Robeson, Lisa G.
Dissertation Abstracts International 58 (1997): 451A.
Ancient writings, especially inscriptions in stone, impressed the medieval reader as the most reliable of records of past wisdom, even though they might be paradoxical or, eventually, disregarded. Considers "Queste del Saint Graal," HF, and…
Havely, Nicholas R.
A. J. Minnis, Charlotte C. Morse, and Thorlac Turville-Petre, eds. Essays on Ricardian Literature: In Honour of J. A. Burrow (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997), pp. 61-81.
The Dantean aspects of HF, especially its invocations, not only recall the "Divine Comedy" but also reflect contemporary Italian reception and performance of Dante's masterpiece.
Boenig, Robert.
Ann Hurley and Kate Greenspan, eds. So Rich a Tapestry: The Sister Arts and Cultural Studies (Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press; London: Associated University Presses, 1995), pp. 181-99.
Like the "Cloisters Apocalypse," HF depicts the Day of Judgment. Both works "select, rearrange, and fragment" the biblical account of the apocalypse, reminding us that interpretation is necessary for sinners.
Arnovick, Leslie K.
Oral Tradition 11 (1996): 320-45.
Chaucer's proverbs in HF point up the provocative tension between orality and literacy in the Middle Ages. Ultimately, however, the poem illustrates that Chaucer favors literacy.
Rissanen, Matti.
Studia Anglica Posnaniensia 31 (1997): 237-48.
Compares Bo with the versions by "Alfred," Walton (1410), Colville (1556), "I. T." (1609), and Preston (1695), tracing the assimilation of sophisticated Latin terminology into English discourse.
An examination of "wit" and its near synonyms provides a control for the study of terms of cognition. Bo discards native words such as "understanding" and "knowing," in favor of Romance words such as "intelligence" and "science." These latter terms…
Serrano Reyes, Jesus L.
SELIM: Journal of the Spanish Society for Mediaeval English Language and Literature 5 (1995): 29-45.
Argues that Chaucer's Ret was influenced by the prologue to Don Juan Manuel's "El Conde Lucanor," citing parallels not only in attitude and sentiment but also in structure, syntax, and grammar. Uses discourse analysis to compare linguistic features.
Like the fifth "passus" in the C-text of "Piers Plowman," ParsT and Ret use confession as a means of inscribing the author's identity within the poem. Langland's "autobiographical" passage--part confession, part "apologia"--integrates his…
Furrow, Melissa [M.]
Forum for Modern Language Study 33 (1997): 244-57.
Uses extracts from the Middle English "Mirrur," the fourteenth-century translation of Robert de Gretham's thirteenth-century sermon collection, to explore the context and significance of Ret.
De Looze, Laurence.
Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997.
Defines a genre that "plays with questions of truth, authority, and the relationship between the life 'in' a book and life 'outside' a book," a genre that both asserts autobiographical verity and calls "into question the possibility that the…
Ridley, Florence H.
Clausdirk Pollner, Helmut Rohlfing, and Frank-Rutger Hausmann, eds. Bright Is the Ring of Words: Festschrift fur Horst Weinstck zum 65 Geburtstag (Bonn: Romanistischer Verlag, 1996), pp. 251-57.
Briefly surveys the ways Chaucer leaves "gaps" in CT--omissions, repetitions, reversals, etc.--and suggests how ParsT provides a wholeness despite these gaps.
Owen, Charles A (Jr.)
Thomas Hahn and Alan Lupack, eds. Retelling Tales: Essays in Honor of Russell Peck (Woodbridge, Suffolk; and Rochester, N.Y.: D. S. Brewer, 1997), pp. 259-74.
The autobiographical character of Chaucer-the-pilgrim's reportage and of the individual "Tales" in CT intensifies the nuanced contradictions of the Manciple's portrait in GP,of the competing voices in the lengthy ManP, and of the Manciple's…
Linden, Stanton J[(ay].
Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1996.
Assesses literary references and allusions to alchemy as an aspect of the transition from the medieval to the modern age, focusing on works by Chaucer, Bacon, Jonson, Donne, Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Milton, and Samuel Butler, but also considering a…
Doyle, Charles Clay.
Chaucer Review 32 (1997): 108-10.
Peter Beidler asserted that a "shadow allusion" to CYT in "Rip Van Winkle" had gone unnoticed; in fact, scholars of seventeenth-century literature have recognized the allusion. Further, Chaucer's statement that one cannot trust someone who swears to…
Statistical analysis, based on Mersand's still-valid assumption that Chaucer's romance vocabulary increased throughout his career, establishes different dates for the composition of different parts of SNT. The first part was probably written in the…
The context of CT changes the meaning of SNT. Although SNT is a clear statement of the 'right path,' ParsT reminds us at the end that we cannot come close to following that path. Spiritual perfection is rare; for the rest of us there are remedies…
Warner, Lawrence.
Dissertation Abstracts International 58 (1997): 862A.
In medieval literature, the sins of Cain and Nimrod acquired sexual overtones associated with wandering. Warner assesses in this light the "Alliterative Morte Arthure," Dante, Abelard, Langland and NPT.
Chaucer's NPT tests the limits of the fable tradition. Containing two complete fables--one from the first half (ending with the cock's downfall and capture) and another from the second (don't open your mouth)--the "Tale" combines to form a third…
NPT is a "mock-summa" that skeptically examines how authority is conveyed and parodies "didactic mechanisms." Mocking various kinds of rhetoric and discourse, the Nun's Priest also evokes a laughter of merriment that "laughs without laughing at…
As a triad, MkT, Mk-NPL, and NPT present such a variety of motifs, themes, and nuances that one must be mindful of their multiplicity and not reduce their reading to a "hevy" tragedy or a performance of "sentence" alone, thus falling prey to the…
Houwen, L. A. J. R.
L. A. J. R. Houwen, ed. Animals and the Symbolic in Mediaeval Art and Literature. Mediaevalia Groningana, no. 20 (Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1997), pp. 77-92.
Assesses references to mermaids' singing in medieval tradition to argue that Chaucer's reference (NPT 7.3270) suggests flattery and thereby anticipates Chauntecleer's fall.
