Grad School Diary: Hell-Oo Chaucer!

We are, at present, reading Geoffrey Chaucer for class and it feels like a trip of sorts. I am a fan of Chaucer's. He is wicked and witty and it is difficult to read him without breaking, often, into obnoxious laughter. He ridicules our serious experiences, such as love and death, and in so doing makes them and us both irrelevant and endearing. Six years ago I did Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in college and it was one of my best classes. It was a funny and interesting class; my professor was quite hilarious. Just watching him was like watching a play. I have his expressions and manners etched into my mind's eye. I really liked him. He was very crazy about Chaucer and he took the language very seriously. He used to read the Canterbury Tales very loudly and dramatize everything with a rather serious look which made the whole thing the more ridiculous. He made it feel as though all that was important in the world was Chaucer. We were made to memorize the first eighteen l