Browse Items (16350 total)

Challenges previous arguments that the name "Malyne" is appropriate to the character in RvT because it means "dish cloth," arguing instead that "Malyne," "Aleyn," and their roles in RvT can better be understood in light of the denotations and…

Explains complications in defining "furlong wey" when it refers to time rather than distance, and examines Chaucer's several uses of the term to argue that it means "a short time, sometimes very short, sometimes only fairly short.

Describes the Continental lyric genre of the "aube," linking it with the German "tagelied," assessing Chaucer's use of the form in Book 3 of TC, and addressing his use of source material derived from Boccaccio's "Filostrato." Concludes that Chaucer…

Explores difficulties of translating Virgil's "Aeneid," opening with commentary on HF 143-44 as "Chaucer's witty little critical essay on the problem."

Includes seventeen essays on various aspects of medieval literature: five on Chaucer, eight on other medieval literary studies, two on linguistics, and two on editing medieval texts. Includes a professional biography of Baugh and a partial list of…

Gauges the extent and depth of Chaucer's philosophical and theological skepticism in comparison with the views of some of his contemporaries--Wycliff, Langland, Gower, Julian of Norwich, and more. Identifies skeptical attitudes on free will,…

Proposes several "distinct stages" in Chaucer's development of the "magnificent individuality" of the Wife of Bath, focusing on his uses in WBP of source material drawn from Jerome, Theophrastus, Deschamps, and others. Assumes that the Man of Law…

Anatomizes and analyzes "some eighty-three scenes" in TC that "reveal" in the poem "the role of dialogue, the role of visual scene and image, the role of structural contrast, and the role of tempo and movement" and create "skillful ordering" and…

Explores the Boethian themes, imagery, and conventions of the "Kingis Quair," and comments on similarities and differences between its uses of these devices and those in BD, PF, TC, and KnT.

Argues that Chaucer's references to May third, assigned in Ovidian tradition to "the goddess Flora and her celebrations," is a day on which the "force of love is especially and powerfully felt," and therefore "a suitable day for Pandare [TC 2.56],…

Rejects the "drunkenness hypothesis" as a way of explaining the Pardoner's character, arguing that pride and "counterfeit humility" underlie the characterization and that the "[s]uspicion, aversion, and contempt" of the pilgrim audience toward him…

Argues that in MerT "January's love of May reflects, in heightened colors," the Merchant's own "commercial love of the world's goods." Explores the possessive nature of January's love of May, focusing on the Merchant's metaphors and references to…

Explores the Merchant's "animus toward Italians or, at least, toward Lombards from Pavia" in his characterization of January. Responding to the Clerk's view of Lombards, the Merchant reflects late-medieval English malice against Italian commercial…

An anthology of criticism, with a brief introduction (pp. vii-ix) that characterizes CT as "unique" because "no other work so fragmentary creates such an illusion of completeness." The volume reprints essays and excerpts by twenty-one writers,…

Offers surmises and suggestions about the number of GP pilgrims, professional groupings of them, and a two-stage "development" of GP--an early set of fourteen descriptions written ca. 1387-88 and a later revision, ca. 1396, that reflects plans for…

Offers information about "medieval papal denunciations of anti-semitism" and how they can be seen to indict the Prioress, especially PrT 7.684-87, particularly because "Chaucer's references to the Hebrew people," outside PrT, "are not at all…

Responds to critiques of two books previously published by the author--"Some Types of Narrative in Chaucer's Poetry" (1954) and "The Golden Mirror: Studies on Chaucer's Descriptive Technique and Its Literary Background" (1955)--seeking to clarify…

An anthology of seventeen twentieth-century essays or excerpts by various authors on TC (twelve examples), BD, HF, PF, courtly love, and dream vision poetry--sixteen reprinted and one original: R. E. Kaske, "The Aube in Chaucer's 'Troilus'."

Characterizes the Wife of Bath through a sustained, appreciative summary of and commentary on WBP and, more extensively, WBT, showing that "Comic exaggeration is her forte, but tempered by delicate play and a fatal aim, the more precise for being…

Comments on the "real and alleged obscenity of the farting scene in MilT, focusing on its, narrative technique, humor, and the use of "thonder-dent."

Explores the mythological tradition which "linked Jupiter with the sands of Libya" as well as "Venus' association with the wilderness of Libya," helping to clarify Chaucer's reference to the "desert of Libye" in HF and his use of Virgil's "Aeneid" as…

Suggests that the number of participants in Chaucer's CT pilgrimage--"Wel nyne and twenty" (GP 1.24) plus the narrator--can be seen to signify the "active life," consisting "essentially of penitence and good works." Offers evidence that thirty…

Surveys English literature and critical responses to this literature; designed for classroom use. Summarizes historical backgrounds and provides annotated bibliographies, linked with the discussions of individual works, authors, and topics, including…

Comments on Chaucer's status as a member of the middle class, and explores his depiction of middle-class society in CT, with attention to how it reflects his contemporary world. Includes four b&w illustrations.

Explores Chaucer's stylistic virtuosity in his references to horses and riding, commenting on appropriateness, suggestive naming and coloring, metaphoric and imagistic implications, and comic effects. Includes comments on horses in TC, LGW, and CT.