In light of the mythological tradition of Janus and connections between January and Adam, January's self-deception in MerT is less bitter than funny. In general, the Tale "is one of the great literary celebrations of marriage, albeit a comic one."
Eads, Martha Greene.
Comparative Literature 63.1 (2013): 75-87.
In discussing Denise Giardina's novels set in Appalachia, offers observations regarding the effective portrayal of life in the mountains of the South, and compares this understanding to how the original language of Chaucer enhances the reading and…
Eager, Claire J. C.
Rachel Stenner, Tamsin Badcoe, and Gareth Griffith, eds. Rereading Chaucer and Spenser: Dan Geffrey with the New Poete (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2019), pp. 75-97.
Investigates resonances between the garden settings in FranT and in the June eclogue of Spenser's "Shepheardes Calender," exploring the "spatialised poetics" of Dorigen's and Colin's shared inability to enjoy the pleasures of a classical/Christian…
Eagleton, Catherine, and Matthew Spencer.
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 37 (2006): 237-68.
Applies a technique from evolutionary biology - phylogenetic "neighborhood-joining" - to the witnesses to the text of Astr to produce a stemma, test the fragments and sections of longer versions against the stemma, and discuss the scribal conflation…
Eagleton, Catherine.
Journal of the Early Book Society 06: 161-73, 2003.
Eagleton identifies a fragment of Astr washed from MS 358 in the Royal College of Physicians, London. Reproduces the explicit that names Chaucer as author; six photographs; and two tables.
Eagleton, Catherine.
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 38 (2007): 303-26.
Evidence from diagrams in the manuscripts of Astr suggests that the diagrams may have influenced construction of later extant medieval astrolabes, perhaps encouraged by Chaucer's "posthumous fame." Includes black-and-white and color illustrations.
Eales, Richard.
Christopher Harper-Bill and Ruth Harvey, eds. The Ideals and Practice of Medieval Knighthood (Wolfeboro, N.H.: Boydell & Brewer, 1986), pp. 12-34.
Historical background of the chess game in knightly culture with a reference to BD.
Earnshaw, Steven.
Manchester and New York : Manchester University Press, 2000.
Explores drinking establishments (inns, taverns, alehouses, pubs) in English literature for how they have helped to constitute what is thought to be particularly English, starting with CT and Langland's "Piers Plowman" and ending with Martin Amis's…
Earp Lawrence.
New York and London: Garland, 1995.
A guide to secondary sources on Machaut's life, music, and literature, plus his influence on later traditions. The general index enables users to track discussions of Machaut's influence on Chaucer, both generally and with reference to individual…
Easler, Jennifer Nicole.
Ph. D. Dissertation. University of Minnesota, 2022. Open access at https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/227922 (accessed November 18, 2023).
Examines the themes of prophecy and retold narrative in premodern works about Troy by Virgil, Dares and Dictys, Chaucer (TC), Lydgate, and Shakespeare, arguing that, in various ways, they "call into question the efficacy of poetry and of knowledge,…
The name "Lollius" (from "loll" "to hang out the tongue") is Chaucer's punning attempt to imitate Boccaccio's name in English ("boccaccio" "ugly mouth"), as well as to create a plausible sounding Latinate name for his supposed author.
Contrary to Kittredge's view that FrT and SumT are "merely comic interludes" in the marriage group, the Prologues and Tales of the Wife, Friar, and Summoner share a common concern, the debate on "experience" vs. "auctoritee." In questions of…
Chaucer's work contains an "astonishing range of interest in every aspect of the Christian religion," including mystical contemplation. Examples of Chaucer's knowledge of this type of religion are found in HF, MilT, and SumT.
Summary (without text) and commentary on FranT, arranged in sections, accompanied by glosses to Middle English phrases. Also includes a brief introduction to Chaucer and his backgrounds, commentary on themes and style of FranT, its characterization…
Summary (without text) and commentary on WBPT, arranged in sections, accompanied by glosses to Middle English phrases. Also includes a brief introduction to Chaucer, CT, and medieval antifeminism; commentary on characterization, the Wife's horoscope,…
FranT is about people's vulnerability to themselves, about the intimate connection between their identities--or senses of self--and their bodies, about how this vulnerability compromises moral strength and capacity for spiritual fulfillment, and…
Eaton connects various uses of the word "conscience" in Chaucer's works with the social classes of the characters with whom the word is associated and with gender differences such as the structuring of physical space.
Although erotic and homosexual elements are undoubtedly evident in SumT, certain words and gestures, particularly the friar's ill-fated grope, do not unambiguously have the homosexual charge that has been claimed.
Eaton, R. D.
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 104 (2005): 495-513.
In the GP description of the Prioress, the term conscience, used to describe her mental operations, implies not sensibility or emotion but rather prescription or governance. The Prioress's display is not emotive but mimetic, and her performance…
Fifteen volumes comprise this reading of CT in Middle English: 1) MilT, 2) GP and RvT; 3) GP and PardPT; 4) WBPT; 5) FranPT; 6) MerPT; 7) NPT, ShT, and PrPT; 8) FrPT, SumPT, and Thop; 9) ClT and PhyT; 10) KnT [two cassettes]; 11) MLT, CkT, and ManT;…
