Read the following passage by John V. Fleming
By any sensible assessment, Chaucer is among the greatest of world poets -- by turns funny, solemn, deeply religious, and ribald. He is among the most technically varied and accomplished of English poets -- meaning that it is possible to learn a great deal about poetry from relatively short passages of his text. He is preeminently the master of the greatest neglected genre in our literature -- narrative verse, poems that tell stories.
Although the question of language is not the only or even principal question that needs to be addressed, it is obviously an intimidating one for students and teachers alike. Chaucer's English is very different from ours, but any intelligent student will, with a few moments' patience, recognize it as English. The same cannot be said of the language of Beowulf. The Course Description describing the AP English Language and Literature course does suggest that some knowledge of the historical development of our language is a necessary part of literary study, and while we cannot expect high school students to become Germanic philologists, we can expect them to comprehend that "April" might once have been spelled "Aprille." It is possible, of course, to read Chaucer in a modernized text, just as it is possible to take a bath with your socks on.
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