Blogpost Assignment #1: Chaucer

      Soon, we as a class will be reading "The Canterbury Tales," written by "the father of English literature," Geoffrey Chaucer. "The Canterbury Tales" is questionably the first novel to exist within the English language, however this title and other accreditations are questionably falsely given to the poet. According to the article that was linked, Chaucer was certainly not the prime shaper of the English language as it was typically tradition, and the development of it simply had little to do with the poet himself. However, what is known as the first, at least in a modern sense was the first in the world. Personally, I found it interesting that Chaucer used the influence of Latin, Italian, and French, along with a sense of humanism, more so realism to write. It gave stories, poems, etc. a sense of modernism and seemed to hold a large impact on those in Medival England.
       One of his more popular works, of course as everyone knows them as a series of stories, tales, whatever one wants to call them "The Canterbury Tales," seem to contribute to a larger story. Every character we will meet in the tale will seem to one up each other, due to the contrast that Chaucer brings into his writing, having a need for a negative to encompass a positive. In other words, he has a tendency to bring opposition to his writing. However, the controversy he brings to his writing is believed to be the reason why Chaucer's poetry continues to speak to readers.