1. Geoffrey Chaucer (1343- 1400)

2. I.Brief Introduction 1.His Life father of English poetry Wine merchant’s family, rub elbows with people from different walks of life 2. His works / writing periods of career –French period (1360’s —1372) –Italian period (1372—1385) –English period (1387—1400)

3. II. The Canterbury Tales II. The Canterbury Tales 1.The plan of the book 29/30 pilgrims in Tabard Inn in spring,… but only 24 tales finished 2.General Prologue (5) 3.general framework a group of vivid sketches of medieval figures from different walks of life 4.Characters (depicted with satire and humor)

4. III. Read the text: General Prologue 1.beginning narrative of the knight briefly 2.General Comment. panorama of his contemporary society true-to-life characters samples of different types of literature 3.Artistic features heroic couplet musical, elegant, satirical and humorous

5. IV. His contributions 1.Introduction into English the rhymed stanzas of different forms: 1) heroic couplets 2)rhymed royal 3)terza rima 2. Dialect of London made the foundation for modern English language

6. V. Read the Middle English Version of the Canterbury Tales pay attention to the Great Vowel Shift and other systematic change of the language