The Canterbury Tales
Chaucer's best-known and most representative work: an ambitious, unfinished frame narrative containing a wide range of genres, voices, and social perspectives.
Author guide
Geoffrey Chaucer Books in Order
Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340s–1400) was an English poet, courtier, diplomat, and civil servant. His major works include The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, Parlement of Foules, Troilus and Criseyde, The Legend of Good Women, The Canterbury Tales, and A Treatise on the Astrolabe. Writing primarily in Middle English, Chaucer helped establish English as a major literary language. Several attributed minor poems and translations remain subject to scholarly debate; translations and doubtful attributions are excluded here.
poetrydream visionromanceallegorystory collectionprose nonfiction
Catalog record updated .
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Troilus and Criseyde
A complete major narrative poem that showcases Chaucer's sustained storytelling, psychological characterization, and mastery of English verse.
The Book of the Duchess
A relatively short and accessible early poem that introduces Chaucer's dream-vision technique and characteristic engagement with grief and literary tradition.
A Treatise on the Astrolabe
A compact prose work offering a direct introduction to Chaucer's scientific and pedagogical writing outside his poetry.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Nonfiction (1)
- A Treatise on the Astrolabe
prose treatise · 1391
A Treatise the Astrolabe by Geoffrey Chaucer is the work of an avid amateur astronomer who happened also to be England’s greatest medieval poet. A user of the astrolabe can plot the movement of the stars, tell time, and calculate numerous…
Short fiction (1)
- The Canterbury Tales
story collection · 1387
Lively, absorbing, often outrageously funny, Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is a work of genius, an undisputed classic that has held a special appeal for each generation of readers. The Tales gathers twenty-nine of literature’s most…
Poetry (6)
- The Book of the Duchess
dream-vision poem · 1369
A charming and absorbing dream-poem, `The book of the Duchess' is the earliest of Chaucer's major works, traditionally read as an allegorical elegy for Blanche of Lancaster, John of Gaunt's first wife. ..... [Cover].
- Anelida and Arcite
narrative poem · 1380
- The House of Fame
dream-vision poem · 1380
- Parlement of Foules
allegorical poem · 1382
- Troilus and Criseyde
romance poem · 1385
Geoffrey Chaucer’s most significant literary accomplishment may well be Troilus and Criseyde, a single, profoundly philosophical narrative of a tragic love affair. Set in ancient Troy and telling the story of the rise and fall, in love…
- The Legend of Good Women
narrative poem · 1386
Frequently asked questions about Geoffrey Chaucer
Who was Geoffrey Chaucer?
Geoffrey Chaucer was a fourteenth-century English poet, courtier, diplomat, and civil servant. Born in London around 1340–1344, he is best known for The Canterbury Tales and died in 1400.
Sources: poets.org (opens in a new tab)westminster-abbey.org (opens in a new tab)
What jobs did Geoffrey Chaucer have besides writing?
Chaucer served as a courtier, diplomat, civil servant, Controller of Customs, and Clerk of the King’s Works. His public career included royal service, overseas diplomatic missions, and administrative work.
Sources: poets.org (opens in a new tab)westminster-abbey.org (opens in a new tab)
Who influenced Geoffrey Chaucer’s writing?
Chaucer drew on French love poetry and was strongly influenced by Italian writers including Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. His diplomatic travels to Italy helped acquaint him with their work.
Sources: poets.org (opens in a new tab)britishlibrary.cn (opens in a new tab)
Why is Geoffrey Chaucer important to English literature?
Chaucer helped establish English, rather than French or Latin, as a major literary language and is often called the father of English literature. His verse forms also influenced later English poetic traditions.
Sources: poets.org (opens in a new tab)britishlibrary.cn (opens in a new tab)
Where is Geoffrey Chaucer buried, and why is it significant?
Chaucer is buried in Westminster Abbey’s south transept, now known as Poets’ Corner. His burial there in 1400 began the tradition of commemorating poets and writers in that part of the Abbey.
Sources: westminster-abbey.org (opens in a new tab)westminster-abbey.org (opens in a new tab)