Chaucer abuses authority throughout CT. He refers to so many authorities that they cannot be reduced to anything like unity. Such abuse reflects the farcical potential of the academic procedure of disputation as well as the dilemma of the…
Rudat, Wolfgang E. H.
Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire 54 (1976): 823-36.
The imitation in GP's opening of Virgil's Second "Georgic" suggests a sexual motivation for the pilgrimage and some of the stories. This allusive effect is seen in MerT but it affects other tales and portraits, e.g. the Prioress's. Similarly Horace…
Ruggiers, Paul G.
J. B. Bessinger and R. Raymo, eds. Medieval Studies in Honor of Lillian Herlands Hornstein (New York: New York University Press, 1976), pp. 193-225.
Aristotle's "Nichomachean Ethics" and "Rhetoric" and the Costinian "Tractate" can be used to anatomize comedy in CT.
Includes ten essays by the author (1) The Host's "precious corpus Madrian" (rpt.), (2) The Pardoner's St. Ronyan, (3) The St. Giles Oath in CYT (rpt.), (4) The St. Loy Oath Reconsidered, (5) Hende Old St Nicholas in MilT (rpt.), (6) St. Nicholas and…
Donaldson, E. Talbot.
J. B. Bessinger and R. Raymo, eds. Medieval Studies in Honor of Lillian Herlands Hornstein (New York: New York University Press, 1976), pp. 99-110.
A detailed commentary upon "armee" in the description of the Knight (1.60) in GP; upon the homeoteleuton in the description of the Friar (11. 252a-b); upon "fyue" in Prologue to WBT (11. 44a-f) as an omission in some mss due to the scribal "yielding…
Scheps, Walter.
Leeds Studies in English 9 (1976-77): 19-34.
Although it is uncertain whether Chaucer knew Plutarch's "Life" of Theseus, in KnT the character is a mixture of the two traditions of the interpretation of Theseus: an Apollonian rationalist in Statius (the source in Anel) and a fickle lover in…
Clark, Roy Peter.
Chaucer Review 11 (1976): 164-78.
In SumT Friar John and Thomas parody significant features in the life of St. Thomas the Apostle. The probing of Thomas's body by the friar parodies the "doubting Thomas" legend. The references to St. Thomas provide a foil by which the audience may…
Luengo, Anthony E.
Chaucer Review 11 (1976): 1-10.
The form and style of the Pardoner's sermon are affected by its two audiences. The moral tale is related for the benefit of the Pilgrims; the "ensamples" (the brief Biblical stories against various sins) are for the "lewed people" in his rustic…
The Pardoner obsessively flaunts his unwholesome nature, manifesting hypnotic control and power. His picture of the Old Man, and his subsequent affronting of the Host augment his disturbing self-characterization and lead the pilgrims and author to…
Dunn, E. Catherine.
American Benedictine Review 27 (1976): 357-78.
Defines the saint's life as a "poetic genre of fiction with a basic fidelity to the mysteries of grace and Providential care," a product of Latin rhetorical tradition modified by generations of Christian figural thinking. As reflected in the "Acta…
Fray Juan's widely known fourteenth-century Spanish gloss on Aegidius Romanus' "De regimine principum" provides parallel passages for nearly all patristic components in Virginia's catalogue of virtues; it could also have suggested narrative…
Schuman, Samuel.
Studies in the Humanities 6.2 (1976): 12-14.
NPT establishes an idea of decorum or appropriateness as a philosophical/theological context for the marriage tales. The central themes of the tale is that happiness and virtue derive from recognizing one's place in the Great Chain of Being.
The germ of Chaucer's phrase "and by the reyne hire hente" is found in Benoit's "Roman de Troie." Benoit uses a similar phrase four times. This is further evidence that Chaucer was conflating Boccaccio and Benoit.
In TC, Chaucer gave his Boccaccio material greater depth and emotional significances by borrowing from Machaut. His presentation of the psychological effects of Troilus' passion echoes "Jugement dou Roy de Behaingne." Pandarus' wisdom is often that…
The limited success of Troilus' efforts to know the nature of love reflects a state of epistemology similar to certain skeptical trends in universities. A counterpoint to the skepticism and to Troilus' determinism leads, through a Boethian…
Reiss, Edmund.
J. B. Bessinger and R. Raymo, eds. Medieval Studies in Honor of Lillian Herlands Hornstein (New York: New York University Press, 197), pp. 181-91.
By the fourteenth century "fin amor" was associated with "legitimate married love and...Christian charity." Thus, when the God of Love in the Prologue to LGW refers to "fyn loving," Chaucer's meaning (whether ironic or not) is that of an ideal love.…
Bessinger, Jess B., Jr., and Robert R. Raymo, eds.
New York: New York University Press, 1976.
Fifteen essays by various authors, commemmorating Hornstein's retirement. For four essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Medieval Studies in Honor of Lillian Herlands Hornstein under Alternative Title.
Seven essays and a critical introduction, with a brief chronology of Chaucer's life and works, and a short selected bibliography. For the Introduction and the seven essays, search for Geoffrey Chaucer: A Collection of Original Articles under…
Giaccherini, Enrico.
Rivista di Letterature Moderne e Comparate 26 : 99-121, 1976.
Compares and contrasts RvT and Boccaccio's version in the Decameron with their respective sources: Le meunier et les II. clers and De gombert et des II. clers. Plots and characterization in the works are similar, although outlook and purpose vary.
Argues for the continuity of English literary tradition from Beowulf to the present by exploring several "great speeches" in Chaucer's works and in previous literature. No one disputes the continuity from Chaucer to the present, and the presence in…
Stanley comments on the inconclusive endings of several Chaucerian narratives and argues that CkT is complete as it is, developing the theme of herbergage (taking in lodgers) that runs throughout Part 1 of CT.
Mitchell, Susan.
Proceedings of the PMR Conference 1 (1976): 67-72.
Contrasts Dorigen of FranT with the biblical Eve: where Eve falls because of her desire for knowledge, Dorigen nearly falls for lack of knowledge, particularly her lack of self-knowledge as is evident in her complaint against the rocks and her…
Anastasas, Florence H., trans.
Hicksville, N. Y.: Exposition Press, 1976.
Part I (pp. 3-84) is a modern verse translation of LGWP (F version) and LGW in rhyming iambic pentameter couplets; Part II includes an additional eleven poems written by Anastasas to complement Chaucer's work, with additional "legends" dedicated to…
Davies, W. Beynon, ed.
Cardiff: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 1976.
An edition of the Welsh verse drama "Troelus a Chresyd" (c. 1600), with introduction and commentary that explore the play's debt to Chaucer's TC and Henryson's "Testament of Cresseid." Includes a table of correspondences (pp.143-61) between the play…
