Discusses Chaucer's sense of history and his historical approach to the pagans and the imperfection of pagan theology and philosophy, centering on TC and on KnT.
Olson, Glending.
Ithaca, N.Y., and London: Cornell University Press, 1982.
Later medieval medical theories and ethical commentaries recognized the benefits of literary pleasure. Olson's aim is "to redress an imbalance in modern scholarship that fosters, intentionally or not, the notion that medieval literary thought had…
Rowland, Beryl.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 4 (1981): 33-51.
The reaction of Chaucer's contemporary listeners was more confident and unequivocal than our own because of the way the reader presented the poetry through oral delivery.
Rubey, Daniel Robert.
Dissertation Abstracts International 42 (1982): 3154A.
Medieval romances reflect changing attitudes toward social conflicts with chronologically developing alterations in their audiences. Chaucer's romances are studied briefly.
Traversi, Derek.
Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1982.
Treats (1) the theme of poetry in Dante's "Purgatorio," (2) why Ulysses is in hell, (3) FranT, (4) ManT, (5) "Unaccommodated Man" in "King Lear," (6) The imaginative and the real in "Antony and Cleopatra," and (7) Shakespeare's dramatic illusion in…
Ward, Benedicta.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.
Surveys patristic commentary and theory regarding miracles, and treats miracles associated with various shrines: Saint Faith, Saint Benedict, Saint Cuthbert, Saint WIlliam, Saint Godric, Saint Friedeswide, and Saint Thomas of Canterbury, as well as…
Zanoni, Mary Louise.
Dissertation Abstracts International 42 (1982): 5115A.
Chaucer's use of philosophy, classic and medieval, goes far beyond Boethius. KnT explores order and disorder in terms of scholasticism; TC treats will and determinism in the light of views from Augustine to Bradwardine; and NPT subtly inverts…
Bookis, Judith May.
Dissertation Abstracts International 43 (1982): 1140.
In PrT, MLT, ClT, SNT, and PhyT, Chaucer manipulates the genre and rhetoric of the saint's life in differing ways to evoke audience response to the professional stereotypes of the narrators.
A pendant is usually conjectured to be a "penner," a pencase, emblematic of the poet's profession. It is, however, more likely to be an ampulla, a lead vial supposedly containing blood from the martyr of Saint Thomas of Canterbury.
Lundberg, Marlene Helen Cooreman.
Dissertation Abstracts International 42 (1982): 3993A.
Gower and Chaucer treat the same traditional stories differently: Gower typically narrates them as exempla in "Confessio Amantis," whereas Chaucer, breaking from the fixed pattern of LGW, tells them in CT to explore truth.
Moritz, Theresa Anne.
Dissertation Abstracts International 42 (1982): 4445A.
Certain twelfth-century mystics, especially Bernard of Clairvaux, interpreted the Song of Songs as figuring the love of God and man not only through heterosexual love but specifically as an ideal of marriage. In Chaucer's works both the concept of…
The fragment containing SNT and CYT is unique in the intrusion of new pilgrims undescribed in GP. Two seemingly unrelated stories are tightly unified: SNT in the "lastynge bisynesse" of Saint Cecilia; CYT in the fraudulent "bisynesse" of the Canon,…
Rex, Richard.
Massachusetts Studies in English 8 (1982): 20-32.
Among the hitherto unrevealed examples of subtle bawdy humor in Chaucer's poetry are many in KnT. These provide suggestive commentary on the Knight's character. The Miller's values probably come closer to Chaucer's own sentiments than do those…
Chaucer often treats of the discrepancy between intent and words, especially in GP 725-42, PardT, and ParsT. Philosophically, Chaucer's view of language is that of a Christian Platonist; he aspires toward a linguistic realism in which intent informs…
Despite the textual authority of the half line (GP A 164) "and preestes thre," arguments from an analysis of Chaucer's practice in the portrayal of other pilgrims suggest that the words should be suppressed in a modern edition. There were probably…
Higgs, Elton D.
Huntington Library Quarterly 45 (1982): 155-73.
The Knight and the pilgrims in his group represent the physical world and its transformation, the Clerk and his group reflect the changes in the intellectual sphere of society, and the Plowman and the Parson are the ideal representatives of the…
Taylor, Paul Beekman.
Chaucer Review 17 (1982): 1-4.
"Zephirus" and "licour" are not merely stylistic adornment but referential as well. The words evoke alchemical change and purification, themes that run through many of the tales and conclude the collection in ParsT with spiritual rebirth.
The fourteenth-century poem here edited is held to support the view that Chaucer's depiction of the Franklin in GP is straightforward and favorable, not ironic or satiric.
Coleman, William E.
Medium AEvum 51 (1982): 92-101.
Chaucer's acquisition of a manuscript of "Teseida" in 1378 suggests that Chaucer omits reference to Boccaccio because he may have seen the imperfect Pavia MS 881, which lacked Boccaccio's commentary and attribution to Boccaccio.
