Browse Items (16472 total)

The last tales of CT form a closing sequence of transformation: SNT (conversion fervor in the early church), CYT (alchemical madness of fourteenth-century England), ManT (debasing of myth), and ParsT (change of soul through penitence), as Chaucer…

The "illocutionary" system of the narration in CT is organized into six levels based on two criteria: direct communication between literary personae standing at the same illocutionary level and transferred communication between different levels.

As seen in GP, the formal method of characterization is rooted in Cicero, Priscian, and Matthew of Vendome. The physical repugnance of the Summoner symbolizes moral ugliness.

Compares Chaucer's treatment of order in KnT with the concept in "De consolatione philosophiae" of Boethius, the "Confessions" of Saint Augustine, and the "Commedia" of Dante.

The protagonist of CkT has antecedents, from both society and literature, that permit one to extrapolate details the Cook might have used: trickery, age, and criticism of contemporary mores.

The historical development of an Old Testament law can be applied to "Sir Gawain" and WBT. WBT, which begins with a "lawless, violent rape and ends with the free gift of fairness and fidelity, progresses by the efficiency of a statute (cf. OT 'eye…

Most critical opinion has followed Kittredge's 1912 evaluation of FranT as Chaucer's treatment of ideal marriage. FranT is actually about what it is like to be married, and its center is Dorigen, Chaucer's unique portrayal of a genuinely good,…

Distraint, established in the thirteenth century, required that landholders whose lands produced 20 pounds a year must become knights, the rank involving both military and civil service. The remark that he would rather have a son with the Squire's…

The Host's aversion to this tale is a clue to its interpretations: the narrator, a typical medieval physician, reveals himself and his profession through his narration. The death of Virginia is emblematic of the Physician's lack of concern for his…

Chaucer draws on the symbolic and scriptural traditions of the oak to permit the Pardoner to show off his exemplum-telling skill. Anagogically the exemplum is an allegory of grace offered and refused.

The tradition of anti-Semitism lent itself to three kinds of imagery: murder-sacrifice (especially the Slaughter of the Innocents), economy, and law. Covert references in PrT to a shadowy image of the Old Testament God the Father makes him an evil…

Reconstructs some features of the stylistic "architecture" of Chaucer's language and illustrates its exploitation in the GP description of the Prioress. The portrait may be more critical, less ambiguous, and less sympathetic than is usually assumed.

Cites evidence from medieval theology, sermon literature, etc., to show fourteenth-century religious tolerance of Jews and the belief that they could gain salvation. PrT is Chaucer's ironic comment on the Prioress, religious prejudice, and common…

Response to saints' legends is normally sober, but "Legenda Aurea," Chaucer's source for SNT, exhibits flashes of humor. In a reading of SNT that accepts the natural response of laughter, Valerian, Tiburce, and Almachius are seen to play the fool,…

The narrator tells his tale from the social and political point of view.

Both Astr and Equat (if indeed Chaucer's), compared with run-of-the-mill technical writing, show Chaucer to have been a skilled translator and writer, unambiguous and interesting. If Equat is another's, the writer was heavily influenced by Chaucer.

BD offers a sampler of medieval literary genres including lyric and several varieties of narrative. Consolation comes from the recognition of Blaunche's virtue and her comparison with the Virgin Mary. The answer to the question "Where is she now?"…

Line 1314 begins a series of topical references to the real as opposed to the poetic world. Allusions to the king and Gaunt establish the terminus a quo before the end of 1371, although most of the poem may predate 1371. Accepting 1371 as the date…

A listing of current research, completed research, and publications, including books and articles.

A listing of 227 items.

Discursive review of Chaucerian scholarship and research published in 1981.

A critical bibliography of studies on TC in Japan in five categories: courtly love, tragic nature of the story, idea of fate, character portrayal, meaning of the Epilogue.

A late-sixteenth-century account of Chaucer's life and works, never before published, "gives fresh insight into the nature and transmission of the poet's reputation in England during the Renaissance."

The latest volume of the Variorum Chaucer to appear, Baker's edition based on Hengwrt, collates ten manuscripts and twenty-one printed editions with extensive critical commentary, survey of the criticism, and bibliographic index.

The general editor of the Variorum Chaucer discusses the genesis of the project, its progress, methodology, funding, and goals.