This study approaches Geoffrey Chaucer as a poet whose life and art must be reconstructed from fragments: documentary traces, hints within the poems, and careful comparison with the records of his age. It weighs disputed facts such as his birth date, likely placing it around 1340 to 1345, and shows how chronology shapes the reading of works like The Assembly of Fowls. From there, Chaucer emerges against the turbulent background of late fourteenth-century England—an age of plague, political unrest, shifting social ranks, and changing ideas of authority. The book explores a society transformed by the Black Death, war, commerce, and rebellion: from the rise of merchants, craftsmen, and civic power to the Peasants' Revolt, Wyclif's reforming influence, and the harsher post-revolt climate. Chaucer's pilgrims and characters, including the Merchant, Shipman, Host, and Doctor of Physic, reveal both the comic and serious realities of that world. Alongside this historical portrait, the study celebrates Chaucer's artistry in Troilus and Cressida and The House of Fame, where emotional depth, allegory, wide learning, and vivid observation combine in poetry of remarkable range. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.