Geoffrey Chaucer's Literary Significance

What is significant about Chaucer's writing?

What was Chaucer's occupation?

Where was Chaucer born into?

Who were the writers Chaucer was influenced by?

What is the subject of The Book of the Duchess?

What is The House of Fame influenced by?

What is Chaucer's role in The House of Fame?

What is being echoed in The House of Fame?

What is the name of the verse form used by King James I in his Kingis Quair?

What is the source of Chaucer's poem Troilus and Criseyde?

What is Chaucer's role in his poem Troilus and Criseyde?

What is the significance of Troilus and Criseyde in European literature?

What is one of Chaucer's authorial techniques?

What is the theme that becomes more apparent in Chaucer's poetry?

Who is the poet whose work is quoted in the lines 'If no love is, O God, what fele I so?'

What can be said about Chaucer's poems Troilus and Criseyde and The Legend of Good Women?

Wrote almost exclusively in English, using a wide range of cultural references from throughout Europe
Considered the first of the major English writers, and a pivotal figure who encompasses many earlier traditions, genres, and subjects of literature
Was a professional courtier, a kind of civil servant, with writing as a sideline

Born into a family of wine traders, making him a part of the new wealthy city gentleman class
Worked in Kent, France, and Italy, where he was influenced by writers like Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio
Represented Kent in Parliament from 1386

Chaucer's first work, a dream-poem on the death of Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, wife of John of Gaunt
A poem of consolation, modelled on French examples, showing Chaucer's ability to bring language, situation, and emotion together effectively

A dream-poem, influenced by Dante's Italian style, echoing The Divine Comedy
Chaucer becomes a participant in his own writing, visiting the "house of fame" to learn about love
Introduces the theme of love, using the new verse form of the rhyme-royal stanza

Takes the Italian writer Boccaccio as its source, combining classical Trojan war story, Italian poetic version, and philosophical work of Boethius
Consciously uses other writers' books, refining old stories and relating them to the audience
Considered one of the outstanding poems in European literature of the medieval period, with a strong descriptive capacity for character and scene