GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1340 -1400)

In many of the documents of the time Chaucer’s name is mentioned with some frequency ; and these references, in addition to some remarks he makes regarding himself in the course of his poems, are   the sum of what we know about his life. The date of his birth is uncertain, but it is now generally accepted as being 1340. He was born in London, entered the household of the wife of the Duke of Clarence (1357), and saw military service abroad, where he was captured. Next he seems to have entered the royal household, for he is frequently mentioned as the recipient of royal pensions and bou-
-nties. When Richard II succeeded to the crown (1377) Chaucer was confirmed in his offices and pensions, and shortly afterwards(1378) he was sent to Italy on one of his several diplomatic missions. The poems of the earliest or French group are closely modelled upon French originals, and the style is clumsy and immature. Of allegorical poems the longest is “The Romaunt of the Rose“, a lengthyallegorical poem, written in octosyllabic couplets and based upon Le Romaunt de la Rose of Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung. This poem, only a fragment, though of 8000 lines, was on-
-ce entirely ascribed to Chaucer.

His poetries which made him famous are – “THECANTERBURYTALES” and “THE NONNE PRESTES TALE”