Browse Items (16381 total)

Attends closely to the syntax of three stanzas of PrT, describing their intricacies and "strong effects," by commenting on predication, modification, rhyme, grammar, and related prosodic concerns.

Introduces the goals and intentions of the "Chaucer Review," describing the publishing aims of the newly established journal.

Rejects the argument that Chaucer abandoned LGW out of weariness or boredom on the grounds that Chaucer had long been interested in classical love stories, that he took time to revise LGWP, that he employed abbreviation and "occupatio" effectively in…

Explicates the thematic and characterizing recurrences of hands and hand imagery in WBP, focusing on the eleven variations of the phrase "bear on hand" as they evoke and sustain the Wife's concern with wifely control in marriage, convey a sense of…

Documentary source book of 493 archival records that pertain to Chaucer's "career as a courtier, diplomat, and civil servant," arranged topically in thirty-one categories from Chaucer's ancestors to his death; includes a "Chronological Table" of the…

Adduces evidence from late-medieval maritime law and practice and from details in the GP description of the Merchant (compared with those of the Friar and the Clerk) to argue that the Merchant "has probably committed every money-crime in the books."

Argues that Chaucer's characterizations of the three main actors in TC produce an "Oedipal triangle" that helps to explain the power of the feelings in the consummation scene. Considers the changes Chaucer makes to Boccaccio's "Filostrato," focusing…

Argues that the Host's oath by the "precious corpus Madrian" in CT (MkP 7.1892) refers to St. Hadrian or Adrian, adducing details from the "Golden Legend" and citing the Host's "untrained ear," as well as parallels with Melibee's wife, Prudence, and…

Surveys the reception of Chaucer as a poet, century by century, commenting recurrently on the understanding and appreciation of his rhetoric and meter, humor and moral seriousness, linguistic obscurity, relations with sources, characterization, and…

Surveys the achievements, excellences, and limitations of English fifteenth-century "secular non-popular poetry," concentrating on works by Thomas Hoccleve, Stephen Hawes, John Skelton, and, especially, John Lydgate, along with other love allegories…

Describes the limitations of the label "Scottish Chaucerians," and assesses Chaucer's influence on the works of Robert Henryson, William Dunbar, and Gavin Douglas, maintaining that they are chronologically "central" to the Middle Scots poetry of the…

Describes and comments on the range and subtleties of Chaucer's prose styles, with recurrent comments on his stylistic adaptation of sources. Treats the "plain" style of Astr, the "heightened" homiletic style of ParsT, the "eloquent" style of Mel,…

Describes Chaucer's rhetoric and style in CT, exploring his orchestration of narrative economy, climax, pace (especially in relation to rhyme and meter), and verisimilitude, Identifies "flaws" in SumT and PhyT, and admires the symbolic…

Describes and comments on Chaucer's characteristic style, explaining how "insouciance" and "naturalness" combine with forward narrative movement, mastery of meter, formal listings, etc. to demonstrate his "great technical range." Then explores how in…

Reads TC as a "romance in the tragic mode" that reflects the "mood of many Englishmen in the late fourteenth century." Focuses on the role of the narrator and the rhetorical strategies (with reference to the "Ad Herennium") that Chaucer uses to…

Addresses Chaucer's "narrative art" in BD, HF, PF, Anel, and Mars, exploring how a coterie audience may have responded to oral performance of the emphases, shifts, and turns in these poems. Also attends to prosodic features, and to the poet's…

Describes the conditions under which Chaucer developed his verse and prose styles, focusing on the former. Argues that English verse romances are the foundation of Chaucer's poetic style to which he "grafted" the continental traditions of "fin…

Nine essays by various authors accompanied by a cultural timeline and a comprehensive index. For the individual essays, search for Chaucer and Chaucerians under Alternative Title.

Comments on how "early elaboration" of characters in MilT and MerT "renders plausible later climactic action," and argues that the "marriage passage" of FranT (5.744-805) works in similar fashion, helping to justify the thoughts and actions of…

Traces in medieval medical tradition references to the fifteen authorities cited in the GP description of the Physician (CT 1.429-434), arguing that Chaucer's "list contains just those names that an educated doctor of his day would have cited."

Addresses Chaucer's techniques of evoking and changing moods in TC, closely examining hope and fear in Book 2, and commenting on imagery, character psychology, and diction.

Justifies the placement of PhyT after FranT on the grounds of the contrasting "personal traits" of the two tellers, and argues that NPT is a personal rejoinder to MkT. Both arguments attend to details of diet and nutrition.

Studies the "fitness" of MLT to Chaucer's teller, surveying critical commentary, considering sources and analogues, assessing the historicity of legal details in the Tale, and suggesting that the trial scene evinces Chaucer's knowledge of…

Considers the authorship and manuscript provenance of a French version of the tale of Melibee, an analogue of Mel.

Includes forty-four essays by various authors, a chronology of Margaret Schlauch's career, and a list of her publications. For six essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Studies in Language and Literature in Honour of Margaret Schlauch under…