Browse Items (16381 total)

That theme relates to numerical structures is apparent not only in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" but also in FranT,where each of the three parts reveals a pattern of A ("a major trouthe"), B (complaint), and C (helpful human intervention). Thus,…

Arveragus is a more fully developed character if we acknowledge his relatively low degree (compared with that of Dorigen). Class status also clarifies the teller's own status and his admiration for rhetoric.

By Chaucer's time, it had become common for magnates to take their meals in privacy, not in the great hall. Such practice is criticized in "Piers Plowman" B 10.99-102 (Kane ed.). Hence, the Franklin may be being praised for retaining the ancient…

Arveragus's choice between allowing himself to be cuckolded or making Dorigen break her promise to Aurelius is a false dichotomy: he could have found a "tertium quid" in leaving the choice to her and thereby acting as lover rather than husband, as…

PhyT has been undervalued; it is meant to be read in conjunction with the two that precede and follow it. A comparison with Gower's version and with Chaucer's similar story of Lucrece elucidates the tale. Virginia's character is brought into focus…

Consideration of contemporary education and conditions shows the Physician a capable and ethical "practisour" who "follows the established medical practices and standards of his time."

The Jungian "puer aeternus" concept clarifies the relationship between the Pardoner and the Host, who fills the role of "senex." The Knight's (negative) intervention reveals him as a positive "senex" figure.

The charged "psychological context" of the GP description of the Pardoner as a mare can be partly reconstructed on linguistic evidence. Later English usage, as well as earlier French and Old Norse citations, indicates that the noun commonly meant…

The potential medieval etymologizing of "envoluped" and the association of "fundament" with Christ and his Church deepen the significance of the exchange between the Host and the Pardoner.

Seventeen papers read at the Centenary Conference, Groningen, Jan.15-16, 1986. For two essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for One Hundred Years of English Studies in Dutch Universities under Alternative Title.

Following the precepts of Russian formalism, one perceives that along with other related words, "deeth" and "sleeth" give unity to PardT. The word-complex is also associated with the Pardoner's sterility.

PardT contains a series of mirror paradoxes: the rioters' quest to slay Death becomes Death's quest to slay them; the Old Man claims he cannot find Death but directs the rioters to it; and the rioters' success in their quest proves to be their…

Williams examines historical and cultural links between England and Portugal during the Middle Ages as well as circumstantial links between Chaucer and Fr. Hermenegildo de Tancos, author of "Orto do esposo," speculating on similarities between PardT…

Stresses that genre markers influence audience reception. Surveys the "mass of single works called "fabliaux proprement dits" to determine "invariant elements," which are genre markers in four categories: "communicative situation, province of…

Includes a translation of the hymn "Alma Redemptoris Mater," which in the manuscript is accompanied by a note referring to the miracle Chaucer retold in PrT.

The subject matter and "didactic thrust" of Mel may have been inspired by the political unrest and Parliamentary disputes of 1386-88. The neglected Mel should be studied again with the care and enthusiasm that went into its writing.

Delimits "the notion of iconicity in syntax before examining how iconic word order patterns contribute to the 'iconic text interpretation.'" Applies theories to Mel.

The pacifism of Gower's later writings develops from an early grounding in the legalist theories of Isidore and Gratian to an Augustinian emphasis on motivation. Chaucer's position is less clear, but also eirenic, as inferred from biographical data,…

Haas interprets MkT as Chaucer's critical testing of tragedy (one of the most problematic pagan genres being revived) and thus his evaluation of the most progressive endeavors of his age, voiced with the greatest impact by "maister Petrak."

Dealing with "gender difference, injunctions on sexual pleasure, and domestic role," Wayne offers a feminist analysis of Zenobia, used as an exemplum by many writers, including Chaucer in MkT.

Chaucer's portrait of the Monk is consistent throughout CT. In narrating MkT, the Monk distorts biblical passages such as the Samson exemplum, showing himself remiss in biblical studies just as the GP Monk is lax in other clerical duties.

With all its verbal activity or "jangling," NPT functions as a "metonymy for the nature of poetry itself." Chauntecleer and the Narrator struggle with rhetoric and meaning; the Poet "sees beyond the jangling," transforming apparent absurdity into "a…

Responding to recent reader-response theory, Ruud distinguishes among fictional audience, intended audience, implied audience, and current reader.

In his last allusion in NPT, the Nun's Priest reminds us once again of the preaching tradition with which his tale has been playing. The various narrative perspectives shift so frequently that NPT is more than just an idle tale or a tale about a fox…

Set in "a sort of suburban underworld," SNT and CYT treat "subtle threats" to the established values and ideologies of the city. For Chaucer, "the potential for growth and change...lay beyond the comfortably reassuring town walls in the suburban…