Why ‘cancelling’ MP-poets is Woke tyranny

William Cash | 23rd February 2021 | Comment, Uncategorised
A 1478 portrait of the great poet. British Library
A 1478 portrait of the great poet. British Library

We still have plenty to learn from the father of English literature and former MP, argues William Cash

Most people, if they know anything about Chaucer, remember him as the Father of English Poetry and the author of the Canterbury Tales. What many people forget is that he was also an MP-poet representing Kent in 1386, under Edward III, and Chaucer's son Thomas was later Speaker of the Commons. The furore over Chaucer being culled from the English Literature taught at Leicester University, in an attempt at 'decolonising' the syllabus, is the very worst sort of cultural censorship. Not the least as Leicester - thanks to its archaeology department recently finding the bones of Richard III under a car park - has been turned into something of a pilgrimage shrine for medieval scholarship and tourism. It is also ignorant to sideline Chaucer as his writing was all about diversity and popular appeal. Before Chaucer, poets wrote about religion, myths and idealized aristocratic court love. In other words, elitist subjects that people couldn't relate to even if they could read (and most couldn't). ...

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