Browse Items (16472 total)

Cites "De Doctrina," IV, xxvii, 59 as a source or gloss at least on the Pardoner's "confession": Augustine notes that the wicked may preach what is right and good.

Common characters and incidents in PardT and three Irish versions of Aarne-Thompson folktale Type 763 may indicate cross-fertilization between folklore and medieval literature. Most arguments favor an oral source for the PardT. The episode of the…

Chauntecleer's citation of Daniel (NPT 7.3128-29), frequently taken to refer to Daniel 7, more pertinently refers to Daniel 4 where Nebuchadnezzar relates a dream similar to Chauntecleer's and to the dreams Chauntecleer cites. This dream and its…

In English literary tradition before Chaucer the concept of the devil has great vitality. But in CT, only in SumT and ParsT does the term "devil" have its traditional force; for the most part, one finds a transition away from the medieval idea.

Shows that MED's definition of "mevyng" is correct, and that the word is not a scribal error for "menyng" but exists in its own right.

ManT--a warning to the Cook with whom the Manciple quarrels--supports three main themes: the insignificance of social rank (9.105-270), the danger inherent in anger (271-91), and the foolishness of a wanton tongue (292-362).

Links the python slain by Apollo with an alchemic symbol and argues that ManT is thematically related to CYT.

Root's contention that his alpha, beta, and gamma classifications represent stages of Chaucer's revisions of TC is untenable. The ms evidence must be judged for itself,not in comparison with other "revision" problems such as those in Gower and…

Two major sources of the realism in TC are the Platonic cosmic fables (e.g., the "Boece") and the arts of love or handbooks for lovers, particularly the "Pamphilus." The fables would seem far removed from realism; however, their writers' concern…

The pagan references in TC perform two obvious functions: they provide local color and they help to delineate character (as in Pandarus' scorn of Troilus--who has just uttered a prayer to several pagan deities--calling him a "mouses hert," III,…

Trevet's commentary on Seneca's "Hercules Furens," which Chaucer may have known, reveals that medieval theorists gave weight to the "formal cause" of tragedy. In TC, the interpolated songs, dreams, prayers, and letters may be analyzed as elements…

Seven essays by various hands. For the individual essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Essays on Troilus and Criseyde under Alternative Title.

Recently critical emphasis has been upon the sustained irony in the tragic tale of TC. Along with it is a peculiarly Chaucerian kind of comedy that may best be labeled "bodily laughter," because although it laughs "at" the body, it does so out of…

C. S. Lewis was right to emphasize Criseyde's timorousness. She is unambitious and moderate, and the cosy, unheroic situation in Troy in the first three books suits her well.

Modernist critics reduce Troilus' experience to sentimentality. They encourage us to pity the hero because he could not do otherwise. The lesson of TC is, on the contrary, that the characters in the tale (and we the audience) do indeed have choices…

Troilus' prayer to Mercury is ill-considered. The god's diffident and finally unsuccessful attempt to bed Herse brings disaster to the go-between Aglauros. Further, the reference to this affair draws a pointed contrast between Pandarus and Herse's…

Evidence suggests Pandarus is a peer to Troilus and hardly older than Criseyde, probably around thirty. The younger age eliminates harsh judgments on his involvement in their love affair and on behavior deemed lecherous in an older man.

The poet in BD takes the role of confessor and "medicus animae" to the Black Knight, whose shrift and repentance return him to the duties of everyday living. The hunt, which sets the scene, is an allegorical image of the process of confession…

The prologue of LGW is a kind of "ars poetica" that contrasts seasonal renewal with eternal regeneration in order to show that poetry can mediate between them and serve as a true guide to love.

ABC is not polite praise of the Virgin or gentle expression of filial love: it is a needy, fearful, grasping cry for her protection, evincing the greed, craft, and importunity of a child seeking its mother's reassurance.

Aers explores the conflict between traditional Christian ideology and social and individual realities in "Piers Plowman," and Langland's criticism of abuse of power in all ranks of the clerical hierarchy. Langland calls for reformation within…

Emphasis on Chaucer's sources and narrative patterns in the light of fairy tales and the oral tradition.

Twenty-two essays by noted Chaucerians on a range of topics: individual works, biography, backgrounds, source study, genre, etc. The essays survey fundamental critical issues and bibliography. For individual essays, search for Companion to Chaucer…

A glossary based largely on the Tatlock and Kennedy "Concordance." It does not go beyond A of Rom, nor does it cover the "Equatorie." Different meanings are cited by line references; etymologies are provided; there is a useful introductory note on…

A list of 273 items, including reviews, based upon the "MLA International Bibliography," with additions, compiled by an international team of scholars.