Wall, John.
Gregory Kratzmann and James Simpson, eds. Medieval English Religious and Ethical Literature (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1986), pp. 179-91.
Examines penance in poems of the "Pearl" MS, "Piers Plowman," and CT. Neither a collection of disparate stories nor an illustration of one theme, CT reflects the "quarternity or reality" in which penance, though not the chief theme, is yet a…
Bennett, Matthew.
Christopher Harper-Bill and Ruth Harvey, eds. The Ideals and Practice of Medieval Knighthood (Wolfeboro, N.H.: Boydell & Brewer, 1986), pp. 1-11.
Historical background: assesses the "social and military role of the squire" in England and northern France.
Besserman, Lawrence [L.]
Papers on Language and Literature 22 (1986): 322-25.
Several of Chaucer's worldly pilgrims (the Yeoman, the Man of Law, the Franklin, and the guildsmen) wear girdles, belts, or cords as symbols of wealth and opulence. None of the religious figures, however, is portrayed with a girdle. Since…
A subgenre of estates portraits, not touched on by Mann, includes "tarocchi," the richly illuminated playing cards of fourteenth- and fifteenth- century Italy that developed into tarot cards and modern playing cards. The four suits represent the…
Daichman, Graciela S.
Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1986.
Examines the medieval nunnery as an institution and the records of indecorous behavior of medieval nuns. A stock character of medieval literature, the "profligate nun" is seen in Chaucer's Madam Eglentyne and the Archpriest of Hita's Dona Garoza.
Fredell, Joel Willis.
Dissertation Abstracts International 47 (1986): 895A.
Both the portraits of GP and the representations of the Deadly Sins in "Piers Plowman" (B text of "Visio") achieve a new form, combining the traditional with "individualized details." Such a pattern is analogous to the development of late-Gothic…
Though evidence is inconclusive, it seems likely that Chaucer's Friar was named for Saint Hubert, whose legend and confusion with Saint Eustace give characteristic resonances to the name and its bearer, particularly in his relationship with the Monk…
Though the antipoetic and devoutly Christian voices of ParsT and Ret conclude CT, Chaucer assumes three voices in GP: a "clerkly" and rhetorically trained voice for the opening, Chaucer the Pilgrim's voice reporting on the group, and Harry Bailly's…
Woolf, Rosemary.
Rosemary Woolf. Art and Doctrine (London: Hambledon Press, 1986), pp. 77-84.
Overfamiliarity with GP blunts readers' perceptions. Chaucer shows characters "so far from the true moral order, that they are not ashamed to talk with self-satisfaction about their own inversion of a just and religiously-ordered way of life." The…
Blanch, Robert J., and Julian N. Wasserman.
Julian N. Wasserman and Robert J. Blanch, eds. Chaucer in the Eighties (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1986), pp. 175-91.
The iconographic meaning of the colors red and white had been lost in folk traditions by the time Chaucer wrote KnT. Meaning comes from the joining of the two colors--a symbol of unity. Palamon's and Arcite's choices of colors for their banners…
A comma at the end of line 2639 suggests that Emetreus has treacherously struck Palamon. Editorial punctuation could be contrary to Chaucer's intention, which may have been to leave the sense ambiguous. We need an edition of Chaucer without modern…
Discusses the "contrarious juxtaposition" in KnT design as a factor in determinacy. At work in KnT, the familiar medieval "topos" of "concordia discors" and marriage as a mediating device are examined in light of symbol, imagery, and wordplay with…
Stock, Lorraine Kochanske.
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 85 (1986): 206-21.
Chaucer creates structural, linguistic, and thematic affinities between the Mayings of Emelye and Arcite. Emelye's Maying implicitly presents her as a flower; her wearing of green clothes suggests both carnal Flora and chaste Diana. Arcite's song…
Schweitzer, Edward C.
Julian N. Wasserman and Robert J. Blanch, eds. Chaucer in the Eighties (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1986), pp. 223-33.
MilT and KnT use parallel portrayals of two young men, Absolon and Arcite, who suffer from the malady of false love. Although Arcite is not cured of his illness, Absolon is, through a traditional cure recorded by several medieval physicians.
Smith, Macklin.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 8 (1986): 3-30.
Alison's threat trades on the story of the Woman Taken in Adultery (John 8), on classifications of adultery associated in ParsT with stoning, and on a liturgical setting in Lauds.
Tripp, Raymond P.,Jr.
Chaucer Review 20 (1986): 208-21.
Absolon's intentions in MilT are uglier and darker than realized by readers who recognize the non-Boethian nature of the tale. Absolon's plowshare, for all its sexual symbolism, is a murderous weapon intended for Alison.
Wilson, Katharina (M.)
Gerald Guinness and Andrew Hurley, eds. Auctor Ludens: Essays on Play in Literature (Philadelphia: Benjamins, 1986), pp. 37-45.
Chaucer "organized his hagiographic play around the 'distinctiones', or normative arrays, giving and revenge, which are exemplified in the narrative clusters derivative of the hagiographics and the dramatic treatment of St. Nicholas and Absalom."
The "Clementine Recognitions" and "Apollonius of Tyre" were probably known to Chaucer. He eschews their incest motif but reminds readers of it by his reference to Apollonius in the introduction of MLT.
Fletcher, Alan J.
English Language Notes 24:2 (1986): 15-20.
The many appearances of the name Malkyn in medieval English texts do not support the common assumption that the name suggested a woman of loose morals but rather indicate that it evoked a woman of the lower classes.
Bollard, J. K.
Leeds Studies in English 17 (1986): 41-59.
WBT, Gower's "Tale of Florent," the "Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell," and "The Marriage of Gawain" (from the Percy Folio) are sufficiently different from the Irish tales of the transformed hag to raise doubts about the transmission of this…
Chmaitelli, Nancy Adelyne.
Dissertation Abstracts International 47 (1986): 1722A-1723A.
On the bases of manuscript illuminations, ivory and stone carvings, and typological windows, Chmaitelli examines Dante's pageant at the end of "Purgatorio" and Chaucer's WBPT. The former shows the degeneration of the Church, while the latter reveals…
