Geoffrey Chaucer lead an amazing life, from serving the King, to being the Father of English poetry, he can be considered a true and worthy English poet. In addition to this, he affected the world of poetry in many ways, with his versification and different variations on the English language, all while never leaving the medieval tradition of poetry. He started off as just a small English child, growing up like any other English kid. But once he had matured, he became the "Father of English Poetry." His works ranging from short poems about his kids, to giant storybooks with many different poems on the same topic. He had many experiences in life such as serving the royal family as well as taking long expeditions to Florence, Italy. Also, he admired many poets, but was able to do so well in the poetry world that he had more famous poets admire him, than who he had admired. His work is still being studied today at many famous universities and will continue to be admired for a long time to come.

Chaucer had the early life of many English children, but when he turned eight, he was a very "rare" English child. He grew up in London, England in the mid-1300s, with his parents as vintners, or wine dealers. He had a childhood, which was later mentioned in his work, but it is not known if it was true. Since his parents were vintners, he probably had to have walked through many wine-selling crowds. This is what was later mentioned in his poetry. It is known not to be during the Italian Period because it was written before he had been to Italy, where he definitely went through wine-selling crowds, and probably bought some wine himself. When Chaucer was about eight to eleven years old, he went under the King, Edward III’s, ruling as a junior page at Westminster Abbey. The reason why he was accepted, or even thought of for that matter, was because his father was working as a wine purchaser for Edward III. When Chaucer was about sixteen, he took some time off of the royal family and went to a school. However, the school is unknown but it probably was attached to a city church. Historians do know that it was not Oxford or Cambridge because they are mentioned later in his two most obscene poems.

The rest of Geoffrey Chaucer’s life had many twists to it and had other things, which showed that he was a noble Englishman. He went on many diplomatic and military related expeditions to Italy and. They were mostly in Florence because of it’s famous wine and trading goods. The ship, which he traveled to them on was obviously armed and prepared for attacks from England’s enemies, such as North Africa, Spain, and rivals of Venice. In fact, it had fifty men, all armed with crossbows, to protect the ship against unplanned enemy attacks. The reason why he was chosen to go on these expeditions was because he had experience selling and buying wine, knew enough Italian to carry on a conversation, and had been loyal to the royal family for many years. The results of these expeditions affected Chaucer very much in his later life. He receive a gown of scarlet and a keg of wine everyday for the rest of his life from the Earl of Derby, who would later become Henry IV. He also got a job after going on the expeditions as a customs and immigration officer for London, England.

Chaucer had many different jobs and relationships other than traveling to Italy on expeditions. He was a servant to the royal family for many years before going to Italy and after going to Italy. He served in The Hundred Year’s War between England and France from 1359 to 1360 as a valettus, or a page. While he was in battle, he got captured by France, and was ransomed for 16 pounds. Chaucer also served the royal family while not at war. During the course of his lifetime, he served Edward III, The Countess of Ulster, Richard II, and The Earl of Derby (who was later Henry IV.) In addition to those, he also served in the Parliament for one year in 1386. However, he was not a page for all of the royal family whether at war or not. When he served Richard II from 1389 to 1391, he was a clerk of Richard II’s works. Other than serving the royal family, he had a wife and kids. At first, he had been accused of raping a woman named Cecily Chaumpaigne. However, when they appeared in court, she dropped all of the charges, releasing him of all of his actions in the case of her rape. Other than that, Chaucer’s wife was named Phillipa Pan. He married her while he was a fellow courtier to the Countess of Ulster in 1366. However, she would die in 1387 for an unknown cause. He also had two children by the name of Thomas and Lewis. He showed his love for them later in life by dedicating his poem "The Treatise on the Astrolabe" to them.

Chaucer had many short poems, but his longer ones are the most known and most popular. His short poems include "The Treatise on the Astrolabe," which was already mentioned in this paper; "The Complaint of Mars" showed his deep affection for Mars and Venus; and finally, "Lack of Steadfastness," and "The Former Age" reflect his bitter feelings towards Richard II, who he had served earlier in life. Other than those he also wrote longer poems. His first long major poem was an elegy for John of Gaunt’s wife, Blanche, who had died during the Bubonic Plague in 1369. In it, he makes sardonic references to the doctors during the Bubonic Plague, and also is known for his placing together of contrasting images. Next, he wrote "The House of Fame," which was 2,000 lines written in a dreamy style. It is about a man who dreams he is carried to heaven where he finally ends up seeing the man of great authority. Next came "The Parliament of Fowls," which along with "The House of Fame" tried to arrange a suitable marriage for Richard II. It is known to show Chaucer’s imagination about love and relationships, similar to "The Book of the Duchess." It is about a man who dreams, again, that he is in a big walled garden, where he sees the Goddess of Nature surrounded by birds choosing their mates. The eagle decides that he needs another year to decide, and the dreamer awakens. After those, Chaucer wrote "Troilus and Criseyde," which was set against the backdrop of the Trojan War. It told about his experiences in The Hundred Year’s War. "Troilus and Criseyde" is about to people, Troilus and Criseyde, who are in a Greek prison. Troilus decides to go to battle instead of marrying Criseyde, but dies and floats to heaven, where he can look down on Criseyde and mankind. After that, Chaucer wrote "The Legend of Good Women," which was an unfinished poem that helped Chaucer experiment with many short poems on the same topic. Also, Chaucer translated a poem called ‘Le Roman de la Rose.’ However, since he liked Christine de Pisan, he did not translate the "dirty" parts about her, which probably would have offended her. He was commended for the translation by a knighting.

