Chaucer the Innovator

1. Chaucer the Innovator How Chaucer Changed Writing

2. Chaucer used the Vernacular • Chaucer is the first writer to use common language. • Chaucer used vulgarities and made the language accessible to the common man.

3. Chaucer used Local Settings • Where other writers of the time used fantastical settings, Chaucer used the local landscape as his setting. • The pilgrimage to Canterbury Castle was an annual event in England.

4. Chaucer Used Common Characters • Instead of knights, kings, queens, nobles and gods, Chaucer used characters from all walks of life. • Most of Chaucer’s characters were easily recognizable connecting him with the newly-formed middle class.

5. Chaucer used New Poetic Styles • Depending on his most recent influences, Chaucer would change his poetic style. It was not common to have multiple verse styles in one epic poem, but Chaucer used several in the Canterbury Tales and other works. • Chaucer is as significant in redefining the language as any writer who’s ever penned a work.

6. Chaucer Challenged Conventional Wisdom • Though his audience was a courtly audience, one that included women, Chaucer was not afraid to mock the establishment and take on political issues. • Chaucer gave the world its first feminist – the scandalous Wife of Bath. • Chaucer echoed the gripes, concerns and fears of the common man.

7. Chaucer Survives • During his lifetime, translations of Chaucer’s works often butchered the intended text. • Despite the poor translations, Chaucer is one of the few writers of his era to have an established canon of work as well as inclusion in the Canon of British Literature.