You study Geoffrey Chaucer not because he’s “olde” or “hilaaarious,” nor because he taught Spenser and Shakespeare a thing or two about poetry. You study Chaucer because almost every challenge we face today–so, too, every morsel of our species-being we either loathe or love–was expressed in his works but in forms different enough to help us get out of our heads to think honestly about what beleaguers human societies. Chaucer will teach us about violence, religion, law, class, identity, sex, love, laughter, and language in the fourteenth century, and we will reflect on what his brilliantly crafted works tell us about life.
