Geoffrey Chaucer

English poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the unfinished work, The

Canterbury Tales. It is considered one of the greatest poetic works in
English.

Synopsis
Poet Geoffrey Chaucer was born circa 1340 in London, England. In
1357 he became a public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster and
continued in that capacity with the British court throughout his
lifetime. The Canterbury Tales became his best known and most
acclaimed work. He died October 25, 1400 in London, England, and
was the first to be buried in Westminster Abbeys Poets Corner.

Early Life
Poet Geoffrey Chaucer was born circa 1340, most likely at his parents house on Thames Street in
London, England. Chaucers family was of the bourgeois class, descended from an affluent family who
made their money in the London wine trade. According to some sources, Chaucers father, John, carried on
the family wine business. Geoffrey Chaucer is believed to have attended the St. Pauls Cathedral School,
where he probably first became acquainted with the influential writing of Virgil and Ovid.
In 1357, Chaucer became a public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster, the Duke of Clarences wife, for
which he was paid a small stipendenough to pay for his food and clothing. In 1359, the teenage Chaucer
went off to fight in the Hundred Years War in France, and at Rethel he was captured for ransom. Thanks to
Chaucers royal connections, King Edward III helped pay his ransom. After Chaucers release, he joined
the Royal Service, traveling throughout France, Spain and Italy on diplomatic missions throughout the
early to mid-1360s. For his services, King Edward granted Chaucer a pension of 20 marks.
In 1366, Chaucer married Philippa Roet, the daughter of Sir Payne Roet, and
the marriage conveniently helped further Chaucers career in the English court

Major Works
The precise dates of many of Chaucers written works are difficult to pin down with certainty, but
one thing is clear: His major works have retained their relevancy even in the college classroom of today.
Chaucers body of best-known works includes the Parliament of Fouls, otherwise known as
the Parlement of Foules, in the Middle English spelling. Some historians of Chaucers work assert that it
was written in 1380, during marriage negotiations between Richard and Anne of Bohemia. Critic J.A.W.
Bennet interpreted the Parliament of Fouls as a study of Christian love.
Troilus and Criseyde is broadly considered one of Chaucers greatest works, and has a reputation
for being more complete and self-contained than most of Chaucers writing, his famed The Canterbury
Tales being no exception.
The Canterbury Tales is by far Chaucers best known and most acclaimed work. Initially Chaucer
had planned for each of his characters to tell four stories a piece.
Treatise on the Astrolabe is one of Chaucers nonfiction works. It is an essay about the astrolabe, a
tool used by astronomers and explorers to locate the positions of the sun, moon and planets.

Death
The legendary 14th century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer died October 25, 1400 in London,
England. He died of unknown causes and was 60 years old at the time. Chaucer was buried in Westminster
Abbey. His gravestone became the center of what was to be called Poets Corner, a spot where such famous
British writers as Robert Browning and Charles Dickens were later honored and interred.

Charles Dickenson
Charles Dickens was the well-loved and prolific British author of
numerous works that are now considered classics.

Synopsis
British novelist Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in
Portsmouth, England. Over the course of his writing career, he wrote
the beloved classic novels Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Nicholas
Nickleby,David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities and Great
Expectations. On June 9, 1870, Dickens died of a stroke in Kent, England, leaving his final novel, The
Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished.

Early Life
Famed British author Charles Dickens was born Charles John Huffam Dickens on February 7,
1812, in Portsmouth, on the southern coast of England. He was the second of eight children. His father,
John Dickens, was a naval clerk who dreamed of striking it rich. Charles Dickens mother, Elizabeth
Barrow, aspired to be a teacher and school director. Despite his parents best efforts, the family remained
poor. Nevertheless, they were happy in the early days. In 1816, they moved to Chatham, Kent, where
young Charles and his siblings were free to roam the countryside and explore the old castle at Rochester.

Early Writing
In the same year that Sketches by Boz was released, Dickens started publishing The Posthumous
Papers of the Pickwick Club. His series of sketches, originally written as captions for artist Robert
Seymours humorous sports-themed illustrations, took the form of monthly serial installments. The
Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club was wildly popular with readers. Around this time, Dickens had
also become publisher of a magazine called Bentleys Miscellany. In it he started publishing his first
novel, Oliver Twist, which follows the life of an orphan living in the streets. Dickens continued
showcasing Oliver Twist in the magazines he later edited, including Household Words and All the Year

Round, the latter of which he founded. The novel was extremely well received in both England and
America. Dedicated readers of Oliver Twist eagerly anticipated the next monthly installment.
Over the next few years, Dickens struggled to match the level of Oliver Twists success. From 1838 to
1841, he published The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby
Rudge.
In 1842, Dickens and his wife, Kate, embarked on a five-month lecture tour of the United States.
Upon their return, Dickens penned American Notes for General Circulation, a sarcastic travelogue
criticizing American culture and materialism.
In 1843, Dickens wrote his novel The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, a story about a mans
struggle to survive on the ruthless American frontier. The book was published the following year.
Over the next couple of years, Dickens published two Christmas stories. One was the classic A Christmas
Carol, which features the timeless protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge, a curmudgeonly old miser, who, with the
help of a ghost, finds the Christmas spirit.

Death
In 1865, Dickens was in a train accident and never fully recovered. Despite his fragile condition, he
continued to tour until 1870. On June 9, 1870, Dickens had a stroke and, at age 58, died at Gads Hill
Place, his country home in Kent, England. He was buried in Poets Corner at Westminster Abbey, with
thousands of mourners gathering at the beloved authors gravesite. Scottish satirical writer Thomas Carlyle
described Dickens passing as an event worldwide, a unique of talents suddenly extinct. At the time of
Dickens death, his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, was left unfinished.