Geoffrey Chaucer Character Analysis in The Study of Poetry

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340s–1400) was an English poet and the author of the Canterbury Tales. A highly regarded poet in the English canon, Chaucer is used by Matthew Arnold as a test case for arriving at the real estimate of a poem. According to Arnold, Chaucer’s work lacks the high seriousness required of poetry of the very highest quality.

Geoffrey Chaucer Character Timeline in The Study of Poetry

The timeline below shows where the character Geoffrey Chaucer appears in The Study of Poetry. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...been forgotten, it had a direct influence on the poetry of the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer, Arnold notes, is a true poet: “a genuine source of joy and strength” who... (full context)

Nor is that all: Geoffrey Chaucer’s poetry also possesses a “divine liquidness of diction” and “divine fluidity of movement” that make... (full context)

This might all be true, but Geoffrey Chaucer does not belong to the highest echelon, Matthew Arnold argues. What is missing in Chaucer,... (full context)

...that readers should expect from great poets. Arnold produces three lines from Shakespeare, Milton, and Chaucer as evidence that Dryden cannot match these classic poets. Dryden and Pope are respectable poets,... (full context)

...the most grandiose concerns, but the poet who writes about whistling. Comparing him to Geoffrey Chaucer, Arnold notes that both poets have a certain freedom and largeness, but Burns is fiercer... (full context)