Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer, the first major English poet, lived at a time when there was a flowering in England of the arts of architecture, sculpture, stained glass, painting, manuscript illumination, needlework, and music. Literature also flourished, and Chaucer numbered among his contemporaries the authors of Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain, and the Miracle Cycles, as well as many anonymous lyrical poets. He began his long career as courtier, diplomat, and public servant by...
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Geoffrey Chaucer, the first major English poet, lived at a time when there was a flowering in England of the arts of architecture, sculpture, stained glass, painting, manuscript illumination, needlework, and music. Literature also flourished, and Chaucer numbered among his contemporaries the authors of Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain, and the Miracle Cycles, as well as many anonymous lyrical poets. He began his long career as courtier, diplomat, and public servant by entering the household of the Countess of Ulster as a page. For many years he enjoyed the patronage of John of Gaunt, uncle of Richard I and father of Henry IV; his burial in Westminster Abbey was probably a tribute to his services as Clerk of the King's Works, rather than a recognition of his poetic achievement.

Nevill Coghill underlines Chaucer's insight into the complexities and quirks of human nature, and his sympathy with every aspect of human love. He shows how Chaucer's verse embodies the values of Courtesy, that all-embracing concept which was held in reverence by every civilized nation of medieval Europe. He lays stress also on Chaucer's wide reading and on his ability to observe the current rules of Rhetoric while still giving free play to his individual genius.

Coghill was Merton Professor of English Literature in the University of Oxford (1957-66) and was well known for his Shakespearian productions and criticism. But it is his contributions to Chaucerian studies that have won him most popularity: his writings and broadcasts have done more to make Chaucer widely appreciated in his day than the work of any other contemporary scholar. This essay should be studied in conjunction with Professor Coghill's Langland: Piers Plowman, also in this series.

A new bibliography has been compiled by the Chaucer scholar, Derek Brewer. Dr Brewer is Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.