title: Chaucer and Fifteenth-Century Verse and Prose (Oxford History of English Literature)
author:  H. S. Bennett 
description: Geoffrey Chaucer was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat (courtier), and diplomat. He is often referred to as the Father of English Literature.
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  English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History
  
  
    
  
  
    
  [PREFACE.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER I. THE HISTORICAL SCOPE OF THE SUBJECT.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER II. LITERATURE A TEACHER OF HISTORY. CELTIC REMAINS.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER III. ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE AND HISTORY.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER IV. THE VENERABLE BEDE AND THE SAXON CHRONICLE.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER V. THE NORMAN CONQUEST AND ITS EARLIEST LITERATURE.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER VI. THE MORNING TWILIGHT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER VII. CHAUCER, AND THE EARLY REFORMATION.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER VIII. CHAUCER, (CONTINUED.)—REFORMS IN RELIGION AND SOCIETY.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER IX. CHAUCER (CONTINUED.)—PROGRESS OF SOCIETY, AND OF LANGUAGES.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER X. THE BARREN PERIOD BETWEEN CHAUCER AND SPENSER.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER XI. SPENSER AND THE ELIZABETHAN AGE.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER XII. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE HISTORY IN THE FAERIE QUEENE.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER XIII. THE ENGLISH DRAMA.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER XIV. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.  
  
  
    
  [CHAP