Chaucer's jobs
By: David R. Carlson.
Series: The new Middle Ages; New Middle Ages (Palgrave Macmillan (Firm))
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2004
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 168
Subjects: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400; Poets, English -- Middle English, 1100-1500 -- Biography; Customs administration -- Great Britain -- History -- To 1500; Justices of the peace -- Great Britain -- History -- To 1500; Royal households -- Great Britain -- History -- To 1500; Public works -- Great Britain -- History -- To 1500; Professions in literature
Genres: Biography.
Description: "Geoffrey Chaucer was not a writer, primarily, but a privileged official place-holder. Prone to violence, including rape, assault, and extortion, the poet was employed first at domestic personal service and subsequently at police-work of various sorts, protecting the established order during a period of massive social upset. Chaucer's Jobs shows that the servile and disciplinary nature of the daily work Chaucer did was repeated in his poetry, which by turns flatters his aristocratic betters and deals out discipline to malcontent others. Carlson contends that it was this social-political quality of Chaucer's writings, not artistic merit, that made him the "Father of English Poetry.""--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [147]-164) and index.