There are in CT examples of the late medieval attack on the symbolic attitude. The literal use of the Song of Songs in MerT, and the Wife of Bath's scriptural interpretation, are respectively examples of the mockery and parody of analogical thought.
Leicester, H. Marshall,Jr.
PMLA 95 (1980): 213-24.
Readers have over-emphasized the persona of the narrator(s) in CT, making the tales themselves but an appendage to the frame. But in fact there are many internal contradictions in such a "dramatic" reading of the poem. The tales are insistently…
Scholars need to reassess the extent of Sercambi's literary influence. A survey of some analogues of the framework and tales of his "Novelle" prove conclusively that his work was imitated in Italy, Spain, France, and Germany. Parallels in ShT and…
Middleton, Anne.
Edward W. Said, ed. Literature and Society. Selected Papers from the English Institute. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1980), pp. 15-56.
Chaucer's pilgrims agree that "the pleasure and the use of literature are one thing," that the utility of literature lies not only in the kernel of its theme but in the felicities of its style and the pleasure of its audience as well. In this view,…
CT is basically religious in spite of its various secular elements. The religious connotation depends rather on Chaucer's Catholic views of life than on the outward signs. All the characters and their tales, both sacred and secular, are equally…
Sklute, Larry.
Studia Neophilologica 52 (1980): 35-46.
Chaucer builds his descriptions of the pilgrims according to the traditional catalogue plan of the accumulation of details. But he breaks with tradition in drawing details of a portrait from differing angles, thereby surprising his reader and…
Anderson, David.
Dissertation Abstracts International 40 (1980): 4585A.
The complex and suggestive analogies between the "Teseida" and Statius' "Thebaid" force a re-evaluation of the question "What did Chaucer do the the 'Teseida'?" in light of what Boccaccio had already done to the "Thebaid." The "Teseida" is modeled…
Hanning, Robert W.
Literary Review 23 (1980): 519-41.
Statius celebrates the triumph of Theseus' righteous wrath as an agent of civilization and order over murderous rage and chaos; Boccaccio celebrates the triumph of the courtly code variously applied. As teller of the Theban tale, Chaucer's Knight…
Hoeber, Daniel R.
Chaucer Newsletter 2.2 (1980): 8-10.
Disputes Lowe's interpretation of KnT 1534-39. Arcite's sudden changes of mood, that of Chauntecleer (on a Friday) in NPT, the meaning of "gere" (a wild or changeful mood), and the first Adam's fall on the sixth day all suggest that Friday is not…
Nelson, Joseph Edward.
Dissertation Abstracts International 41 (1980): 242A.
Unlike the knight of the chivalric theorists, who is ideally a force for justice and stability, the knight of the courtly romance is a solitary figure whose primary concern is self-fulfillment without regard to the community at large. As a courtly…
Cooper, Geoffrey.
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 79 (1980): 1-12.
"Sely" (from OE "gesaelig") originally meant "happy, fortunate," and hence "blessed by God, pious, holy." Later,however, the word took on connotations of "pitiful" and "silly, rustic," while still retaining its earlier meaning in different contexts.…
Chaucer achieves maximum concentration on the moment of denouement by organizing his characters into two parallel and static triadic sets. When the characters are in their triadic configurations, no action takes place. The resolution of tension by…
Chaucer's improvements result from adapting source to the framework of CT--giving the tale to the highly individualized Reeve, whose emphasis upon "quitting" the Miller requires that Symkin become the strongest character in the tale. The most…
Milosh, Joseph E.,Jr.
Millicent Lenz and Ramona M. Mahood, eds. Young Adult Literature: Background and Criticism (Chicago: American Library Association, 1980), pp. 433-40.
John the cuckolded carpenter in MilT, delights in a simple faith which makes star-gazing unnecessary. The NPT revolves around the problem of translating intuitive knowledge into action. In both modern and medieval images of the universe,searching…
Nitzsche, Jane Chance.
Chaucer Newsletter 2.1 (1980): 6-8.
Licorice, according to medieval herbals, quenched thirst (thus allowing Nicholas to stay in his room for a long time?). Cetewale, as zedoary, dispels gas (Nicholas' fart?). It is also an aphrodisiac and the "nardus" of Canticles, a symbol for the…
Revard, Carter.
English Language Notes 17 (1980): 168-70.
MilT's reference to Absalom's "having moore tow on his distaf" (I, 3774) adds another significance to its long recognized proverbial one when we realize that carrying a distaff with tow on it to the pillory was statutory punishment in Chaucer's…
The conception of the action of RvT in three dimensions is designed to provide more than narrative realism. By reducing the miller's area of influence, Chaucer represents metaphorically his being cut down to size by the students.
Heffernan, Carol Falvo.
Chaucer Review 15 (1980): 37-43.
The cask figure combines religious and sexual symbols in the reference to wine and baptism and to the phallic spout. These connect to the tale with the fear of impotence and the careless oaths, suggesting that the Reeve misses the hidden religious…
Roddy, Kevin.
Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 10 (1980): 1-22.
Problems of tone--comic versus tragic--make the reader of MLT uneasy. There is also the problem of the weakness of the "literal narrative and the heavy-handed intrusions of the author." One can discern meaningful form, however, if one observes that…
Robertson, D. W.,Jr.
Chaucer Review 14 (1980): 403-20.
Land tenure laws and cloth industry figures suggest that the Wife was a bondswoman with holdings in the industry acquired from her first husband and used to attract four more and to finance expensive pilgrimages. A bondswoman character is also…
Literary tradition and iconography connect "bath" to prostitution, also suggested by the Wife's living outside the former patriarchal city. These symbolize her prostitution in marriage, thwarting the system, her enrichment, and ultimately her own…
Crowther, J. D. W.
Chaucer Newsletter 2.1 (1980): 12-13.
The Friar, who does not want Thomas to divide his money among several confessors, argues that likewise an ill man should not divide his among several physicians. He thus materializes the penitential injuction not to divide one's confession among…
Wentersdorf, Karl P.
Studies in Short Fiction 17 (1980): 249-54.
Scatological jests, such as dividing Thomas' "yifte," are derived from classical sources and adapted to Christian theology. Thirteenth- and fourteenth-century manuscripts frequently show defecation or breaking of wind to drive away the devil. The…
Hardman, Phillipa.
Review of English Studies 31 (1980): 172-78.
Chaucer's contemporaries were familiar with his "tyraunts of Lumbardye" (LGW, G. 353), notorious for their cruelty. The Lombard setting of ClT suggests proverbial Lombard tyranny for Walter, an imperfect mixture of tyranny and pity, for he rues…
Middleton, Anne.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 2 (1980): 121-50.
Examines medieval redactions of Boccaccio's Griselda story to suggest that Chaucer retells it in order to raise literary questions analogous to moral ones. The Clerk combines Petrarch's affective purpose and high style with the exemplary force and…
