Consider Chaucer as the Father of English poetry. Or Write a note on Chaucer's contribution to English poetry? or Chaucer is the earliest of the great moderns. Discuss

 

Chaucer’s contribution to English Poetry:

Introduction:

                Chaucer has been acclaimed by common consent as the Father of English poetry.  He is also regarded as the earliest of the great moderns, for in the dark period of the Middle Ages, when the light of modernism had not yet been visible on the literary horizon, Chaucer went a long way in anticipating the modern taste and temperament.  At such a period he made notable contributions to English poetry.  Before Chaucer, poetry was narrow in outlook and hackneyed in delineation.  Other poets of hits age fixed their eyes on certain limited aspects suiting their own tastes.  For example Wycliff sang only of religious reformation, but Chaucer’s poetic eye covered the wide canvas of humanity.  People from all walks of life, leaving of course the highest and the lowest, came within the scope of his poetic delineation.

Objective English poet:

                Chaucer is the first English poet to have a keen interest in men and manners.  He is an objective and disinterested painter of human beings.  Chaucer’s principal object was to portray men and women truthfully and to present an exact picture of life.  With his acute power of observation he painted people as he found them.  The prologue reflects the fourteenth century not in fragments but as a whole.  It is the realistic picture of the society. 

First great realist in poetry:

                Chaucer “is the first great painter of character because he is the first great observer of it among European writers” .  Chaucer’s greatest contribution is in the field of characterisation.  His portraits are life-like, his characters are living creatures, not card images.   His slightest character sketches are always solid and dimensional. 

First great humorist:

                Chaucer ranks as he first great humorist in English literature.  It is his humour that has endeared his poetry with the people of all ages.  His pervasive, sympathetic humour is specially characteristic.  The prevailing feature of Chaucer’s humour is its urbanity, the man-of-the world’s kindly tolerance of the weaknesses of his erring fellow mortals. 

First great story teller:

                Chaucer is the first great story-teller.  He stands in the front rank of those who have attempted to tell stories in melodious verse.  His stories are living pictures.  IN fact, he was the first great poet to relate story-telling to life.  It is his art of story-telling  that has also given him in the title of the fore-runner of English novel.  His stories are novels in miniature. 

Contribution English language:

                Chaucer’s contribution to English language and verification is no less noteworthy.  He found English a dialect and left it a language.  He is also known as a “well of English undefiled”.  It was only a man of genius that could lift up one of these dialects into a prominence over the rest.  This was the work that Chaucer did.

Conclusion:

                Thus Chaucer stands first in many respects so far English poetry is concerned.  His poetry has universal appeal.  His work, particularly The Canterbury Tales make the profoundest and deepest appeal to the modern reader.  His characters are present even today in the society in one form or the other.  English owes much to Chaucer.  Therefore, it is not too much to call him the father of English poetry.