Meet the Author
Geoffrey Chaucer
English · 1343–1400 · Poet
The father of English poetry, who let pilgrims from every class tell their own bawdy, brilliant stories.
7 StoryBites Editions
Why read Geoffrey Chaucer?
Chaucer wrote in the everyday English of his time rather than courtly Latin or French, and in doing so gave the language its first great literary voice. His pilgrims — knight, miller, wife, pardoner — are sharply drawn, funny, and startlingly human across six centuries. Read him for the birth of English character-writing and comedy that still lands once the Middle English clicks.
A life in six dates
- 1343Born in London (approximate)
- 1380sWrites 'Troilus and Criseyde'
- 1387Begins 'The Canterbury Tales'
- 1400Dies in London, tales unfinished
The StoryBites Editions
Context that actually matters
Middle EnglishChaucer proved the vernacular could carry serious literature, helping standardize the emerging English language.
Medieval estates satireHis pilgrim portraits skewer every rung of feudal society with affectionate, clear-eyed wit.
Influence
Echoes of Geoffrey Chaucer run through William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, among many others.