Chaucer Poesy Ring

History: 1343AD – 1400AD, a civil servant and courtier to Edward III and Richard II, he is revered as one of the first great figures of English literature, most often as the author of the Canterbury Tales, and Troilus and Criseyde. His many works established English as a language of literature, being the first English poet to use heroic couplets and iambic pentameter, and influencing those who followed, such as Shakespeare, Dryden and Spencer. His humor and depiction of the common man have endeared him to generations since his burial in Westminster Abbey 1400AD. In reaction to the mass production of the Industrial Age, the 19th Century Arts and Crafts movement sought to revive medieval traditions of design. The natural forms of the medieval art were synthesized into a new style which anticipated the art nouveau. Its founder and principle force was William Morris amongst whose many endeavors, was the founding of the Kelmscott press in collaboration with Edward Byrne-Jones. This ring has been adapted from the typeface and border patterns of Morris’s edition of Chaucer’s works, now known as the Kelmscott Chaucer. The quotation, “And she was fayr as is the rose in May,” is from Chaucer’s Legend of Cleopatra.

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March Madness Gaelic Wedding Ring Sale! (ends 3/17/2010)

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