French a famous allegorical poem o f the 13Lh century, “The
Romance o f the Rose”.
The Italian period. In 1372 Chaucer was sent to Genoa to
arrange a commercial treaty. In Italy he became acquainted with
Italian life-and culture, with the classical authors and with the
newer Italian works o f Dante and Petrarch, with the tales of
Boccaccio. In Chaucer’s own writing, the French models o f his
earliest years gave way to this Italian influence. To the Italian
period ca n be assigned “The House o f Fame”, a didactic poem;
“The Parliament o f Fowls” (birds), an allegorical poem satirizing
Parliament; “Troilus and Criseyda”, which is considered to be
the predecessor ofthe psychological novel in England, and “The
Legend o f Good Women”, a dream-poem.
The English, period. After his return to London, Chaucer
became a customs official at the port o f London. He gave up his
job in 13 86, and began composing his masterpiece “The Canterbury
Tales”, but it remained unfinished.
He died in 1400 and was buried in Westminster Abbey in a
section, which later became established as the Poets’ Corner.
Chaucer was the last English writer o f the Middle Ages and the
first o f the Renaissance.
“The Canterbury Tales”
“The Canterbury Tales”, for which Chaucer’s name is best
remembered, is a long poem with a general introduction (“The
Prologue”), the clearest picture o f late medieval life existent
anywhere. The framework, which serves to connect twenty-four
stories, told in verse, is a pilgrimage from London to Canterbury.
In the prologue thirty men and women from all ranks o f society
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