Concetti Chiave
- Geoffrey Chaucer, born in 1343 in London, had a diverse career including roles as a page, soldier, and diplomat, influencing his writing style.
- Chaucer's experiences in France and Italy, including visits to cities like Genoa and Florence, inspired his major work, The Canterbury Tales.
- His writing career is divided into three phases: French, Italian, and English, each marked by distinct literary influences and themes.
- The Canterbury Tales is a collection of 24 stories told by pilgrims on a journey to Canterbury, representing various societal layers.
- The Canterbury Tales contrasts with Boccaccio's Decameron by having more diverse storytellers and a shorter narrative timeframe.
Indice
Geoffrey Chaucer: life
Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London in 1343, son of a wealthy merchant family. At the sole age of 14 he became a page in the court of King Edward III’s son, Prince Lionel. In 1359 he took part in the Hundred Years War, before being captured by the French. He then got ransomed for the sum of 16 pounds. In 1374 he was appointed as a controller of the wool custom. He then moved to Kent, and became a Member of the Parliament and Justice of Peace. After moving back to London, he died in 1400 because of the plague. He was buried in Abbey’s Poets Corner.During his role of page, he went for a lot of diplomatic missions, sending him to France, Flanders and Italy, which really moved his writing style. He visited Genoa, Milan, Padoa and Florence, and he probably met Petrarch. In Italy he took inspiration, after reading the bigs of our literature, for his most important work: The Canterbury Tales. The Canterbury Tales has some similarities with the Decameron from Boccaccio and with the concept of a life path from the Divine Comedy.
Three phases
As a writer, he had three much distinguished phases:The French Phase, in which he translated Le Roman De La Rose, a very influential work in French culture;
The Italian Phase, in which he wrote about various dream visions, is closely similar to the interpretation in which Dante is dreaming during his path with Virgil;
The English Phase, in which he wrote his biggest work: The Canterbury Tales.
The Canterbury Tales: general info
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of 24 verse tales, some of them have a prologue and an epilogue, some only one of the two, some none.Those tales are narrated by the 24 tellers, pilgrims that are wishing to get a free supper from Harry Bailly, the host of the Tabard Inn, the point of start of the pilgrimages. The pilgrimage has as a finish point Canterbury, specifically Saint Thomas Becket’s shrine, and it took them 5 days (16 to 20 April).
Similarities and differences
The Canterbury TalesThe Decameron
26 tales
100 tales + a proem
25 tellers
10 tellers
Chaucer is one of the pilgrims
Boccaccio is not one of the tellers
4 days
10 days
The road from London to Canterbury
a villa outside Florence
A pilgrimage
The plague of 1348
All layers of society
Noble Florentine youths
In fact, the main difference between the Decameron and the Tales, is the variety of layers of society. In Chaucer’s work every layer is represented by stereotypes. There are nobles, clergy and common people.
Chaucer established the East Midland and London dialect as fundamentals for what is nowadays known as official english.
He also introduced a five-stress line, called iambic pentameter.
Domande da interrogazione
- What were the key events in Geoffrey Chaucer's early life that influenced his career?
- How did Chaucer's experiences in Italy influence his most famous work, The Canterbury Tales?
- What are the three distinct phases of Chaucer's writing career, and what characterizes each phase?
- How does The Canterbury Tales compare to Boccaccio's Decameron in terms of structure and themes?
Geoffrey Chaucer was born into a wealthy merchant family in London in 1343. At 14, he became a page for Prince Lionel, King Edward III’s son, and later participated in the Hundred Years War, where he was captured and ransomed. These early experiences, including his diplomatic missions to France, Flanders, and Italy, significantly influenced his writing style and career.
During his diplomatic missions to Italy, Chaucer visited cities like Genoa, Milan, Padoa, and Florence, where he likely met Petrarch. Inspired by the major works of Italian literature, including the Decameron by Boccaccio and the Divine Comedy, Chaucer incorporated similar themes and structures into The Canterbury Tales, marking a significant phase in his writing.
Chaucer's writing career is divided into three phases: the French Phase, where he translated influential French works like Le Roman De La Rose; the Italian Phase, characterized by dream visions similar to Dante's Divine Comedy; and the English Phase, during which he wrote his most significant work, The Canterbury Tales, establishing his legacy in English literature.
The Canterbury Tales and the Decameron differ in several ways: The Canterbury Tales consists of 24 verse tales told by 25 pilgrims over 4 days on a pilgrimage from London to Canterbury, while the Decameron comprises 100 tales told by 10 noble youths over 10 days in a villa outside Florence, escaping the plague of 1348. Despite these differences, both works explore themes of society and morality, with Chaucer's work encompassing a broader spectrum of social classes.
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