Browse Items (16379 total)

Argues "that far from being occasional, accidental, or haphazard, Boccaccio's engagement with Dante structures the authorial interventions in the frame of the "'Decameron/." Traces Boccaccio's use of Dante to demonstrate how Chaucer uses Boccaccio in…

An introduction to Astr by Eisner that emphasizes Chaucer ability to write clear instructions for a child, followed by Osborn's Modern English version of the treatise.

Edition of Astr based on Bodley 619 and Digby 72, Bodleian Library, Oxford, with collated variants from all known manuscripts and scholarly editions through The Riverside Chaucer. Contains explanatory notes and critical notes variorum through 1997.…

Facing-page edition and translation of Nicholas of Lynn's "Kalendarium," a source for Astr (as Chaucer tells us) and for the astronomical observations in three passages of CT (MLP, NPT, and ParsP). Based on Bodleian Library MS Laud Miscellaneous 662,…

Identifies and traces developments of the sources and analogues of WBT, emphasizing the transmission of Irish roots through Welsh elaboration, Arthurian development in Brittany and France, Middle English analogues, and various parallels in…

Despite critical efforts to prove that the trip to Canterbury was a four-day journey, the geographical and temporal inconsistencies within the CT defy this kind of realism. Instead, the journey took place on one "anagogical day"--April 18, 1394. …

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.

Reviews critical opinion about the date on which the pilgrims started for Canterbury and concludes that it was Easter Saturday, 18 April 1394. The term "Ram" refers both to the constellation Aries (thus confirming the date) and to the sign Aries,…

Suggests that Chaucer "creates a persona from his son (Lewis Chaucer) to be the initial audience" of Astr and argues that Chaucer's prose style is pedagogic, written to be easily understood by children.

Eitler studies the development of the "incipient standard" syntactic pattern (subject-verb-object), comparing data from Chaucer's prose works with data from other ME prose, characterizing his idiom as the "(relatively) upper class sociolect" of…

Analysis of Shimon Sandback's Hebrew translation of CT.

Addresses the engagement of medieval literature in the construction of European and Muslim identities in CT. Traces the origin and the politics behind the western construction of Muslims as "God's enemies in the Middle Ages and how this…

Tallies similarities and differences in the characterizations of Palamon and Arcite in KnT, arguing that there is no way to resolve the "demande d'amour" that closes Part 1--"who is more worthy?" Theseus's rational decision making, the intervention…

Explores how "complex irony in Chaucer has the effect of affirming both sides in a conflict or both terms in an opposition," discussing the device in TC, KnT, NPT, PardPT, and the end of the CT. Includes discussion of Boethius's "Consolation of…

TC, KnT, and NPT are constructed on the pattern of oppositions found in Boethius' "Consolation" and the dialectic method of scholastic philosophy. At crucial points, however, Chaucer relinquishes this method and chooses one side. The pattern of…

Examines Troilus's two speeches on the "problem of free will and determinism" in TC (4.958-1082 and 3.813-40), observing complex irony whereby readers are led to agree with a perspective, then disagree, and then agree again. Chaucer "affirms both…

The limited success of Troilus' efforts to know the nature of love reflects a state of epistemology similar to certain skeptical trends in universities. A counterpoint to the skepticism and to Troilus' determinism leads, through a Boethian…

Sketches several underlying principles of the "via moderna" or Ockhamist reasoning (limitless power of God and three-value logic) and argues that HF rejects this "mode of thought." In the dream vision, Geffrey finds himself in a "kind of parody of…

Describes three positions on the topic of universals versus individuals (ultra-realism, moderate realism, nominalism), and argues that the depictions of nature, love, common profit, and fortune in PF align approximately with moderate realism, and…

Observes evidence of "ring composition" in BD, especially in parallels among the Dreamer, Alcyone, and the Black Knight, and a centralizing focus on the "conflict between Fortune and Nature." Also considers love, the he(a)rt-hunting motif, and the…

Describes medieval medical education and explains the theory and practice of medieval physicians and surgeons as background to the GP sketch of the Physician. Some details of the sketch accord well with typical medieval medical activities, while…

Shows how late medieval "anxieties over the corruption of chivalry" and criticism of the morals, motives, and conduct of crusaders" are reflected in the pairing of the GP descriptions of the Squire and Knight, and in KnT and SqT. Argues that…

Comments on the varieties of love in Chaucer's poetry (Christian, philosophic, courtly, and allegorical) and focuses on "ordinary" love in TC, where the personal experience of love is "not merely displayed" but probed with thoughtfulness, honesty,…

Surveys the uses of personal names of the Canterbury pilgrims and of the major characters in the tales, commenting on names adapted from sources, common names, diminutives and name variants, given names and surnames, name-play, the relative paucity…

Evaluates the "style and structure" of Chaucer's poetry, exploring the interaction of pronunciation and versification and the limitations of medieval and modern rhetorics for describing and gauging Chaucer's techniques. Includes scansion of lines and…