Chaucer， Geoffrey （1343-1400）， English poet， whose masterpiece， The Canterbury Tales， greatly influenced the development of English literature. His life is known primarily through records pertaining to his long career as a courtier and civil servant under the English kings Edward III and Richard II. Chaucer married Philippa Roet， who was also a court attendant. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.

　　Chaucer wrote for a select audience of fellow courtiers and officials. The common theme of his earliest works is courtly love. His first important original work， The Book of the Duchess， is an elegy for John of Gaunt's first wife， who died in 1369. In this period， Chaucer also translated and adapted religious， historical， and philosophical works. Troilus and Criseyde， a poem of more than 8000 lines， is Chaucer's major work besides The Canterbury Tales. It is the tragic story of the Trojan prince Troilus and his beloved， Criseyde （Cressida）。

　　The Canterbury Tales is a collection of tales set within a story about a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. The poet joins a band of pilgrims， vividly described in the General Prologue， who gather outside London for the journey to Canterbury. Ranging in status from a Knight to a humble Plowman， they are a microcosm of 14th-century English society. The Host proposes a storytelling contest to pass the time， with each of the pilgrims telling four tales on the round trip.

　　The tales represent nearly every variety of medieval story at its best. The special genius of Chaucer's work， however， lies in the dramatic interaction between the tales and the framing story. The tales develop the personalities， quarrels， and diverse opinions of their tellers. The prologues and tales of the Wife of Bath and the Pardoner are high points of Chaucer's art. Although Chaucer satirizes the abuses of the church， he also includes a number of didactic and religious tales， concluding with the good Parson's sermon on penitence.

　　Chaucer increased the prestige of English as a literary language and extended the range of its poetic vocabulary and meters. He was the first English poet to use iambic pentameter， the seven-line stanza called rhyme royal， and the couplet later called heroic. Chaucer greatly influenced other English writers such as Edmund Spenser， William Shakespeare， and John Dryden. His reputation has been securely established as the English poet best loved after Shakespeare for his wisdom， humor， and depiction of humanity.