Describes structural devices found in the medieval "artes poeticae," for example, those in treatises by Matthew of Vendome, Geoffrey of Vinsauf, and John of Garland, illustrating them with various literary works, including works by Chaucer. Discusses…
Baltzer, Rebecca A., Thomas Cable, and James I Wimsatt, eds.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991.
Five essays, and introduction, and a commentary on accompanying musical selections survey the interdependence of music and poetry in Provencal and medieval French and English: in the troubadour tradition, Old English poetry, French "formes fixes,"…
Explores the etymology and pronunciations of "Lithuania" in English, including an explanation of why Chaucer renders it "Lettow" in the GP description of the Knight (CT 1.54).
Explores the link between fear of God and literary expression, usually manifested as "overwhelming prolixity." Considers several of the tales in CT as part of this exploration.
Pedagogy, syllabus, sample assignments, and itineraries for a semester-long, London-based excursion course on English medieval literature, including Chaucer.
Bankert, Dabney Anderson.
Dissertation Abstracts International 57 (1997): 4733A.
Considers biblical, historical, traditional, and hagiographical accounts of conversion, exploring Chaucer's appropriation of them to psychologize courtly love or "'fin'amors' as a surrogate religion" in TC.
Conversions in TC are modeled ironically on those of St. Paul and St. Augustine. Like Paul, Troilus cannot escape his fate; he can only accept and serve. Like Augustine, Criseyde vainly tries to master the narrative that is out of her control.
Banks, David.
ASp [Anglais de spécialité]: La revue du GERAS 15-18 (1997): 451-60.
Banks gauges the place of Astr in the development of English scientific prose, tabulating grammatical metaphors, verbal nouns (ending with -ing), passive voice, personal pronouns, and instructional syntax (an infinitive clause followed by an…
Review of "Legenda femeilor cinstite si alte poeme" (1986). Dan Dutescu, praised as a highly sensitive translator possessing the "quintessence" of the art of translation, has given Romania its first complete Chaucer translation--of LGW.
Barab, Seymour, comp. and M. C. Richards.
[New York]: Boosey and Hawkes, 1964.
Musical score that adapts NPT, with lyrics in Modern English. Libretto by M. C. Richards. Composed, with additional lyrics and vocal score by Seymour Barab.
Provides links to online samples of Chaucer's works, "read by professors" and intended to "help students improve their pronunciation of Chaucer's Middle English." Includes passages from CT, TC, and other works. Formerly hosted at Virginia Military…
Baragona, Alan.
Susan Yager and Elise E. Morse-Gagné, eds. Interpretation and Performance: Essays for Alan Gaylord (Provo, UT: Chaucer Studio Press, 2013), pp. 117-34.
Students of Chaucer's poetry can easily appreciate its sounds and syntactical patterns, and should examine for themselves issues such as the pronunciation of final -e. Prosodic analysis can also be applied to translated versions of Chaucer. Live…
Barakat, Robert A.
Southern Folklore Quarterly 28 (1964): 210-15.
Cites the folk motif of "burying Death" under an oak tree and identifies "numerous parallels" between the Old Man of PardT and Odin from Norse mythology to argue that Odin is the "prototype" of the Old Man.
Barasch, Frances K.
English Literary Renaissance 34.2 (2004): 157-75.
Barasch traces puppetry from Socrates to the Renaissance, arguing that Elizabethan puppet theatre conveyed popular learning. Chaucer's descriptions of the pilgrim Geoffrey as a "popet" (7.701-2) and of Alison as a "popelote" (MilT 1.3254) may reflect…
Barbaccia, Holly G.
Dissertation Abstracts International 66 (2005): 2205A
Examines the concepts of "change and eschaunge" in Middle English poetry, with particular attention to Langland's Lady Meed, Gower's Constance, Criseyde from TC, and Lady Bertilak in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Considers instability and…
Barbaccia, Holly, Bethany Packard, and Jane Wanniger.
Merry Wiesner, ed. Gendered Temporalities in the Early Modern World (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018), pp. 213-34.
Explores how the "unfulfilled outcomes" of characters who are possibly mothers or possibly pregnant in TC, MerT, Shakespeare's "All's Well that Ends Well," and John Webster's "The Duchess of Malfi" "simultaneously enable author, character, and…
Chaucer's characterization in CT reflects the clash between the dogmatic world view of medieval philosophy and the critical, rational outlook proposed by post-Occamist philosophy. Variations in the "allegorical and/or individual costume" used in…
Barber, Charles,and Nicolas Barber.
Leeds Studies in English 21 (1990): 81-101.
Through a computer count of the syllabic length of 15,294 verses of CT, Barber challenges J. G. Southworth's hypothesis that unstresses final "-e" was not pronounced in Chaucer's verse. The results suggest that syllabic symmetry could have been…
Barber, Charles.
Claudia Blank, and others, eds. Language and Civilization: A Concerted Profusion of Essays and Studies in Honour of Otto Hietsch, 2 vols. (New York: Peter Lang, 1992), vol. 1, pp. 204-17.
According to Barber, "about half the examples of unelided word-final -e in CT were pronounced." A following study will determine in which words final -e was pronounced.
