Browse Items (16382 total)

Describes English analogues and the Latin original to Chaucer's lost translation, "Origenes upon the Maudelyne" (LGWP-F 428), hypothesizing that Chaucr translated his work upon the request of a lady and speculating why he may have done so.

Summarizes the plot of a modern analogue to RvT, David Madden's story called "Night Shift," published in "Playboy" magazine in 1971.

Summarizes the plot of the sixteenth-century Polish romance, "Historia o Cesar zu Otone," observing how a number of its motifs are paralleled in vernacular analogues, including MLT.

Resolves the apparent inconsistencies of astronomical dates in GP and MLP by explaining that Chaucer knew of and calculated by means of the "precession of the equinoxes," as is evident in FranT.

Accepts that variants in manuscripts of TC provide evidence of Chaucer's revisions and studies a number of small changes that affect meter, style, and emphasis; cancellations or moving of stanzas have broader implications for Chaucer's…

Examines various passages of praise of Troilus in TC, comparing them with a fifteenth-century Middle English theological poem, "The Sixtene Poyntes of Charite," observing that Chaucer's hero, while not Christian, exemplifies the Pauline ideals of the…

Gauges Chaucer's familiarity with the Arthurian romances of Chrétien de Troyes, commenting on the English poet's use of "vavasour" to describe the Franklin and on his allusions to Lancelot, Arthur, and Gawain. Suggests the possibility that…

Interprets various details in WBP and in the GP description of the Wife of Bath to determine whether she is a five-time widow or still wedded to Jankyn, finding the evidence to be inconclusive, perhaps richly ambiguous.

Explains why both Richard II and Henry IV antedated their grants to Chaucer to October 13 (1398 and 1399, respectively): Richard because it was the feast day of the translation of St. Edward the Confessor, whom he venerated; Henry, because he had…

Explains how TC "creates its own audience" through the narrator's addresses to readers/listeners that help to involve them as putative lovers, as judges of the characters, and, most importantly, as participants in the making of historical fiction and…

Describes the structure of the so-called marriage group, focusing on how the pairings of FrT and SumT and MerT and SqT contribute to the sense of dramatic climax fulfilled in FranT.

Distinguishes between two kinds of manuscripts of CT: those in which the entire poem is the sole item or the dominant one and those in which individual tales appear in anthologies. Focuses on the second kind, observing the moral or courtly nature of…

Surveys Chaucer's seven clerks (Nicholas and Absolon of MilT, John and Aleyn of RvT, the clerk of FranT, Jankyn of WBP, and the Clerk), describing the extent to which the characterizations accord with or echo what is known of "fourteenth-century…

Prosodic analysis of the Middle English lyric "Alysoun" that identiies several commonplace parallels with the description of Alisoun in MilT.

Shows that the use of verbs as rhyme words is ubiquitous in medieval (and later) poetry, and therefore not particularly Chaucerian as has been suggested. Suggests that rhyming with infinitives is especially prevalent because the form is…

Comments on charms in TC, ParsT, and MilT as an introduction to a general survey of medieval charms and the need to study them more extensively, especially those in medical manuscripts.

Argues that Dorigen of FranT is educable and capable of philosophical speculation but, as a woman limited by her culture, "she is unable to reason out ethical choices for herself." Through Dorigen (and other female characters), Chaucer criticizes the…

In PF Chaucer deconstructs antifeminist courtly conventions and appropriates power for women. The poem challenges the views of woman promulgated by courtly love by alluding to contemporary political events (marriage of Anne of Bohemia) and by…

Considers theories that Alison conspired with Jankyn to murder her fourth husband, assessing matters of criminal intent and liability, and exploring ways that WBP situates the reader as a victim of the Wife's special pleading.

Considers strategies that have been used to accuse and excuse Chaucer (and others) of prejudice against women, homosexuals, and Jews, suggesting that medieval language theory and Chaucer's awareness of the semiotic gap between sign and signified…

Studies Chaucer's poetic achievement in major and minor works with recurrent attention to relative chronology, the development of Chaucer's art, sources and analogues, and treatment of genres. Focuses on BD; Ven, Pity, and Mars as complaints; HF; LGW…

An introduction to Chaucer's pronunciation, grammar, and prosody, followed by an extensive analysis of his lexicon that considers aspects of his syntax, prose vocabulary, colloquial language, oaths, scientific diction, characterization through…

Gothic fantasy graphic novel in which Chaucer makes a cameo appearance, discussing poetry in a tavern in 1389. One of the characters in the tavern seeks to avoid death, an echo of PardT. Originally published in magazine form as The Sandman 9.16…

A novel set in the contemporary U.S. that alludes to CT in sustained ways. The plot follows a group of racecar fans on the Dale Earnhardt Memorial Pilgrimage, and includes a tour organizer named Bailey; participants named Reverend Knight, Mr.…

Item not seen; cited in MLA International Bibliography, where it is described as concerned with the application of phylogenetic analysis of the stemmatics of WBP.