The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglamorate Network and LIT Hub Radio.

Hello, he's a name that has transcended his era, a stand-in for poetic greatness.

Chaucer, the medieval poet, the father of English poetry, quote unquote,

a school teacher's staple for centuries.

Paul McCartney has described reading Chaucer, appreciating the naughty bits as the moment

when he realized that assigned poetry could be more than just medicinal,

that it could come with a spoonful of sugar to help it go down.

His later project, The Magical

Spirit that one finds in the Canterbury tales.

Chaucer wrote in the vernacular at a time when Latin was king.

The first finder of our fair language, said a 15th century poet, the Lodestar of our language, said another.

As we've seen here on the podcast. our language, said another.

As we've seen here on the podcast, Chaucer's bodiness continues to compel us.

In some ways he feels more modern, more recognizable, more earthy, and human than some of his more recent fellow poets.

But do we miss something about Chaucer if we focus on just the broad strokes of scatological humor?

Wasn't this man a royal attendant, a soldier, a customs officer, and a justice of the peace?

Didn't he live in one of the most turbulent periods of English

history? What can we make of Chaucer once we strip away the veils that

threaten to keep him behind a gauzy screen of reputation and careless stereotype.

Mary Flannery says, we will find a Mary Bard, and she will tell us what she means by that today on the history of literature. Okay, here we go. Welcome to the podcast everyone, still trying out this new music. Still getting used to it a little bit. I'm Jack Wilson, your

host Chaucer, the man behind the curtain being unveiled for us right here today.

As well as in the pages of Mary Flannery's book called Jeffrey Chaucer, unveiling

...