A01=Richard West
Author_Richard West
Category=DNBH
Category=DSBB
Category=DSC
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eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Product details
- ISBN 9781841194639
- Weight: 360g
- Dimensions: 127 x 203mm
- Publication Date: 21 Feb 2002
- Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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This first, and some would say greatest, poet of the English language stands before the gateway of the early modern age. He lived at a time when the elite languages of former conquerors, French and Latin, were both giving way to English - no longer just the vernacular of the common people, but increasingly the language of the court, the law, and of literature. Richard West weaves a fascinating picture of this extraordinary man, whose character has puzzled lovers of his comic masterpiece, "The Canterbury Tales". How did he remain so apparently cheerful and serene, through one of the cruellest eras of history? As a child he survived the Black Death, later he fought in France during the Hundred Years War, served as a diplomat in Italy, and became an MP at the angry beginnings of the Protestant Reformation, the Peasants' Revolt and the overthrow of Richard II.
Richard West is a journalist and writer who contributes regularly to The Times Literary Supplement and the Spectator. He has written many books, including a much-admired biography of Daniel Defoe, and is married to the writer Mary Kenny.
