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Questions and Answers
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?
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What is the subject of The Book of the Duchess?
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What is The House of Fame influenced by?
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What is Chaucer's role in The House of Fame?
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What is being echoed in The House of Fame?
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What is the name of the verse form used by King James I in his Kingis Quair?
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What is the source of Chaucer's poem Troilus and Criseyde?
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What is Chaucer's role in his poem Troilus and Criseyde?
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What is the significance of Troilus and Criseyde in European literature?
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What is one of Chaucer's authorial techniques?
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What is the theme that becomes more apparent in Chaucer's poetry?
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Who is the poet whose work is quoted in the lines 'If no love is, O God, what fele I so?'
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What can be said about Chaucer's poems Troilus and Criseyde and The Legend of Good Women?
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Study Notes
Geoffrey Chaucer
- 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
Early Life and Work
- 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
The Book of the Duchess
- 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
The House of Fame
- 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
Troilus and Criseyde
- 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
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Description
Explore Geoffrey Chaucer's impact on English literature, his use of cultural references, and his contributions to the literary world.
