Authors

British · 1400

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer is the first great English poet and the father of English literature, whose Canterbury Tales (c. 1387-1400) is the supreme work of medieval English writing. Born to a vintner family in London, he worked as a courtier, diplomat, and customs official while writing. His Troilus and Criseyde is often called the first modern English novel. He translated Boethius and the Romance of the Rose, introduced the Italian sonnet and terza rima to English, and created a literary language from the London dialect that became the basis of standard English.