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter) into
English verse; the prose fragment The Treatise on the Astrolabe, written for his son Lewis; and Troilus and Criseyde,
based on Boccaccio's Filostrato, one of the great love poems in the English language
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Some of Geoffrey"s Work
Canterbury Tales
Troilus and Criseyde
Book of the Duchess
"The House of Fame" Poem
"The Pariliament of Fowles" Poem
The legend of a good women" Poem
The Wife of Bath's Tale
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