part 3 Chaucer.ppt

Her veil was gathered in a seemly way, Her nose was elegant, her eyes glass-grey; Her mouth was very small, but soft and red, And certainly she had a well-shaped head, Almost a span across the brows, she own: She was indeed by no means undergrown. Her cloak, I noticed, had a graceful charm. She wore a coral trinket on her arm, A set of beads, the gaudies tricked in green, Whence hung a golden brooch of brightest sheen On which there first was graven a crowned A, And lower, Amor vincit omnia.  Geoffrey Chaucer A poet rising from the middle class Early works The Canterbury Tales Artistic features of Chaucer A Poet Rising from the Middle Class The name Chaucer, a French form of the Latin calcearius, a shoemaker, is found in London and the eastern counties as early as the second half of the 13th century. However, in 1357 Geoffrey is found in the service of Elizabeth. By 1361 or so Chaucer must have entered the royal service. Before the end of 1368 he had risen to be one of the kings esquires. In December 1376 he was sent abroad on the kings service; in February 1377 he was sent to Paris and Montreuil in connection probably with the peace negotiations between England and France. It is a bit strange that later he still leant poverty personally at times, but it accounts for why he maintained contacts ranged from the highest to the lowest. he died on Oct. 25, 1400. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and his tomb became the nucleus of what is now known as Poets Corner. Early Works Compleynt to his Purs Legende of Good Women Romaunt of the Rose Book of the Duchesse (Deth of Blaunche) Troilus and Criseyde House of Fame French Italian Influences and His Own Talents To be in touch throughout his life with the best French poets of the day was much for Chaucer. Even with their stimulus alone he might have developed no small part of his genius. But it was his great good fortune to add to this continuing French influence