Why is Chaucer considered to be one of the most important poets of the Middle English period? / Can Chaucer be rightly called the father of English poetry?

Why is Chaucer considered to be one of the most important poets of the Middle English period? / Can Chaucer be rightly called the father of English poetry?

Chaucer stands in much the same relation to the life of his time as Alexander Pope does to the early part of 18th century, and Lord Alfred Tennyson to the Victorian era. But his place in English literature is even more important than theirs for he is the first great English writer to use “naked words” in English, the first to make composite English language a thing compact and vital. John Dryden venerates Chaucer as highly as the Greek venerated Homer and Romans venerated Virgil. He symbolizes Chaucer as a river that flows endlessly through the later English poets’ generation after generation. No other Middle English writer has his skills, his range, his complexity and his large humane out-look. The rare literary genius in him creates several lasting works of art and makes him the father of English poetry. English language and literature grew at a bound to full maturity with Chaucer.

Chaucer made several contributions to English poetry. He enlarged the range and scope of the
poets, introduced minute observation of life around him, gave vivid and clear descriptions of the conditions of his times, excelled in characterization, made narration of art, and above
all gave a new form and shape to English language and versification. With these contributions, he remains at the top of the history of English literature, with no competitors for hundreds of
years to challenge his position. Chaucer was the first national poet giving full expressions to the new hopes and aspirations of the people of his time. In the picture of “The Canterbury Tales” he makes it his business, like Shakespeare, to paint life as he sees it and leaves others to draw the moral. The foundation of Chaucer’s art lies in English life and English character......................................................

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