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De Worde's 1498 edition of CT uses no other source than CX2. The many variants between the two texts result from his attempts to correct the CX2 edition and his adherence to common practices of early printers. One significant variant in de Worde's…

The body of this dissertation consists of a chronological compendium made up of an individual abstract-like annotation for each significant piece of scholarship (published before 31 December, 1969) which has treated BD during the first 600 years…

Neither tedious nor ignorant, MkT teaches a "sound Boethian lesson" and can be seen as "artistically refined" in its evocation of tragic pathos. The Knight, the Host, and the critics err in castigating the Monk and his Tale.

Chaucer's chief object in LGW is to explore, through the art of "variatio," irrational sexual passion as a source of human misery. The legends divide into three distinct groups: the pathetic tale, Dido and its variations, and star-crossed lovers.

PF, "Temple of Glas," and "Kingis Quair" deal not with courtly love but with marriage. The idea underlying all three works is that one should be free to marry whom one loves.

BD is revisionary art which de-mystifies the language of conventionalized desire and revises the Boethian consolation dialogue. The narrator suffers the same "tristitia" as the knight and must be cured. A confession entails the knight's Augustinian…

The opposition of knowledge in HF suggests the fourteenth-century reaction to the scholastic efforts of the thirteenth century to forge a synthesis between reason and faith. However, this dissertation does not argue that Chaucer was a reformer. The…

The basic narrative unit is limited to nine possible combinations. These combinations can be illustrated by application to the four tales of the Marriage Group in CT. These nine relationships can also be applied to characters, to the relationships…

Chaucer stands firmly in the tradition of "Phaedrus" and "Timaeus" by virtue of the "imagistic" and figural view of reality he presents in CT. References to Boethius' "Consolation of Philosophy" further emphasize the Platonic approach to rhetoric. …

A line-by-line commentary on NPT reveals that the primary difficulties of the poem are not linguistic, but lie rather in the tremendous range of subjects from which Chaucer draws in the work: medicine, theology, astrology, and music, among others.

Equates "mistress-knowledge" of Sir Philip Sidney's "Defence of Poesy" with the "concept of an architectonic . . . usually related to self-knowledge as an ideal," traces the concept from classical to Renaissance treatments, and applies the critical…

A study of unity in CT focuses upon justice and law. Commentaries available to Chaucer and his audience include the writings of Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, and Sacred Scripture. Legal texts include Glanville, Bracton, Horn, and court records. …

The incongruity of the method of theological "quaestiones" (humble) in WBP with the Wife's aggressive, arbitrary approach and some of her orthodox assertions create the comic effect. WBT exhibits a transformation: the intellectual authority of the…

The Manciple, Physician, and Clerk strain the notion of fictive propriety with their stories. They exploit the storytelling occasion by attempting to come to terms with their estates and the often oppressive audience through replicating conditions…

In CT, Chaucer examines or modifies various elements of the romance genre: adventure, wonder, medieval didacticism, and love. Three narrators of the tales comically muddle the romance: Sir Thopas, the Squire, and the Franklin. KnT is Chaucer's…

After William Caxton's 1485 edition of CT, Richard Pynson's is the earliest (c. 1492). Pynson's printing practice and his role within the historical scope of English printing provide backgrounds for analysis between the two texts of major variants…

Comic irony was used by Chaucer throughout CT, even in the tales generally considered to be serious or pious. ManT, SumT, FranT, PhyT, MLT, PrT, SNT, and ClT all display Chaucer's ironic point of view, although the reader's appreciaiton of this…

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.

LGWP reveals the God of Love's misreading of TC and Rom. The stories that follow must be read with Alceste's self-sacrifice and resurrection in mind. With Alceste's powers of "translatio," the sinful pagan lovers rise again to live in Christian…

Virgule placement in the Hengwrt and Ellesmere mss. is highly regular. Syntactic and metrical rules can be used to predict 80 percent of the placements. The two mss agree in virgule placement 77 percent of the time. The 23 percent rate of…

The signs of unfinishedness which appear most prominently in Chaucer's unfinished pieces are also present in the more finished pieces, where they make a major contribution to Chaucer's meaning. Chaucer's unfinishedness is due in part to the uses he…

KnT is a scholastic romance whose primary subject is universal human nature conceived in varying combinations of will and intellect, and its overriding concern is human freedom. From its position as the first Canterbury tale, one might infer that…

Computer-generated concordances and frequency lists help in deciding which part of a character's vocabulary is especially significant. Pandarus' vocabulary emphasizes his expertise in using social and family relationships. Criseyde applies words to…

In TC the questions of free will and predestination are analyzed in argumentative patterns which may be related to Strode's "Consequences." Measured against Strode's rules, these patterns reveal that the most valid logic is used by the character…

The stories in LGW represent a first attempt by Chaucer in a series of framed stories to deal with the relation between experience, authority, and ideal sentiment. Comparison with their Ovidian sources and close reading reveals that even though…