Chaucer was born into a wealthy wine merchant family in London. His father, John Chaucer, is a member of the Wine Merchants Association. He had a close relationship with the court and provided food for King Edward III. Because of this, Chaucer was sent to the court at the age of 17, and served as a maid for the king's daughter-in-law to serve the royal family. Two years later (1359), he went to France with the British army and was captured by the French army. His father and the king paid the price for his redemption. During the period of 10 after returning to China, he served in the imperial court and wrote many "short songs", "turns" and "turns" for the warriors and ladies of the imperial court.
Later, he served in the court, and served as a London customs inspector, a provincial judge and a member of parliament. From 1377 to 1385, Chaucer served as a diplomatic envoy and sent many missions to Belgium, France, Italy and other European countries. During his stay in Italy, he came into contact with the works of famous writers such as Dante and Boccaccio, and was influenced by Italian humanism and anti-religious spirit, which made his creative thoughts undergo profound changes. In his later years, Chaucer fell out of favor in the court, and was in a difficult situation, suffering from poverty and illness. He died in 1400 and was buried in Westminster Abbey in London.
Chaucer lived in an era when serfdom began to disintegrate and capitalism gradually rose. With the rise of the civil class and the concentration of kingship, the working people are increasingly poor, social contradictions are very sharp, and a large-scale peasant uprising has emerged. Chaucer's creation reflects the new trend of this era.
Chaucer was born in the citizen class, and he often contacted the lower class citizens to understand their living conditions, thoughts and feelings, which laid the foundation for his literary creation. At the same time, he also absorbed the progressive factors of European culture, so his works began to reflect the literary characteristics of the Renaissance.
Chaucer's creative activities began in the 1960s in 14. He did not use French and Latin, which were common in aristocratic society at that time, but used London dialect to reflect the colorful real life. 138 1 year, his important long poem Trojans and Cressid came out. This work is based on Boccaccio's long poem Philo strato. According to the book, during the ten-year war in Trolloya, Trolloro, the prince of Trolloya, fell in love with the court widow Criside. Later, Kryside abandoned Trollos and accepted the courtship of a Greek general. Trollos was terrified and went to the Greek military camp to fight his rival in love. He killed many Greeks and finally died. Although this work is set in ancient Toroya, it reflects the life of British aristocratic society. From the standpoint of the new bourgeoisie, the author affirmed the right of human beings to pursue love and happiness, and opposed the feudal ethics that denied love and the asceticism of the church. 1386, Chaucer published another poem, The Story of a Kind Woman, which truly described the female images in real life and affirmed their personality and status. Chaucer's early works include the long poems Parliament of Birds (1377~ 1382) and Hall of Fame (1379~ 1384). These works are all anti-feudal, but they are roughly written.
Canterbury Tales (1387~ 1400) is Chaucer's most outstanding work in his life. This collection of poetry stories includes 24 short stories, which are based on folklore, oral literature, knight literature and religious literature. This work vividly depicts the real life of Britain in the14th century through the stories told by pilgrims from London to Canterbury. These stories reflect rich and colorful contents, including bitter satire on religious deception, angry exposure of feudal nobles, and profound criticism of the evil of money. A large part of the stories are about love and marriage, such as the story of knights, the story of bathing women, the story of businessmen, the story of small landlords and so on. Chaucer's basic attitude towards love and marriage in this work is to affirm women's rights, advocate mutual respect and love between husband and wife, and oppose the love in which the husband repeatedly tests his wife by using force. Chaucer's works reflect the anti-feudal and anti-church tendencies and humanistic ideological factors, and reflect the development trend of English history in the14th century. But while affirming love and opposing asceticism, there are also some descriptions of indulgence.
Chaucer was a representative writer in the early English Renaissance. He was the first to write in London dialect, which laid the foundation of modern English literary language. He inherited the tradition of describing reality in urban literature and initiated the realistic road of English literature. His works are characterized by humor and satire, and are far superior to other English literary works in characterization, language use and narrative skills. Chaucer won the reputation of "the father of English poetry" for his highly realistic achievements.