Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer... Father of English poetry

Spend the term exploring the lively tales and unforgettable characters of the medieval world through the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer. Writing in Middle English at a time when Latin and French still dominated literature, Chaucer helped shape English as a literary language and gave voice to every layer of society—from knights and clerics to merchants, laborers, and women.

Through The Canterbury Tales, students encounter a rich gallery of “types,” learning how Chaucer used storytelling, humor, and keen observation to reveal virtue, vice, faith, folly, and human complexity. His poetry invites readers not only to enjoy the story, but to listen closely to language itself—its rhythm, wit, and evolving form.

In this study, students will:

• Explore narrative poetry and the role of the storyteller
• Learn how Chaucer’s work shaped English poetry, language, and literary tradition
• Engage with medieval society through character, voice, and moral imagination

This guide is designed to be used over one term (12 weeks), with one lesson each week lasting approximately 20 minutes. Students are encouraged to listen, read aloud, narrate, and recite—allowing these timeless tales to be learned not only with the mind, but held in memory and imagination.

Recommended contemporary and complimentary studies:

History – The Symphony of History, Vol. 2 Nocturne (Middle Ages)

Geography – Asia “Rising Light”

Composer – Echoes in the Cloister and Ralph Vaughan Williams and Echoes in the Courts

Poetry – Gerard Manley Hopkins and Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Picture – Giotto and John Everett Millais and Albrecht Durer

Folk songs – Minstrels and Troubadours (coming Summer 2026)



*the guide includes QR Codes for easy links, if you choose to print the document.

For printing, we recommend our print partner Humble Heart Press.

** due to the nature of digital products, we are unable to accept returns.