ABSTRACT
Geoffrey Chaucer is our “owene maister deere” of English comedy, and he has been identified with this genre of literature as completely as he has mastered it. But England’s greatest medieval author has also been faulted, as we know, for not taking the world seriously enough, and this view unfortunately clouds the understanding of many today, especially those who watch the stage or see the movies but never read a book. Hot coulters, bare bottoms, and swyved wives—Chaucer represents the teller of dirty tales, the agent of bawdy comedy. Ah, Geoffrey, forgive us these trespasses!
