What Is Chaucer's Best Known Poem Apart From "The Canterbury Tales"�?

Chaucer was a very prolific writer, but many of his shorter works are not much read today. Probably his second most famous poem, and regarded as another masterpiece, is the long poem "Troilus and Criseyde," completed in the 1380s. Although set in the Trojan war, this story has no basis in Greek myth but was popular in the Middle Ages. Chaucer's main source was Boccachio's "Il Filostrato." The poem describes the love between the Trojan warrior Troilus, and his mistress Criseyde whose uncle Pandarus (the origin of the word "pander" or pimp) encourages their affair. Later, however, when Criseyde has to go to the Greek camp, she falls in love with the Greek Diomed and betrays Troilus. The poem has been called "the first psychological novel" because of the depth and complexity Chaucer gives the characters, especially to Criseyde's struggles with conflicting emotions. Shakespeare's play "Troilus and Cressida" written over 200 years later, was probably influenced by Chaucer's version.