Browse Items (16376 total)

Traces the artistic development of the Constance story from its roots in the accused queen legend through Trevet's adaptation, Gower's version, and MLT, arguing that only in Chaucer does the narrative achieve "comprehensive artistic unity" of…

Thirty-two essays by various individuals and the introduction by the editors exemplify the porous nature of the traditional boundary between medieval and Renaissance in literary history and demonstrate the interpenetration of literature and history.…

Essays by various hands. For two essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Literary and Historical Perspectives of the Middle Ages under Alternative Title.

Defines ClT as an example of "Ideal Fiction," generally unpalatable to modern taste, identifying the presence of a manipulator in the plot (Walter), the narrative "distance" achieved through its combination of "ordinariness" and fantasy, the…

Explicates numerous details of GP to demonstrate Chaucer's techniques of characterization. Includes significant attention to the Wife of Bath, the Physician, the Host, and others.

Identifies three "sections" of PardT (the "pulpit-thumping," the "story-telling," and the "sales talk," arguing that their apparent disunity is resolved by the character and purpose of the Pardoner.

Classroom text of MilT, with study-guide Introduction, notes, brief glossary and bibliography. The Introduction includes commentary on Chaucer's life, the "Framework and Origin" of CT, "how to read" Chaucer, the "Miller and his Language," and…

Classroom text of GP in Middle English with facing-page notes, study-guide Introduction, a brief glossary, and brief bibliography. The Introduction includes commentary on Chaucer's life, the "Framework" of CT, "how to read" Chaucer, and "Further…

From Ovid, the blind Cupid connoted erotic love to mythographers, French poets, and eventually Chaucer (HF), Clanvowe, Lydgate, and others.

R. K. Root's theory of how the text of TC underwent authorial revision, thus resulting in a number of significant variants between the manuscript groups, has been challenged by Barry A. Windeatt (1984) and Ralph Hanna (1986).

A linguistic history of Old and Middle English that uses several Chaucerian examples to explain changes in morphology and phonology. Chapter 12 discusses Chaucer's contributions to English, to poetry, and to prosody. The apparatus indexes the…

Gauges the Pardoner's attitude toward his Canterbury audience, including the Host. In PardP, he reveals how he usually treats his audiences, then insults the pilgrims by leveling differences in PardT. Like Faus Semblant of the "Roman de la Rose," the…

Currie explores the hypocrisy and factionalism that underlie the characters' ostensible concerns with natural law and the common good in TC, arguing that Chaucer exposes the negative consequences (individual and social) of breaches of natural law.…

Revises slightly the author's 1926 study of the same title (Oxford University Press), here adding two essays, also previously published: "Destiny in Troilus and Criseyde" (1930) and "Arcite's Intellect" (1930). The enlarged edition also updates the…

The first two chapters of this book look at the Knight and KnT in the context of the "heroic life." The Allegory of Rule and the Allegory of Love offer ways to understand Palamon and Arcites's fight in the wood. The second two chapters examine the…

Biblical analogies embedded in KnT constitute an implied critique of the pre-Christian setting: Palamon and Arcite's first sight of Emelye accords with David's first sight of Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:2); loving Emelye reorganizes Arcite's psyche and…

Curtis summarizes the 1944 movie "A Canterbury Tale," gauging its successes and failures and commenting on the extent to which its sensibilities might be called "Chaucerian."

In KnT, the medieval view of the deficiencies of classical ideals is demonstrated through the tacit presence of Christianity. In its light, the ancient order breaks down; thus, KnT fills a significant place in CT as Christian pilgrimage.

An "earthscape of renewals and pilgrimages," CT is chiefly incarnational and pluralistic, with four exceptions. As pious tales with separate value structures and terms of reference differing from the GP principle of "purifying, abstracting and…

Explores the differences between PardP and PardT--differences in genre, atmosphere, and temporal dimension--arguing that they are part of the Pardoner's efforts to manipulate his audience. Contrasts the self-interested, time-bound play of the…

Reads WBPT (with attention to the GP description of the Wife) as a "crucial example" of the way Chaucer "sees the relation between deception and self-deception" and a "median" among the Canterbury pilgrims as a gauge of hypocrisy. Balanced between…

The manners in which the Miller, Summoner, and Manciple tell their tales are evidence of Chaucer's interest in the psychology of class conflict. The social events of medieval England and Chaucer's own situation reflect class issues.

Argues that training in stylistics has benefits for teachers, putting forward a pattern for what a training course might look like. Chaucer is invoked as a subject of study by a student respondent.

Chaucer's characterization of the Prioress mirrors the struggle of "a country bumpkin trying to upgrade herself." The St. Loy of her oath might best be identified with St. Louis IX, King of France. The Bell edition of 1890 cites St. Loy as the…

Suggests a link between KnT and MkT: Saturn's "children" can be either individuals born under the sign of Saturn or societies suffering the effects of the "Age of Saturn." The predicament of the Monk's Hugelyn and his children can be read in light of…