English Club talks ‘Canterbury Tales’ author, Geoffrey Chaucer

On Wednesday night, March 18, the Todd lecture hall was filled with the history and literary contributions of Geoffrey Chaucer presented by English teacher, dual credit mentor, and assistant chair Molly Michaud.

The lecture included a history of Chaucer’s home, London, and what it was like during Chaucer’s time, a time-line of Chaucer’s life and Chaucer’s accomplishments and literary contributions.

Chaucer was well known for his military service and eventually worked as a customs agent and later directed all royal construction work during his time which were very highly ranked jobs. Chaucer also served as a “secret agent” for the king.

Chaucer is credited for coining over 2000 words of the English language (more than Shakespeare) that we use today and was the first to write English literature.

Chaucer wrote many works and among those was the Canterbury Tales. This was a comical story written in “middle English” and is about people going on a pilgrimage, or medieval road trip. Michaud compared it to the “fun bus to Vegas.” The Canterbury Tales are unfinished because Chaucer passed away before he could complete them.

Michaud will be teaching intro to literature 175 in the fall and Chaucer will be introduced in that course. NIC also offers a British literature class which also includes works by Chaucer for those interested in learning more.