This lucid study of Geoffrey Chaucer addresses both recent theoretical approaches to his work, as well as various popular tropes - 'Father of English Poetry', poet of 'Merrie England' - that have enshrined his status within a nationalist ideology. Feminist criticism and the work of Bakhtin receive particular attention as two of the most prominent concerns in recent Chaucer studies, and new readings that reconsider the political and social context of his writings are also discussed. In his stimulating re-evaluation of a wide range of Chaucer's work Steve Ellis gives full attention to the pre-Tales poetry, alongside the Canterbury Tales themselves.