Did Chaucer Rearrange the Clerk's Envoy?

Author / Editor
Severs, J. Burke.

Title
Did Chaucer Rearrange the Clerk's Envoy?

Published
Modern Language Notes 69 (1954): 472-78.

Description
Argues that the version of the Clerk's Envoy (4.1177-1212) found in the Ellesmere manuscript is the original version, modified by a scribe to compensate for an eye-skip error. Reassesses earlier arguments that the Ellesmere version is itself the revised version, adducing overall sense--especially pronoun references--to support the claim that Ellesmere provides the original. Also reassesses the status and placement of the so-called "Host stanza" (4.1212a-1212g).

Chaucer Subjects
Clerk and His Tale
Manuscripts and Textual Studies