4 replies to this topic

[room2593]

I recently had a professor who avowed that Chaucer was one of the 4 most influential writers in the English Language. He included Shakespeare, Milton and some other dude that I can't remember. The point is: CHAUCER? I would have never guessed.

Anyhow, he said that Chaucer was so influential because he started a trend of realism in characterization (everything before this point was written like a legend or a fable or whatever) and rhyme in poetry (english writers just used alliteration, rhythm and cadence, not rhyme). Um . . . I still wouldn't put Chaucer on the list. In order for you to influence somebody, they have to come in contact with something that you wrote. How many people have read Chaucer? How many people even WANT to read Chaucer? It's like reading the delusional scribblings of a dyslexic six-year old.
I digress.

[akira550]

room2593, on Sep 26 2009, 01:26 AM, said:

I recently had a professor who avowed that Chaucer was one of the 4 most influential writers in the English Language. He included Shakespeare, Milton and some other dude that I can't remember. The point is: CHAUCER? I would have never guessed.

Anyhow, he said that Chaucer was so influential because he started a trend of realism in characterization (everything before this point was written like a legend or a fable or whatever) and rhyme in poetry (english writers just used alliteration, rhythm and cadence, not rhyme). Um . . . I still wouldn't put Chaucer on the list. In order for you to influence somebody, they have to come in contact with something that you wrote. How many people have read Chaucer? How many people even WANT to read Chaucer? It's like reading the delusional scribblings of a dyslexic six-year old.
I digress.

hey Geoffrey Chaucer was a great poet and philosopher you must read his works and you will inspire i heard about that Chaucer was so influential person and his name originally came from the word shoemaker how humble

[room2593]

Hm.
See, this is what I'm talking about. How can we say that there are any great writers in English when the language devolved this far? You can go onto any forum on the internet and find this kind of insane garble. Look at your last sentence. There is no punctuation except a smiley. There is little capitalization and very little coherence. And yet here you are, saying how Chaucer was a great poet and philosopher. I guess it goes to show that from humble origins come deep thoughts, right? I guess it kind of backs up your point, a little. But imagine how much more eloquently you could make your point if you actually said things clearly?
Like Chaucer, I suppose. Though he did bury some things in some intense imagery.

[networker]

Often people are credited with great things though simply because the
public heard about something through them first, and not that the work
in question is actually 'great' anyway.
I wonder how he could of really been so influential on the English language.
There was no mass media in the middle ages.
Then again,very few people would of had the chance to have
been published in them days anyway.
Maybe Chaucer is considered great and influential by default.
I can see why you find Chaucer to be Gibberish. Many people are credited with great things when they aren't. Michael Jackson being a more modern example.

[room2593]

For sure. I mean, I'm not saying that his inclusion of end-rhyme in english wasn't exciting and new. It was new. But the point is that it would have come along later if he hadn't done it. The same with realistic characters. So I guess that he just benefits from being the first. There's not too much to make his work stand out other than that one fact.