Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer 3...I think some of Chaucer belongs to his time and that much of that time is dead, extinct, and never to be made alive again. What was alive in it, lives through him...2 --John Masefield Geoffrey Chaucer1s world was the Europe of the fourteenth century. It was neither rich or poor, happy nor sad. Rather, it was the intermingling of these, a mixture of splendor and poverty, displaying both worldly desire and …

…had set about poetry in general, and his work in specific. Instead of forging beautifully crafted lies and tales about society, his poetry held up a mirror to reflect reality as he saw it. Chaucer1s growth out of the mold imposed by tradition is illustrated by the steady departure of it in his writings. And his final works, escaping at last form the accepted style, set the stage for the beginnings of English literature.