Browse Items (16470 total)

Descriptive survey of major developments in Chaucer criticism and scholarship, treated historically and sub-divided into eight categories: 1) canon, 2) texts, 3) language and versification, 4) biography, 5) learning, 6) sources, 7)…

Describes the importance of mental images to medieval understanding of cognition and memory, and clarifies the importance of such images to understanding Chaucer's works as iconographical poems. Meaning inheres in such images and enables both…

Surveys the range of religious and philosophical concerns and attitudes of late fourteenth-century England, and gauges Chaucer's investment in them. More moral than dogmatic, Chaucer "never discloses his commitment in religion" and "offers few…

Approximates the parameters of Chaucer's knowledge and acceptance of medieval science, pseudo-science, and occult practice by surveying their presence in his works, including discussions of astronomy, astrology, alchemy, magic, physiognomy, etc. His…

Surveys evidence of the likelihood that Chaucer learned Italian from "Lombards" (especially members of the Bardi family) who were living in London and involved in affairs of trade and banking. Demonstrates how Chaucer adapted his Italian literary…

Argues that medieval Latin satiric writers such as Nigel of Longchamps and Walter of Châtillon contributed to the "essential nature" of Chaucer's "poetic imagination." In WBP, NPT, and elsewhere, Chaucer capitalizes on the satiric potential…

Part 1 traces the influences of Bernard Silvestris and Alan of Lille on Chaucer's works, focusing on themes of fatalism (in MLT), cosmic ascent (in HF) and hierarchy and nature (in PF). Regards Alan's influence as "profound," especially in PF, and…

Clarifies various difficulties in determining "how much classical Latin literature" Chaucer knew and details his relative familiarity with works by Cicero, Livy, Cato, Lucan, Statius, Claudian, Virgil, and Ovid. Chaucer was little influenced by…

Explains why Eustace Deschamps considered Chaucer to be the "grant translateur" of French into English by detailing the general and specific ways in which Chaucer imitated and emulated three of his French predecessors. As the "archetype" of the love…

Describes the editorial practices necessary to produce a modern edition of Chaucer's works, commenting on spelling, punctuation (especially virgules), meter (especially final -e), and distinguishing scribal and authorial forms. Summarizes the number…

Comments on the limited impact of Chaucer's prose on later tradition, and explores the stylistic dexterity of his verse in light of contemporary linguistic features: his use of open and close vowels in rhyme and the impact of rhyme on his diction;…

Characterizes Chaucer's world as "lightly peopled," mobile, in economic transition, and hierarchical; characterizes Chaucer as economically successful, relatively untouched by tumultuous events, entertaining, modest, and with "a foot in several…

Exemplifies a variety of "inconsistencies and discontinuities" in Chaucer's works, particularly CT, presenting them as typical of the poet's "Gothic" aesthetics and consistent with contemporaneous art and the "complex cultural pluralism" of his age,"…

Twelve essays on a range of topics that consider Chaucer in light of his contemporary culture and literary tradition. For individual essays, search for Geoffrey Chaucer. Writers and their Background under Alternative Title.

Summary description of Chaucer's life and each of his major works, with a bibliography and a chronology of the works accompanied by manuscript and publication information. Treats CT most extensively, focusing on the "quiting principle" of the tales'…

Includes a summary of Pound's appreciative criticism of Chaucer's poetry and the possible impact the assessment had on T. S. Eliot's views.

Adaptation for the stage of MerT and ShT, framed by introduction by "Chaucer" of the two narrators, who then stand aside and comment on the characters while the action proceeds as drama. In Modern English pentameter couplets; intended "for use in…

Classroom text of MilT, with study-guide Introduction, notes, brief glossary and bibliography. The Introduction includes commentary on Chaucer's life, the "Framework and Origin" of CT, "how to read" Chaucer, the "Miller and his Language," and…

Study guide to the CT, with synopses, character descriptions, suggestions or research papers and sample tests, backgrounds on Chaucer's life and times, and bibliography.

Technical report of a set of acoustic experiments designed to gauge how "voicing duration" interacts with intonation to "give a poetic line much of its 'personality'." One experiment assesses eight readings of a passage from Alexander Pope's "Essay…

Prose adaptations of GP, WBT, PardT, and CYT, designed for children, accompanied by brief Introduction, a biographical note, and illustrations by Dan Hubrich.

Explores how and to what extent Chaucer's experiences in trade and in civil life affected his literary concerns and style, considering his "realism" as it is depicted in passages from GP, ShT, CYT, and MilT.

In Russian; with English summary (p. 55): "The realistic tendencies of 'The Canterbury Tales,' a result of Chaucer's cultivating the traditions of medieval literature, are considered. According to contemporary scholars, the basis for these tendencies…

Argues that the figure of Pandarus-as-magician from Chaucer's TC and Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida" lies behind John Keats's allusion to Merlin in his "Eve of St. Agnes."

Reads Shakespeare and Fletcher's "Two Noble Kinsmen" as written in commemoration of the chivalric ideals and sudden death of Henry, Prince of Wales, and composed "under the creative discipline" of KnT. For the playwrights, Chaucer's poem provided…