Professor Marion Turner reveals five things you should know about the 14th-century poet and author, Geoffrey Chaucer <\/p>
Geoffrey Chaucer is one of the most famous figures in medieval England. Renowned as the \u201cfather of English literature\u201d, his most notable works include The Canterbury Tales<\/em> and Troilus and Criseyde<\/em>. But Chaucer also wrote extensively on other subjects, and led an incredibly interesting life as an astronomer, philosopher, diplomat, courtier and traveller. Here, Professor Marion Turner shares her top facts about the 14th-century poet and author\u2026<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Chaucer wrote a huge variety of things. He wasn\u2019t just the author of the Canterbury Tales<\/em>, he also wrote romances, dream visions, translations and short poems.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This was a time when England was globally connected. Chaucer went to Italy on horseback twice; Navarre (now in Northern Spain), where there were Jewish and Muslim communities; France, where he was taken prisoner; and the Low Countries. Lots of fascinating travel.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Chaucer was once paid in wine! He was also once paid with very risqu\u00e9 clothing, including very tight trousers and a short tunic, which I wrote about a lot about in my book Chaucer: A European life<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Chaucer was an experimental poet and invented the iambic pentameter: the five-stressed ten-syllable line that became the key poetic line in English literature. He was also the first person in England to be reading Italian writers such as Boccaccio. This reading widely of European literature really changed what English literature was capable of.<\/p>\nChaucer was a versatile writer<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Chaucer travelled very widely<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Chaucer wasn\u2019t just paid with money<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Chaucer invented the iambic pentameter<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n