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'Forto Compleyne She Had Gret Desire' : The Grievances Expressed in Two Fifteenth-Century Dream-Visions
Boffey, Julia.
Helen Cooney, ed. Nation, Court and Culture: New Essays on Fifteenth-Century English Poetry (Dublin and Portland, Ore.: Four Courts Press, 2001), pp. 116-28.
Contrasts the parliaments or courts of love in PF and LGWP with those in Lydgate's Temple of Glas and the anonymous Assembly of Ladies. The later poems present "idealizing fantasies of social assimilation or integration."
Fifteenth-Century Complaints and Duke Humphrey's Wives
Davenport, Tony.
Helen Cooney, ed. Nation, Court and Culture: New Essays on Fifteenth-Century English Poetry (Dublin and Portland, Ore.: Four Courts Press, 2001), pp. 129-51.
Examines two mid-fifteenth-century complaints that reflect public distrust of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, arguing that these complaints are more Lydgatian than Chaucerian, since Chaucer's own complaints had little influence at the time. An appendix…
The Idea of Englishness in the Fifteenth Century
Pearsall, Derek.
Helen Cooney, ed. Nation, Court and Culture: New Essays on Fifteenth-Century English Poetry (Dublin and Portland, Ore.: Four Courts Press, 2001), pp. 15-27.
There was no growing sense of an English nation until the time of Henry VIII, although there were momentary surges in 1290-1340 and 1410-1420, the latter focused on Chaucer. Language is crucial to nation building, and the process of "accrediting…
Thomas Hoccleve and Manuscript Culture
Thompson, John J.
Helen Cooney, ed. Nation, Court and Culture: New Essays on Fifteenth-Century English Poetry (Dublin and Portland, Ore.: Four Courts Press, 2001), pp. 81-94.
Examines Hoccleve's relations with the London book trade and the Lancastrian court to explain how his verse "managed to leak so successfully" into the Chaucer tradition. Hoccleve's manuscripts reflect his autobiographical self-fashioning and his…
New Perspectives on Lydgate's Courtly Verse
Bianco, Sue.
Helen Cooney, ed. Nation, Court and Culture: New Essays on Fifteenth-Century English Poetry (Dublin and Portland, Ore.: Four Courts Press, 2001), pp. 95-115.
Critical reception of Lydgate has been prejudiced by negative comparisons with Chaucer. Fuller appreciation of Lydgate's poetry depends on recognizing that, while moral and political issues in Chaucer are largely exemplary, Lydgate writes to effect…
'Nat that I chalange any thyng of right': Love, Loyalty, and Legality in the Franklin's Tale
Cartlidge, Neil.
Helen Cooney, ed. Writings on Love in the English Middle Ages (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), pp. 115-30.
In FranT, Chaucer presents a "moral dilemma that might be described as scholastic in its contrived intractability." The "quaestio disputanda" posed at the end of FranT compels readers to confront the Tale's irresolvable legal complexities of…
Romancing the Rose: The Readings of Chaucer and Christine
Driver, Martha W.
Helen Cooney, ed. Writings on Love in the English Middle Ages (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), pp. 147-62.
Driver explores how the Roman de la Rose was "re-written" for late medieval audiences in various ways: Chaucer advocates contemporary views of the work in his adaptation of La Vieille in WBP, and Pizan criticizes such views in her Book of the Three…
Writing About Love in Late Medieval Scotland
Bawcutt, Priscilla.
Helen Cooney, ed. Writings on Love in the English Middle Ages (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), pp. 179-96.
Bawcutt surveys love poetry of medieval Scotland in various genres, emphasizing the variety of tones and exploring the importance of Chaucer's influence.
Love Before Troilus
Cooper, Helen.
Helen Cooney, ed. Writings on Love in the English Middle Ages (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), pp. 25-43.
Before TC and KnT, most romances in England were Anglo-Norman and largely uninfluenced by the conventions of courtly love and the Petrarchan tradition. The reputation of Chaucer's works overshadows that of these other works and their more practical…
Love and Loyalty in Middle English Romance
Saunders, Corinne [J.]
Helen Cooney, ed. Writings on Love in the English Middle Ages (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), pp. 45-61.
Apart from Chaucer's works, most romances in Middle English "rewrite" their French and Latin analogues, representing the virtuous aspects of love rather than the conventions of the courtly game. Chaucer's writing exemplifies the "extremes of fin…
Troilus and Criseyde: Love in a Manner of Speaking
Windeatt, Barry.
Helen Cooney, ed. Writings on Love in the English Middle Ages (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), pp. 81-97.
Windeatt assesses the uncertainties and experiences of love in TC and considers aspects of Chaucer's humanism and experimentalism. Rather than condemning worldly love, TC explores its many variations.
The Wisdom of Old Women: Alisoun of Bath as Auctrice
Minnis, Alastair.
Helen Cooney, ed. Writings on Love in the English Middle Ages (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), pp. 99-114.
In the Wife of Bath, Chaucer radically remakes La Vieille from the Roman de la Rose, granting her true wisdom and authority. The Wife of Bath successfully uses Latin tradition and academic techniques in WBP, and WBT reflects the profound wisdom of…
Verse Forms.
Putter, Ad.
Helen Cooper and Robert R. Edwards, eds. Oxford History of Poetry in English. Volume 2, Medieval Poetry, 1100–1400 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023), pp. 128-44.
