Is Geoffrey Chaucer a table writer?

This
is an interesting question, yet one that is not exactly clear as to meaning. I can think of
three things you might mean by "table writer." You might mean (1) a correctly spelled
idiomatic expression "table writer" or you might mean (2) an incorrectly spelled
"tale writer" or you might mean (3) an incorrectly spelled "tableau writer."
Let's look at each possibility.

1. "Table writer": This might be a
nonstandard Englishthat means a person who writes for leisure, not in a professional way and not
seriously for an actual audience. If this is the meaning intended by your question, then, no,
Chaucer is not a "table writer." Chaucer took his writing very seriously. Though his
main life's work was as a courtier--which took him through many employment positions for three
English kings, positions that included military aide, diplomatic courier and bureaucrat--he
utilized every opportunity to advance his understanding of and skill in writing great literary
poetry. That he had meetings with both Petrarch and Boccaccio in Italy and
France is probable; that he made translations of great French and Italian works is well known;
that he borrowed from and was inspired by great French and Italian works is well documented;
that he chose to follow suit with Boccaccio and Petrarch by writing in the vernacular of his
country is well established. In short, Chaucer was anything but a casual "table
writer"; he was a dedicated and serious literary scholar and artist.

2.
"Tale Writer": A tale is a short narrative that has the overall structure of
narratives in both the oral and written forms: a tale has the classic beginning, middle and end.
A tale (1) tells a moral--it has a theme and a greater meaning than the mere rendering of
actions--and it (2) presents a broad perspective in worldview or (3) divine (spiritual or moral)
truth. If this is the meaning of your question, then, yes, Chaucer is a tale writer and one of
our greatest English tale writers. (likely to have been inspired by
Boccaccio's Decameron) is his greatest contribution to tales. These tales
have the above elements of structure, theme, greater meaning, worldview, divine truth. A tale
that make this clear is "The Kinght's Tale" of the romantic rivalry between two noble
knights. Thus Chaucer was most definitely a writer of tales.

3. "Tableau
writer": A tableau is usually a physical rendering of a recognizable scene that is
assembled and held or "frozen" by people for the purpose of presenting an interesting
or famous event or gathering to an audience. In earlier centuries, tableau formation was popular
as a parlor game. Let's try to sort out this application to Chaucer through a comparison to
Dickens. Though Dickens wrote full-blown novels, which can in no terms be called
"tableaux," his literature is filled with scenes that pose characters in memorable
momentary tableaux that live in the minds of those who read them. For instance, the scene in
David Copperfield when Annie Strong is carried back into the party with her
roses in disarray after her wrenching encounter with Maldon is in tableau as is the scene of her
affirmation of devotion to Dr. Strong:

That ... we saw
Mrs. Strong glide in, pale and trembling. That Mr. Dick supported her on his arm. That he laid
his other hand upon the Doctor's arm, causing him to look up .... That, ... his wife dropped
down on one knee at his feet, and, with her hands imploringly lifted, fixed upon his face the
memorable look I had never forgotten. (Dickens, David
Copperfield)

These moments are frozen in
tableau as characters and readers alike stare at the scenes. There are few or no scenes of this
nature in Chaucer's writing; his scenes are all action. Even the scene when he encounters Scipio
the Elder in his dream vision in describes continuing action and is not a
static tableau scene. Thus, no, Chaucer is not a tableau writer as Dickens might, in a sense, be
considered a tableau writer.

my spirit ...
sent me to sleep so fast
That in my
sleep I dreamed there as I lay
How
that Elder in selfsame array
Whom Scipio saw, who long ago had
died,
Came and stood there right at
my bedside. [emphasis added] (Chaucer, Parlement of Foules)