Donaldson, E.T., ed., Chaucer's Poetry: An Anthology for the Modern Reader (New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1975).

Text name(s): The Canterbury Tales; The Book of the Duchess; The House of Fame; The Parliament of Fowls; The Prologue to the Legend of Good Women; An Alphabetical Hymn to the Virgin Mary; Merciless Beauty; To Rosamund; Complaint to His Purse; To His Scribe Adam; Envoy to Bukton; Envoy to Scogan; Lack of Steadfastness; Truth; Troilus and Criseide

Number of pages of primary source text: 998

Medieval Author(s): Chaucer, Geoffrey

Dates: 1369 - 1400

Archival Reference:

Original Language(s): English - Middle English;

Translation: Original language included.

Translation Comments:

Geopolitical Region(s): England;

County/Region: Kent; London, Canterbury

Apparatus: Glossary

Comments:

The bulk of this text is Chaucer’s poetical works, which are followed by commentary (pp. 1001-1144). The Middle English text is glossed for easier reading. Considered by many to be one of the greatest poets of the English language, Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London in the 1340s. He was a page in the household of Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster, who was married to Prince Lionel, one of King Edward III’s sons, and fought in France in 1359. After that he served Edward as a messenger and diplomat, customs agent, clerk of the king’s works (where he oversaw construction and renovation of the king’s houses and properties), and Justice of the Peace. His literary career began in translating works such as the Romance of the Rose and Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy into English, and his first original work, the Book of the Duchess, was written in 1369-70. He died in or around 1400; the date on his 16th-century tomb in Westminster Abbey is October 25, 1400.

Introduction Summary:

Cataloger: RLL