Larrin Jones

Professor Jacobs
ENG 231
29 November 2016

The Influence of the Life of Geoffrey Chaucer

The English poet and The Father of English Literature Geoffrey Chaucer was born in
London England on October 25 1343 to John Chaucer and Agnes Colton. His father John
Chaucer was a deputy to the king and also a wine merchant. Because of his up bringing,
Geoffrey was able to meet and socialize with influential people.
While growing up Geoffrey Chaucer had several jobs. He worked as a diplomat, a civil
servant, a courtier and even a scrap metal collector. He even served as a soldier in the Hundreds
Year war where he was taken prisoner but was freed after king Edward, III paid his ransom.
While a prisoner in France he learned a lot of French love poetry and used this style of writing
in some of his own works.
His career seemed to take off after he was asked to write a poem for he Duke of
Lancaster. At this time he was also given a life pension from the king and he used it to travel to
different places around Europe on diplomatic missions. While on these missions Chaucer was
very much influenced by the different places he went and the different types of people he came
in contact with.
These missions helped to influence him in his writing as well. He even used some of the
people he met to create the characters in the Canterbury Tales. While traveling Chaucer
discovered works from other famous writers like Dante and Petriarch and Ovid. These writers
helped to influence his style. Geoffrey Chaucer used the important books of his time and earlier
to develop a unique style that was technically just a combination of different styles of writers he
admired.
He started writing more as he got older and completed a translation of some writing
called the Consolation of Philosophy by Botheius. He also composed short poems and tragedies.

This talent for writing different types of works helped to shape him as a great writer and
form his style of writng as well. Between 1387 and 1400 Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the
Canterbury Tales. The Canterbury Tale was his most famous work and is still used in classes
today. The Canterbury Tales shows readers how Chaucer was influenced by different writers and
by traveling from different places. It is shown in the characters and in the story itself. Some of
the characters are even believed to be based on some of the royalty of the time and also
Chaucer's close friends. The way he used language helped to make his works more relate-able.
He had a particular rhythm to his poetry that made the story flow. Many believe that the
Canterbury Tales was where iambic pentameter originated. Although Chaucer planned to finish
the Canterbury Tales it was never finished.
Even though it was unfinished people were still able to relate to the characters and the
stories because they were like real people of the time and addressed some of the social issues
being experienced. Chaucer continued writing and translating other poems until he retired in
December 1399. He died in October 1400 and his writings are still looked at as great works of
literature.
Geoffrey Chaucer was a phenomenal write who used his experiences and life lessons
to put into his own writing Those experiences and influences made him to be known as Father
of English Literature.