Browse Items (16381 total)

Explores Chaucer's uses of narrative terms, such as "storie," "tale," "fable," "tretys," "tragedye," "legend," etc.," focusing on their relative degrees of exposition, fictionality, and historicity and the faithfulness of the narratives to source…

Assesses Chaucer's Ret as an adaptation of rhetorical and literary conventions of prologue, epilogue, and literary confession, arguing that his uses of the conventions in both ParsP and Ret indicate that he is resisting traditional rejections of…

Seeks to "ascertain why the diction of poetry from Chaucer to Milton has a distinct character, and one unlikely to be revived." Chapter 2, "Chaucer and His Successors" (pp. 28-38), assesses Chaucer as "the first English poet with a style recognizably…

Details the early, negative reputation of Criseyde in Chaucer's sources for TC, and discusses how Chaucer capitalizes upon this reputation in tension with the narrator's positive view of her in his poem in order to engage his audience. Also discusses…

Discusses classical, medieval, early modern, and modern examples of literary works that have been defined as "epic," seeking to demonstrate the uses and development of the term. Includes discussion of "Langland and Chaucer" (pp. 41-44) as part of…

Identifies a tripartite pattern in several of the Canterbury narratives (introduction, confessional prologue, and tale), applying it to CYPT. Comparisons with WBPT, MerPT, and PardPT illuminate the structure of CYPT.

Examines the dating, authorship, textual history, and medieval popularity of "De Maria Magdelena," attributed to Origen, as a basis for exploring Chaucer's use of it in his "Orygenes upon the Maudeleyne," cited in LGWP F427 (G418) and here regarded…

Suggests that the referent for "this king" in BD 1314 is the Black Knight as a figure in the poem's chess conceit.

Argues that the Wife of Bath is a "psychologically complex character" and that WBPT reveal that she desires, not mastery per se, but "'that thing which she does not have'" (italics in original), signaling a discrepancy between what she "thinks she…

Characterizes the Physician of GP as "inscrutable," although "smelling mildly of hypocrisy," and argues that the "narrative uneasiness" of PhyT is well suited to this "man of the world [who] seeks to mask his worldliness in affected piety." The…

Reprints forty-one essays by Kuhl, originally published between 1914 and 1960, brought together to celebrate Kuhl's ninetieth birthday. Twenty-one of the essays pertain to Chaucer, many dealing with biographical details, life records, and allusions…

An anthology of examples, arranged chronologically, of literary, social, and political satires; includes a prose translation (by Robert Lumiansky) of PardPT, with a brief introduction.

Responds to Dorothy Colmer's critique (Essays in Criticism 20 [1970]) of Kearney's earlier discussion of FranT (Essays in Criticism 19 [1969], taking issue with Colmer's notion that "quadruple irony" redounds upon the reader.

Critiques prior attempts to resolve the discrepancy between Chaucer's reference to twenty-nine pilgrims (GP 1.24) and the headcount of those actually mentioned. Focusing on the Prioress's entourage (GP 1.163-64), offers a new resolution that depends…

Studies modernism in English and French literature from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, focusing on narrative fiction and critical perception and misperceptions of what constitutes modernism. Includes a chapter (pp. 52-99) entitled…

Explains Chaucer's use of "rente" to describe the Friar in GP 1.256, clarifying that it means service to God due to his vocation (not monetary rent) and contributes to Chaucer's satire of the Friar. Compares Chaucer's other uses of the term.

Summarizes the Scriptural tradition in which spiritual fame is associated with sweet tastes and good odors, and suggests that Absolon's association with their opposites in MilT reinforces his humiliation and his concern with "fame among men."

Argues that MerT should be read in light of MerP (for which there is strong manuscript evidence) and that the two are unified by a "cool, controlled, acidulous" tone and a "persistent interest in sexual activity . . . that frequently borders on the…

An anthology of literary depictions of "overt prejudice" (p. xi) including a modern translation of PrT in rhyme royal (by Nevill Coghill) in a section called "Roots of Prejudice." The volume is designed for classroom use, with discussion questions…

Identifies a "possible pun" on the name of the mythological Wade in MerT 5.1684 ("waden"), arguing that, followed by a reference to the Wife of Bath, the pun recalls January's allusion to Wade in 5.1424 and deepens Justinus's warning against…

Reads the Knight's interruption of the Monk (7.2767ff.) as evidence of his "anxiety" about the view of Fortune implicit in the fall of princes tradition. The GP description of the Knight indicates his "preference for worldly wealth and fame that…

Verse translation of TC in rhyme royal stanzas, including brief explanatory notes (pp. 311-21), and "Four Brief Appendices" (pp. 325-32) that comment on questions of translation and on early adaptations of the poem. The Introduction (pp. ix-xxvi)…

Identifies the "sharp incongruity" between the Wife of Bath's remarks on her initial encounter with Jankyn (WBP 3.543ff.) and Lenten sermons and traditions, sharpened by the irony of the Wife's two references to the Lenten season.

Recounts events that led to Coghill's translation of CT and to his collaboration with Martin Starkie and Richard Hill in making the musical version of the text. Includes comments on the importance of rhyme and diction in the process of translating…

Comments on how uses of the term "solas" help to establish character in TC and Tho.