Sincerity is the most noble thing a man can keep. — Chaucer Shakespeare may be the most famous poet in England, but he did not deserve the title of father of English poets. It was the poet Chaucer who led the way for English poetry 200 years ago. Born in 1343, Chaucer was the son of a wine merchant in London and worked as a court errand since he was a teenager. In 1359, he went on an expedition to France with Edward III's troops, was captured by the French army, and was soon redeemed.Chaucer had close contacts with the court, serving as courtiers, customs inspectors, magistrates in Kent, and members of the County House of Commons.He has traveled to many countries and regions for diplomatic affairs, including Belgium, France, Italy and other countries. He had the opportunity to meet Boccaccio and Petrarch, which had a great influence on his literary creation.During the period when the patrons fell out of favor, Chaucer was deprived of his official position and annuity, and was in financial difficulties.He once wrote the doggerel "To the Empty Bag", which he wrote to Henry IV, who had just ascended the throne, to complain about his poverty. Chaucer died in 1400 and was buried in the "Poet's Corner" in Westminster Abbey, London.The heroic double rhyme he created was widely adopted by later British poets, so he was hailed as "the father of British poetry" by later generations.

Chaucer developed the East Midland dialect (London dialect) belonging to Middle English into the literary language of England.He is also good at inheriting and absorbing the poetic skills of French poets and Italian poets, and using these skills to enrich and improve the expressive ability of English poetry.In The Tale of the Chaste Women (1386), Chaucer uses the decasyllabic disyllabic form for the first time.This form is very important because Chaucer's masterpiece "The Canterbury Tales" (1387-1400) was written in this form.This style of poetry later evolved into the "heroic double rhyme style", which monopolized the British poetry circle during the neoclassical period.In addition to the above works, Chaucer also wrote a love story poem "Troilas and Clexid" (1385).

1387 is the mature period of Chaucer's creation.He wrote the general preface to The Canterbury Tales.About the last ten years of his life were spent on writing this collection of stories, but it was not completed.Nevertheless, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is unique among the western medieval and Renaissance tale collections, because Chaucer's tale collection is not only a collection of stories, but also an artistic whole.We can regard it as the crystallization of Chaucer's realistic art. The content of "Canterbury Tales" is as follows: A group of pilgrims gathered in a small hotel on the south bank of the River Thames in London. They were going to Canterbury, 70 miles away from London, to pay homage to the shrine of the martyr saint Thomas A. Beckett.In the general preface, the author gives a vivid and detailed description of each pilgrim.Including the poet (Chaucer), there were a total of 31 pilgrims, representing all walks of life in medieval England.The knight and his son, the novice, represent nobility and chivalry, accompanied by a servant, a yeoman.Then came a group of ecclesiastical figures, headed by an abbot, attended by a nun and three priests.Other church figures are a monk and a dervish.Other social classes were represented by a merchant, a student at Oxford University (in the 14th century, university students also belonged to the monk class, and after graduation they were ordained as priests), lawyers, free farmers - a wealthy middle-class landowner.There is also a group of urban middle-class figures, such as a hatter, a carpenter, a weaver, a dyer, a tapestry maker, as well as a cook, a seaman or sailor, and a doctor.The women of Bath City ─ ─ a representative of the "new women", she is very profitable in the weaving business.The country priest, the lowest social member of the priestly class, is a very noble figure in Chaucer's writings.The Farmer—He was the brother of the country pastor, a poor farmer.There were millers, grain buyers, land brokers, ecclesiastical court officers, ecclesiastical indulgences.Among the pilgrims, the latter two are the most contemptuous of society.Finally, there is the poet Chaucer himself.After dinner, the innkeeper Harry Bailey suggested that the pilgrims should tell two stories each on the way to Canterbury. He volunteered to be the guide and the referee to see who told the best story, and he could have a free meal. .The general sequence ends here. The remainder of The Canterbury Tales consists of stories and connecting passages.Chaucer didn't complete his planned plan, and the collection only has 23 stories, two of which (the chef's and the apprentice's stories respectively) were not finished.There are still 7 missing cohesive paragraphs.Most of the stories, like the preface, are written in two rhymes, and only two are written in prose (the "Tale of Meribeth" told by the poet Chaucer himself, and the other by the country priest. s story).Four more stories (each told by the lawyer, the abbot, the Oxford student, and the second nun) are written in seven-line verse (known as "kingly verse").In addition, the stories told by the monks are written in eight-line poems.

In the stories of "The Sly Fox" and "The Vanity Cock" told by the priest, the humorous and ironic features of "The Canterbury Tales" have been vividly reflected.The priest speaks in the tone of a scholar, or uses gorgeous words, or cites scriptures in a serious manner, but what he tells is just an animal story about a rooster, a hen, and a fox, and what he conveys is just trifles from the streets and alleys.This disconnect between momentum and content produces a humorous and comical artistic effect.For example, the rooster's arrogant expression is wiped out by the fox; the fox cunningly lures the rooster into being fooled, but he himself is also deceived; It is inevitable to show the true colors of poultry in the action.It is precisely through this separation between essence and appearance, content and form that Chaucer subtly creates a humorous and comical atmosphere that covers the whole novel.

If we put this story on the background of the dawn of the Renaissance, it is not difficult to find that both the personalized language and the comic effect are stained with the brilliance of humanism. Of course, the priest with "beautiful appearance and majesty" can't change his professional habits, but the sermons about saving people from suffering have degenerated into gag-style animal fables; God, doctrine and so on are of course the magic weapon that the priest never forgets, but the stories completely ignore religion The solemnity and solemnity of the book reveal a piece of human interest, which can be attributed to the motto of life in the secular world: don't close your eyes when you should open them, and don't open your mouth when you should be silent.The outpouring of this kind of humanistic thinking that emphasizes secularism and reappears in the world also adds a meaningful touch to this magnificent and interesting animal fable.

In fact, every story in "The Canterbury Tales" has its own uniqueness, and readers can choose what they want.In addition to these interesting, insightful stories, the connecting passages between the stories are also to be commended.In these passages, Chaucer shows his dramatic talent, the characters are clearly and prominently written, and the dialogue is funny and interesting.Especially the prologues to the stories told by the women of Bath and the prefaces to the stories told by the indulgence sellers are most splendid. Although Chaucer was a court poet, his life experience was diverse.He was familiar with figures from all walks of life in England in the 14th century, as well as European society at that time.He is familiar with French and Italian, but insists on writing in English.He can use the language of people from different walks of life in British society with ease.He deals with a wide range of subjects, adopts different methods to deal with different subjects, and has various writing skills and techniques.Because of his wide field of vision and profound observation, the characters he wrote about the British society in the 14th century have the characteristics of transcending borders, that is to say, Chaucer is good at writing about the universal and common characteristics of people, so his works can be seen all over the world. Engage readers for a long time.

Chaucer loves life and people.Although he is also good at mocking and satirizing people's shortcomings and mistakes, his general attitude towards life is sympathy and tolerance.Chaucer is a no-nonsense poet who, on the one hand, provides great pleasure to the reader, but on the other hand still educates the reader, hoping that the reader will become a more sensible and kinder person.But Chaucer is unwilling to preach directly to the readers, and always entertains while teaching.In the story of faithful love and generosity (the story told by the free peasants) there is this line: "Sincereness is the noblest thing a man can keep." This is Chaucer's moral code, as well as his artistic standard.Chaucer is loyal to truth, to reality, to nature (including human nature), and to art.Chaucer's art is the art of realism, he created the tradition of realism in English literature.Shakespeare and Dickens are Chaucer's heirs and disciples to varying degrees.