by Geoffrey
Chaucer
PowerPoint by Justin Lowry

• Born somewhere between 1342-1345 and died on October 25, 1400.
• Chaucer married Phillippa who bore him 2 sons and a daughter.
• He was fluent in French and Latin.
• He wrote The Canterbury Tales from
1380s until the late 1390s.

• He left home and became a page when he was fourteen.
• As he got older, he work in the government, helping various rich men and kings.
• He traveled to Italy a lot on business and met a
Petrarch.
• Here he became familiar with Italian stories and poetry.

• Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories.
Two written in prose and the rest are written in verse.
• All the stories are contained inside a frame tale which are told by several pilgrims.
• Some of the tales are serious and others comical.

• The themes of the tales vary, and include topics such as courtly love, treachery, and avarice.
• Religious malpractice is a major theme.
• Also, focusing on the division of the three estates (nobility, clergy, and commoners) are a big part of the tales.
• The genres also vary, and include romance,
Breton lai, sermon, beast fable, and fabliaux.

• Several pilgrims are traveling from Southwark to Canterbury to visit the
Shrine of Saint Thomas
Becket.
• The people come from all layers of society.
• They decide to entertain themselves to kill time and tell each other stories while riding on their horses.
• Thus, The Canterbury
Tales are born.

• The General Prologue
• The Knight's Tale
• The Miller's Prologue and Tale
• The Reeve's Prologue and Tale
• The Cook's Prologue and Tale
• The Man of Law's Prologue and
Tale
• The Wife of Bath's Prologue and
Tale
• The Friar's Prologue and Tale
• The Summoner's Prologue and
Tale
• The Clerk's Prologue and Tale
• The Merchant's Prologue and
Tale
• The Squire's Prologue and Tale
• The Franklin's Prologue and
Tale
• The Physician's Tale
• The Pardoner's Prologue and
Tale
• The Shipman's Tale
• The Prioress' Prologue and Tale
• Chaucer's Tale of Sir Topas
• The Tale of Melibee
• The Monk's Prologue and Tale
• The Nun's Priest's Prologue and
Tale
• The Second Nun's Prologue and
Tale
• The Canon's Yeoman‘s
Prologue and Tale
• The Manciple's Prologue and
Tale
• The Parson's Prologue and Tale
• Chaucer's Retraction

• It was originally intended that each character in the story tell four tales (two on the way to Canterbury and two coming back)
• If this had happened, there would have been a possible 120 total stories.
• That would have been way more than the 24 stories actually written.

It is the first poem written in the English language.
It is therefore given much credit for inventing modern English.
It recorded words and phrases that

• The Riverside Chaucer. Houghton Mifflin
Co. 1987. F.N. Robinson, ed.
• "The Canterbury Tales: Critical Overview".
2005. 19 Feb 2008.
<http://www.bookrags.com/studyguidecanterburytales/crit.html>.
• "The Canterbury Tales." 19 Feb 2008
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterbu ry_Tales>.