Higuchi, Masayuki.
Hiroshima Studies in English Language and Literature 25 (1980): 1-12.
Distinctions made between "expression-oriented" and "content-oriented" texts serve as a framework for demonstrating the interrelated nature of language in RvT. Philological tracings of word associations set up lexical chains that illustrate semantic…
WBT is a tale of transformations best understood by applying to it Jung's concept of anima. The knight's quest is really a search for understanding of his inner self, the feminine psyche. The transformation of the hag at the end mirrors his own…
Jungman, Robert E.
Mississippi Folklore Register 14 (1980): 20-23.
In SumT "covent" refers not only to the Friar's house, but also to witches' "coven," as indicated by various references to witchcraft or demonology--thus suggestiong that the friar is a witch.
Wilcockson, Colin.
Use of English 31 (1980): 37-43.
The Marquis in ClT addresses Janicola with the formal "ye" and, at certain points, Griselda as "thou," the intimate or insulting form. In keeping with her unfailing humility, Griselda never deviates from the formal "ye" when addressing Walter.
The parallel between Griselda and Mary, from preelection and marriage through maternal suffering to final coronation, is integral and pervasive in ClT. Mary embodies the canonical myth of the life of the Christian soul from baptism to heaven;…
The Franklin revises the law of the sacrament of marriage according to the medieval understanding of Epicurus. Ironically, echoing Amis and la Vielle from the "Roman de la Rose," the Franklin advocates the pursuit of "ese" and "delit" and the…
J. W. Spargo has not proved the existence of an extraliterary tradition among texts written by Chaucer and Boccaccio. The oral circulation of the tale does not support the hypothesis that Chaucer and Boccaccio had a common source.
Petrarch's account of a gemstone ring that, under the tongue of a beautiful corpse, drove Charlemagne mad with passion ("Familiares" 1.1.4) may have been known to Chaucer. The legend provides a suggestive analogue for the motif of the "grain" in the…
The principle of contraries provides a method for relating pairs of tales. ManT and ParsT offer paradigms for improper and proper use of speech. The Manciple uses and misglosses the tale of Phoebus and the Crow, while the Parson speaks the truth…
Neither Gascoigne's comments on Chaucer's deathbed repentence nor the retraction at the end of ParsT should be read too strongly. Rather Ret should be connected to the ParsT more clearly and seen in relationship to remarks on repentence in ParsT…
Neaman, Judith S.
Res Publica Litterarum 3 (1980): 101-13.
The narrator, Alcyone, and the Black Knight suffer from melancholy. Brain functions and anatomy, progress, and treatment of the illness are linked chronologically, and the time shifts are analogous to the order and process of brain physiology as…
Isenor, Neil,and Ken Woolner.
Physics Today 3 (1980): 114-16.
HF 782-834 displays an uncanny foreknowlege of details of the modern theory of sound and wave motion, especially in lines 809-13, where, in a great creative leap of scientific imagination, the motion of water waves is transferred to the propagation…
The "partridge wings" at the end of the "pictura" of Fame result not from error but from Chaucer's following the commentary on the "Metamorphoses" in "Ovide moralise," where Perdix (partridge) represents a clever but deceitful craftsman and Daedalus…
Barney, Stephen A., ed.
Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1980.
Contains seventeen essays or excerpts from longer works by various authors, fourteen previously published, some with very brief additional "afterwords." For the three newly-published pieces, search for Chaucer's Troilus: Essays in Criticism under…
Bestul, Thomas H.
Chaucer Review 14 (1980): 366-78.
Like other late medieval art, TC exhibits a growing concern with the portrayal of emotions, especially through the shifting role of the narrator. He sometimes resorts to "occupatio," claiming inability to describe an emotional state, and eventually…
Wentersdorf, Karl P.
Chaucer Review 15 (1980): 101-26.
A clandestine "marriage" was not fornicatory but simply unlawful, since the church insisted on an eventual ceremony. Chaucer adds the troth plight to his source, thus raising the story above amorous intrigue and heightening the poignancy of…
Fisher, John H.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 2 (1980): 221-85.
Compiled by an international team of scholars, and based upon the 1977 and 1978 listings in the MLA International Bibliography, with additions. Includes 311 entries, including reviews.
A variorum editor should record "fully and impartially, the history of what people have 'thought' that his author wrote and meant." And he "should not 'editorialize' at all."
Owen, Charles A., Jr.
Chaucer Newsletter 2:2 (1980): 14.
Variations in the ink color of MSS. Ellesmere and Hengwrt have yet to be accurately described and may provide information concerning the order in which the parts of the mss were written.
Kern, Edith.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980.
Mikhail Bakhtin's study of the grotesquerie of medieval folk festivals encourages us to view certain Chaucerian characters in the carnivalesque spirit of absolute comedy: moral offenders such as Alysoun of MilT escape unscathed; Nicholas is punished…
