Browse Items (16472 total)

Argues that "as a better joke," "worly" is preferable to "worthy" in Tho (7.917). The latter appears to be "scribal normalization" of Chaucer's mocking of a "well-worn native" word.

Surveys studies of Chaucer topically (language, manuscripts, sources, etc.), with emphasis on works written between 1960 and 1967.

Identifies "structural similarities" among BD, PF, and HF, arguing that each poem is an "elaborate narrative orchestrating a moral theme from some work of antiquity . . . foreshadowed in [its] preamble." Each is reminiscent of Macrobius's "enigmatic…

Argues that friendship in TC "is an idea that matters very much," both as a "value" and an "element in the plot." Throughout the poem, Chaucer depicts various friendship relations (support, protection, counsel), strengthening those found in…

Reads Scog as a playful, comic version of a "moral ballade" or "balade of bon conseyl" that shares similarities with French models, portions of TC, and several of Chaucer's other lyrics. Comments on the unity of the poem, its possible occasion or…

Compares the plots and characters of FranT and PhyT, arguing that they share parallels that are "significant" and "quite possibly intentional." Focuses on Dorigen and Virginia.

Reads Gavin Douglas's poem as an examination of how poetry can lead to honor, focusing on the originality of the poem but noting its dependencies as well, including the influence of the eagle from HF.

Tallies books and articles pertaining to Chaucer--ones in progress, completed, and/or published in 1968.

Burlin proposes a structuralist model for the medieval romance, adopting a Saussurean paradigm of intersecting axes: the "paradigmatic axis furnished with the test and courtly codes and the syntagmatic axis with the quest and the test." Includes…

The Reeve's four burning coals ("Avauntyng, liying, anger, covetise" (CT 1.3884) are taken from the description of the spiritual old man in Ephesians 4:22-28.

HF 2.935-49 contains references to the uprising of 1381, the attack on the Temple, and the burning of the Savoy.

A comparison of the manuscripts of TC with those of Boccaccio's "Filostrato" indicates that Chaucer's narrative divisions correspond to the summary rubrics in the earlier work, even if he did not retain Boccaccio's internal subdivisions.

Chaucer's catalog of women in LGWP contains attributes specifically chosen to reflect both the themes of the work itself and allusions to other literary works on the respective characters. Chaucer thus demonstrates his knowledge of previous…

RvT is a social allegory reflecting economic and social practices. Symkyn upsets the balance of trade by reducing supply, thus increasing demand. Balance is eventually restored.

A likely source of inspiration for ShT is the scriptural text from Luke, where interrelated sins parallel those of Chaucer's characters and where images and phrases are analogous to Chaucer's.

Chaucer uses interjections and exclamations as a means of audience involvement, promoting dramatic suspense in his works. Certain words are so closely associated with certain genres that when Chaucer uses them in another context, they echo the…

It was commonly assumed in the Middle Ages that the devil carried arrows and shot them at his human prey. That the Friar's "yeoman" bears arrows "brighte and kene" (1.1381) is yet another clue that escapes the stupid summoner.

In LGW, Chaucer asks, "Can women be faithful in love?" Christine asks, "Does virtue recognize gender?" Chaucer's "good women" are judged according to their relationships with men; Christine's are considered as separate beings.

SqT and MLT are alike in that both tell and do not tell the story of incest.

In TC, Chaucer creates a persona who embodies two conflicting modes of response, thus leaving it up to the reader to find a reconciliation.

When an angry God of Love accuses the narrator of a breach of faith, Alceste rebukes the god for believing false counselors. This action reflects the political situation of Chaucer's time. The Lord's Appellant had attacked Richard II's corrupt…

The source for SumT 2253-79 can be found in the medieval notion of the "wheel of the twelve winds," where each wind (depicted in manuscript art as a "spoke") ends in the mouth of a human face. Such a motif was associated not only with atmospheric…

Double-entry bookkeeping, which Chaucer could have learned in Italy, contains "a system of rhetoric as well as a technique." The plot of ShT can be seen as a series of parallel accounts, with the ending as the "closing of the books" on the final…

Lexical similarities and broad organizational strategies in Bokenham's legend suggest that his sources were SNT, the "Legenda," and the "Passio." Bokenham reveals an early fifteenth-century appreciation of Chaucer's skill as author and translator.

Chaucer's translation of this work, alluded to by Alceste in "Legend of Good Women" (G 404-18), has since been lost. Authors use MS Corpus Christi 137 as a basis for their work.