Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer led a busy official life, as an esquire of the royal court, as the administrator of the customs for the port of London, as a participant in important diplomatic missions, and in a variety of other official duties. Before William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer was the distinguished English poet, and still retains the position as the most significant poet to write in Middle English. Geoffrey Chaucer was born in 1342, but historians are …showed first 75 words of 1067 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1067 total…are often made casually, often with bludgeon strokes, but they are always human and illuminating. Geoffrey Chaucer died in London and was buried in Westminster Abbey. It was during this last period, of his intriguing life that he wrote his most famous work, the unfinished Canterbury Tales, which is unique for its variety, humor, grace, and realism. Chaucer was the first great poet of the English nation, and in the Middle Ages he stands high.