# Chaucer explained — Essays > Chapter companion for Essays by Henry David Thoreau. ## What happens Thoreau contrasts the stern, desolate poetry of Ossian with the more domestic, civilized verse of Chaucer and later English poets, arguing that the bard has lost his sacred, heroic role. He celebrates Chaucer as the 'father of English poetry,' fresh, natural, and humane, a homely scholar who established the literary class and the English language itself. Thoreau admires Chaucer's sincerity, common sense, and sympathy with both humans and animals, finding in him a childlike purity and a breadth that rivals Homer and Shakespeare. ## Themes in this chapter ### The Role of the Poet and Writer Thoreau laments that the bard has lost his sacred, heroic office and become a mere tradesman; Chaucer is celebrated as a founder of the literary class who gave permanence to the English language. ### Nature and Simplicity Chaucer's poetry is described as natural, cheerful, and close to the earth, like the plough in the furrow, embodying a childlike sincerity and the innocence of spring. ### Heroism and Moral Courage Thoreau contrasts the ancient bardic heroism with Chaucer's domestic, unheroic verse; Chaucer lacks the heroic sentiment of Raleigh or the soaring genius of Milton. ## Character check-ins ### Chaucer Praised as the father of English poetry, fresh and modern, with a natural and cheerful muse; compared to Homer and Shakespeare. ### Ossian Contrasted with Chaucer; his poetry is stern, desolate, and misty, representing an older, heroic bardic tradition. ### Shakespeare Mentioned alongside Chaucer and Milton; noted for being philosophical and for embodying multiple characters like Hamlet and Falstaff. ### Milton Referenced as a poet whose genius soars, in contrast to Chaucer's genial and familiar style. ### Homer Compared to Chaucer; both share innocence and serenity of youth, and the Iliad is described as morning reading. ### Dante Mentioned as a contemporary influence whose name exerted a living presence; Chaucer rendered a similar service to English as Dante did to Italian. ### Sir Walter Raleigh Cited as an example of heroic sentiment, which Chaucer's poetry lacks. ### Wordsworth Compared to Chaucer for preferring homely Saxon tongue; both are simple in their language choices. ## Key lines > What a contrast between the stern and desolate poetry of Ossian, and that of Chaucer, and even of Shakespeare and Milton, much more of Dryden, and Pope, and Gray. Thoreau highlights the stark difference between the harsh, bleak verse of Ossian and the more refined, civilized poetry of Chaucer and later English poets. _Sets up the central contrast of the chapter between ancient bardic and modern domestic poetry._ > The poet has come within doors, and exchanged the forest and crag for the fireside, the hut of the Gael, and Stonehenge with its circles of stones, for the house of the Englishman. Poetry has moved from wild, outdoor settings to the comfort of the home, symbolizing a shift from heroic to domestic themes. _Illustrates the decline of the bardic tradition into a more settled, civilized art._ > Chaucer’s is the first name after that misty weather in which Ossian lived, which can detain us long. Chaucer is the first major English poet after the obscure, ancient period of Ossian. _Positions Chaucer as the dawn of English poetry after a long silence._ > He is so natural and cheerful, compared with later poets, that we might almost regard him as a personification of spring. Chaucer's verse feels fresh and joyful, like the season of spring, in contrast to more somber later poets. _Emphasizes Chaucer's youthful, life-affirming quality._ > He was as simple as Wordsworth in preferring his homely but vigorous Saxon tongue, when it was neglected by the court, and had not yet attained to the dignity of a literature, and rendered a similar service to his country to that which Dante rendered to Italy. Like Wordsworth and Dante, Chaucer chose to write in the common language of the people, helping to elevate English to a literary language. _Highlights Chaucer's role in establishing English as a literary medium._ > We admire Chaucer for his sturdy English wit. The easy height he speaks from in his Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, as if he were equal to any of the company there assembled, is as good as any particular excellence in it. Chaucer's confident, egalitarian tone in the Canterbury Tales Prologue is itself a mark of his genius. _Praises Chaucer's social ease and narrative authority._ > If it is said of Shakespeare, that he is now Hamlet, and then Falstaff, it may be said of Chaucer that he sympathizes with brutes as well as men, and assumes their nature that he may speak from it. Just as Shakespeare embodies different human characters, Chaucer can inhabit the perspective of animals, as in the tale of Chanticlere. _Illustrates Chaucer's broad sympathy and imaginative range._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/essays_2_se/chapters/chaucer - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/essays_2_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/essays_2_se/chapters