Catalogues the stylistic choices made by English poets in terms of meter, rhyme, and alliteration, before concluding with examples from Middle English poets, including Chaucer.
Poetic and Literary Theory.
Galloway, Andrew.
Helen Cooper and Robert R. Edwards, eds. Oxford History of Poetry in English. Volume 2, Medieval Poetry, 1100–1400 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023), pp. 145-64.
Focuses on Chaucer, Gower, and Langland, demonstrating how these poets bring together philosophical and theological ideas as they craft their poetry. Considers the innovations of Chaucer and Gower in terms of literary and poetic theory.
Saints' Lives and Sacred Biography.
Winstead, Karen A.
Helen Cooper and Robert R. Edwards, eds. Oxford History of Poetry in English. Volume 2, Medieval Poetry, 1100–1400 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023), pp. 227-42.
Traces the writing of saints' legends in poetry in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, highlighting the innovative approaches taken by a number of poets, including Chaucer in SNT.
Narrative on the Margins: Tales and Fabliaux.
Cannon, Christopher.
Helen Cooper and Robert R. Edwards, eds. Oxford History of Poetry in English. Volume 2, Medieval Poetry, 1100–1400 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023), pp. 245–56.
Offers a history of the fable in Middle English poetry, with examples from several poems, including discussing four extant fables. Concludes by showing the importance of the fable to the idea of the CT as a whole.
Chaucer's Courtly Poetry.
Lawton, David.
Helen Cooper and Robert R. Edwards, eds. Oxford History of Poetry in English. Volume 2, Medieval Poetry, 1100–1400 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023), pp. 409-24.
Highlights the enduring role of court poet for Chaucer, including his debts to "The Romance of the Rose" and the complicity of the narrator in TC. Discusses the creation of Alcestis in LGW.
The Canterbury Tales.
Windeatt, Barry.
Helen Cooper and Robert R. Edwards, eds. Oxford History of Poetry in English. Volume 2, Medieval Poetry, 1100–1400 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023), pp. 425-39.
Emphasizes and traces a poetic method common to the CT that Windeatt explores in terms of the tales and their openings; their emphasis on time, chance, and astrology; and the generic hybridity that defines the Tales.
Reception of the Middle English Poetic Tradition.
Boffey, Julia.
Helen Cooper and Robert R. Edwards, eds. Oxford History of Poetry in English. Volume 2, Medieval Poetry, 1100–1400 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023), pp. 457-69.
Examines the legacy and survival of fourteenth-century poetry and poetic innovations in the fifteenth century, emphasizing the influence of Chaucer and Gower, especially with regard to their shaping of the role of the poet.
Manuscripts: The Textual Record of Middle English Poetry.
Horobin, Simon.
Helen Cooper and Robert R. Edwards, eds. Oxford History of Poetry in English. Volume 2, Medieval Poetry, 1100–1400 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023), pp. 54-68.
Considers the specifics of the material form and transmission of Middle English poetry, touching on the idea of the anthology, along with examples. Concludes by tracing the dearth of evidence for pre-1400 transmission of Chaucer's works (along with…
The Poetic Field, I: Old and Middle English Language and Poetry.
Dance, Richard.
Helen Cooper and Robert R. Edwards, eds. Oxford History of Poetry in English. Volume 2, Medieval Poetry, 1100–1400 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023), pp. 71-87.
Concentrates on the relationship between Old and Middle English poetic forms, especially during the transition from Old to Middle English, focusing on the "Soul's Address to the Body" and "The Ormulum" before concluding with a discussion of Chaucer's…
'Dysemol Daies and Fatal Houres' : Lydgate's 'Destruction of Thebes' and Chaucer's 'Knight's Tale'
Simpson, James.
Helen Cooper and Sally Mapstone, eds. The Long Fifteenth Century: Essays for Douglas Gray (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997), pp. 15-33.
Reads Lydgate's "Destruction" as a Canterbury tale and a "pre-text" to KnT. Set historically before KnT, Lydgate's poem expands the boundaries of Chaucer's poem but "forecloses" its "limited possibilities for constructive human activity."
The Ballad and the Middle Ages
Green, Richard Firth.
Helen Cooper and Sally Mapstone, eds. The Long Fifteenth Century: Essays for Douglas Gray (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997), pp. 163-84.
Surveys ballad scholarship and argues that exploration of medieval ballads has value for broader study, suggesting, for example, that "King Henry" provides useful contexts for the gentility speech in WBT.
'Visio Baleii': An Early Literary Historian
Hudson, Anne.
Helen Cooper and Sally Mapstone, eds. The Long Fifteenth Century: Essays for Douglas Gray (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997), pp. 313-29.
Describes how John Bales sought to preserve English literary tradition by cataloging it in his "Scriptorum illustrium maioris Brytanniae...Catalogus" (1557 and 1559). Comments on Bale's treatment of Chaucer in the "longest entry concerning a…
Hoccleve and the Middle French Poets
Burrow, John.
Helen Cooper and Sally Mapstone, eds. The Long Fifteenth Century: Essays for Douglas Gray (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997), pp. 35-49.
Although Hoccleve's poetry is in many ways "at a further remove than Chaucer from French formal models," some features of his verse suggest a "closer affinity," especially the holograph manuscripts that can be seen as single-author "collected poems."