The "Canterbury Tales" are the most highly acclaimed, best written, and most popular of all of Chaucer’s poetry. He started writing it at around 1389, and kept writing until his death on October 25, 1400. It was intended to have thirty characters in it, but Chaucer died before he was able to do all of them. They each told four stories each: two going on their pilgrimage to Canterbury, and two returning from Canterbury. He is known for his characterizations for every character as well as his links between the stories. The characters in the "Canterbury Tales" each have their own personality. He describes the Nun as being ‘simple and coy,’ which is from medieval romance. In the "Prioresse’s Tale," Chaucer’s feelings about the Jews were evident. It had a part where a small boy was murdered by the Jews and then thrown into the sewer. Many people had mixed feelings about such as Wordsworth, who called it ‘fierce bigoty,’ but Hazlitt called it ‘simple and heroic.’ The "Nun’s Priest’s Tale" has a character named Macrobius, who had also appeared in "Le Roman de la Rose." It also enlarges as well as repeats what was said in the "Prioresse’s Tale." The "Canterbury Tales" also has its styles and passages, which apply to the whole thing. At the beginning of the "Canterbury Tales," he has a long poem, which introduces the characters in order from the highest class to the lowest class. It also has sketches of the characters in the general prologue in pen. After the section of the "Canterbury Tales," which contains a sin, he writes a brief note saying that he "retracts" all of his work, which contains sin, which includes some of the "Canterbury Tales," and some of "Troilus and Criseyde." The "Canterbury Tales" have remained unchanged since Chaucer’s time for the fact that they were written so well. However, they were not full appreciated until the 18th century because of the change in the language. Today historians and scholars, from around the world, are studying them at many major universities.

Chaucer’s style and using the English language brought many people to admire him. He also admired other poets before him, which he based some of his work on. Most of them were in the period where he was taking trips to Italy (the Italian Period), because Italian was more of a literary language, so it had more poets. "The House of Fame" shows how Chaucer admired Dante’s work "Divine Comedy." He even based his eagle in "The House of Fame" on "Divine Comedy." Giovanni Boccacio was another big influence on Chaucer during the Italian Period. Chaucer based his poem "Troilus and Criseyde" on Boccacio’s "Filostrato." Besides those poets, there were other poets, who influenced Chaucer’s language. John Gower, a fellow poet of Chaucer, gave him the idea to write in English, thus English becoming a major literary language. Dante’s "Paradiso" gave Chaucer the idea to use English for biblical and religious purposes as well as for his poetry. The biggest woman influence on Chaucer was Christine de Pisan, who he did not offend in "Le Roman de la Rose." He also used some of Ovid’s ideas in the "Canterbury Tales. Chaucer also had many people who admired him, and even based some of their work on his poems. In the 15th century, there were numerous admirers of Chaucer, but they did not have much talent. However, later it became known with many Elizabethan poets such as Shakespeare, Spenser. Shakespeare even based his play "Troilus and Cressida" on Chaucer’s "Troilus and Criseyde." However, it did very bad and lowered Shakespeare’s reputation. Chaucer also had a big impact on the poetry world with his style and properties. He introduced a seven-line stanza in iambic pentameter to the English language. It is known of as rhyme royal and first appeared in Chaucer’s work with "Troilus and Criseyde." Chaucer also impacted the English language by being the first English poet to write in his own language. Chaucer had his own personal style which could be told apart from most poets, but he did not leave the medieval literary tradition. He would spell words, which he did not like the spelling of, in the way, which he thought was better. He also had his style somewhat based on manners at the dinner table, but it is mostly in the "Canterbury Tales." He also had his own versification, which was understood in Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries, but not nationally until the 18th century.

With that, there is the conclusion that Chaucer is definitely considered to be "The Father of English Poetry." From growing up while serving the king, to going to Italy on giant expeditions, he had a full life of culture and adventure. He had a big influence on the English language and the people who he admired. He also had work which was considered genuine medieval poetry. Chaucer would easily be considered one of the best poets to roam our earth then and today.