Why is Chaucer called the father of English ptroey?

Why is Chaucer called the father of English ptroey?

Geoffrey Chaucer is one of the greatest poets of England. He is known to be the father of English poetry. By the force of his genius, he raised it to the level of the national language of England. He was, therefore, both the father of English poetry and the father of English language. He is the first national poet of England. There were order poets also in his time. They were John Gower and William Langland. But their poetry is little read and enjoyed today. On the contrary, Chaucer continues to be as fresh and enjoyable as when he lived and wrote.

Chaucer stands at the end of the Middle ages and the beginning of the modern age. He has been called “The Morning Star of the Renaissance”. His poetry reflects the medieval spirit. It also reflects the Italian Renaissance. Renaissance was first felt in England in his age. In the mean time, the English language has undergone radical changes. Chaucer stands head and shoulders above his contemporaries and successors and becomes the father of English poetry.

Chaucer’s modernism is best reflected in his realism. He reflects the real life of the England of his day. He began his career with following the tradition of courtly love, allegory and drama poetry. But he soon discarded these tradition and turned his eyes to the life and people of his times. In The Canterbury Tales, he comes to his own. His Prologue to the Canterbury Tales is an epitome of 14th century England. With great force and realism, he has painted the life and people of his times. With a few deft touches he brings his characters to life. They are individuals as well as types. In his twenty nine pilgrims, all the different classes, peoples and professions of his time find a vivid expression. He represents his age not in fragments but as a whole.

Chaucer rejected the medieval poetic tradition. He broke free from the religious influence of the Middle Ages. Ecclesiastical ideas and medieval habits of mind were still the controlling elements in his period. But in him their sway is broken by the spirit of Italian Renaissance. The face and secular spirit first expresses itself in our English poetry through him. He loves human nature including all its weaknesses. He takes a frank joy in the good things of life. He takes interest in his fellowmen and enjoys their company. He is not repelled even by the wicked, the foolish and the rascal. He is aware of the corruption in the church. But he nowhere lashes at it fiercely as does Langland, his great contemporary. His wide sympathy, gentle humanity, tolerance, etc. make him really the first of the great moderns.

Chaucer is the first true humourist in English literature. His humour is the expression of his joy in life and of his wide sympathy and tolerance. Humour is the life and soul of his works. His humour is many–sided and all–pervasive like that of Shakespeare or Dickens. His eyes take on a merry twinkle as they fall on folly or wickedness of human nature. He has the capacity to laugh even at his own expense. He never lashes bitterly at folly or vice. But even looks on and smiles. He is the first of the great modern humourists of England.

Chaucer is the first great national poet of England. He became the founder of modern English poetry. Because he freed himself from foreign influences. He used his own native language as the medium for his art. Chaucer concentrated his energies on the development of his native tongue. He made it a fit medium for literary expression. He imparted to the English language the modern ease, suppleness, flexibility and smoothness. He breathed into it a high poetic life. He gave to the people a language so reformed and reshaped as to be a potent instrument for the expression of thought.

Chaucer is one of the most musical of English poets. His English looks very different at first. But it can easily be mastered with a little labour and perseverance. He struck a modern note when he abandoned altogether the Old English irregular lines and alliteration. He adopted the French method of regular metres and end–rhymes. He discarded complicated stanza forms. For the first time, he achieved the union of simplicity and freedom in his verse. Such union is the characteristic note of modern English poetry. He introduced the Heroic Couplet into English Verse. He invented the Rhyme Royal.

Chaucer’s descriptions are masterpieces. His best descriptions of men, manners and places have a vivacity that makes his poetry unique. He takes joy in the beauty of nature as he did in life and in the company of his fellowmen.

We may summarize Chaucer’s achievement by saying that, he is the earliest of the great moderns. All the Chaucerian features help to create the modern atmosphere for the later poets. With Chaucer, the English language and English literature grew at a bound to full maturity. Therefore, Chaucer is rightly called the father of English poetry.

Written by:

Shuvashish Mallick

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