Reads TC allegorically, with sustained attention to astrological imagery, characterization, narrative structure, the biblical Book of Daniel, and the Augustinian theme of the transference of power.
Nims, Margaret.
University of Toronto Quarterly 43 (1974): 215-30.
Traces commentaries on metaphor ("translatio") among medieval classicizing poets and rhetoricians, especially Alan de Lille and Geoffrey of Vinsauf, and examines samples of metaphor in Chaucer's works that reflect these commentaries. Focuses on…
Giaccherini, Enrico.
Revista di Letterature Moderne e Comparate 27 (1974): 165-76.
Assesses the terms used for varieties of dreams summarized in HF 1-12, comparing them with their source in Macrobius's "Commentary on the Dream of Scipio," with Latin usage, and with Chaucer's uses of the terms elsewhere in his works.
Dalbey, Marcia A.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 75 (1974): 408-15.
Examines the allegorization of Pluto and Proserpine in the "Ovide Moralisé" and argues that it discloses how as figures of "earthly lust" their episode is well integrated into MerT.
Clark, Roy P[eter].
Thoth: Syracuse Graduate Studies in English 14.1 (1973-74): 37-43.
Exemplifies associations of demons and scatology in folklore and early literature, arguing that they underlie Absolon's "symbolic function as demon-villain" in MilT.
Berry, Reginald.
University of Toronto Quarterly 43 (1974): 285-97.
Explains the association of the eagle and air (as the medium of sound) in HF by identifying a number of iconographic affiliations of eagles with air in medieval depictions of the four elements. Includes 6 b&w illustrations
Boulger, James D.
John H. Dorenkamp, ed. Literary Studies: Essays in Memory of Francis A. Drumm ([Worchester, Mass.]: College of the Holy Cross, 1973), pp. 13-32.
Reads the NPT as a reflection of its narrator's moral sentiment, suggesting that the Nun's Priest is an intellectual, neither a stern moralist nor a modern relativist; he is a man content with "aesthetic contemplation" of the "world's failings."
A series of studies that focus on Chaucer's clerks, particularly their university backgrounds and the social conditions that serve as backdrop to their activities. Includes four sections: "Life and Learning in Rolls and Records," "Town and Gown,"…
Twenty-line poem in five four-line stanzas, with possible echoes of GP, a reference to Chaucer in the title, and a quotation of GP lines 1.9-10 on the cover. This art edition is limited to 300 copies, designed as a holiday greeting, with a cover…
Millichap, Joseph R.
University of Dayton Review 10.3 (1974): 3-6.
Contrasts ShT with analogous tales (Boccaccio's "Decameron" 8.1; Sercambi's "Novelle" 19) to demonstrate how the "pervasive irony" of the tale reveals moral censure of the characters and their actions.
Brunskill, Ann, illus.
London: World's End Press, 1974.
Item not seen; reported in WorldCat with the following note: "Contains Fragment A of the Middle English Romaunt of the Rose, sometimes (as here) attributed to Chaucer, with the parallel section (verses 1-1670) of its Old French ancestor . . . . 'A…
Utley, Francis Lee.
Western Folklore 33 (1974): 181-201.
Comments on the roles and methods of folklore study in literary criticism, arguing that international folktales are as important as elite narratives for understanding and appreciating medieval literature. Discusses plots shared by Boccaccio and…
Szittya, Penn R.
Studies in Philology 71 (1974): 19-46.
Identifies allusions in SumT to biblical passages that were used by fraternal orders and criticized in antifraternal commentary. The allusions, which engage a "theological controversy well known in Chaucer's time," satirize friars' hypocritical…
Jordan, Robert M.
Yale French Studies 51 (1974): 223-34.
Assesses structural and stylistic features (rather than the subject matter) of medieval narratives classed as romance, analyzing the "compositional structure" of WBT, particularly its "inorganic" and "additive" incorporation of digressive materials.…
Defines clandestine marriage and describes it as a widespread and well-known phenomenon in fourteenth-century England, even though condemned by the Church. Argues that because the lovers in TC are not Christian, their love is "licit" and not…
Reads PardPT for the ways they reveal more about the Pardoner than he intends. The Old Man shows the pain of the Pardoner's "joyless existence," even though he has attempted to disguise it in his Prologue; the rioters reveal his obsession with death…
Manning, Stephen.
South Atlantic Bulletin 39.1 (1974): 17-26.
Psychoanalyzes the oral imagery in PardPT (food, drink, swearing, the Eucharist, "taking in," aggressive speech, phallic tongues, kissing), arguing that it indicates the Pardoner's unconscious search for pardon.
