Geoffrey Chaucer (9) Poem by Sylvia Frances Chan

Geoffrey Chaucer (9)

I promised you in Geoffrey Chaucer (8) to repeat
what I have noted as the most important for the English Literature

FIRST:
Let me introduce the name: Geoffrey Chaucer,
the most important name in English Literature
Medieval English poet

He is considered the most important author
of medieval English literature.
He was the creator of some of the most poetic works
in world literature.

In addition to being an exceptionally gifted author and poet,
Chaucer had a busy public life
as a soldier,
courtier,
diplomat,
and civil servant,
serving a variety of public functions.

And above all, he is called 'father Of English Literature'.
Yet Chaucer found the time to write thousands of lines of verse
that are still highly valued and admired by literature lovers today.

in doing so, he showed that the English of his time (now called Medieval English) could be used in poetry just as well.

A large number of words and expressions,
many of French origin,
were first recorded in his work.
Chaucer showed that English could be written
with grace and power.

In the 14th century,
there were two common ways of composing verse.
Usually they were used separately,
although some authors combined them in the same work.

One system evolved from Old English and relied on the pattern of stressed syllables in each line of verse,
connected with alliteration of the initial sounds.

Usually the verses did not rhyme with each other.

The second way came into use in England in the 12th century and was based on French and Latin examples.

The technique relied partly upon
the number of syllables in each line -
usually with four stresses -
and partly on connecting the lines in couplets or groups
with rhyming endings.

Chaucer used this technique in his early poems
"The Book of the Duchess" and "The House of Fame".
Early in his career, he also began using
five-stress lines in eight-line stanzas,
including the ABC and The Monk's Tale.
He later used the same verses in seven-line stanzas in
Parliament of Fowls,
Troilus and Criseyde,
and some of the stories in The Canterbury Tales,
among others.
This technique was later called 'rime royal'.

His greatest contribution to English verse technique
was the use of the five-stress line in rhyming couplets,
as in "The Legend of Good Women" and most of "The Canterbury Tales".

P.S. See you all in the next sequel
GEOFFREY CHAUCER (10) .

Notes:
Next time I will continue more of his Literary Context
in Sequel number 10.
All the Geoffrey Chaucer-Sequels are written as Narrative Poems.

Geoffrey Chaucer (9) as narrated
by Sylvia Frances Chan, a post-graduate
of Trisakti University in Jakarta (Indonesia)
in the English Language-and Literature,
Dutch poetess on PoemHunter.Com,
critic and Evangelist.
Friday 15 September 2023