Browse Items (16382 total)

Mutual concern with mystical wholeness and unity in Chaucer, Langland, and Malory derives from literary and intellectual tradition rather than from the authors' philosophical acceptance of such an ideal. The ideal is unattainable in their works,…

Although there is little doubt that Chaucer is a medieval poet, his emphasis on the real world in CT and his use of temporal and reality-based allusions point to a Renaissance influence.

For individual essays that pertain to Chaucer, of this volume.

Examines narrative structures in "Disciplina clericalis," "Sendebar," "Calila e Dimna," CT, "Decameron," "Auberee et Le Pretre et Alison," and "Dame Siriz," using Bremond's sequential analysis to explore event-linking and deception, and Barthes's…

Tallies instances of Chaucer's attention to childhood education in CT.

Linguistic analysis of Chaucer's syntactical techniques in GP.

A deconstructive-psychoanalytical reading of WBP that examines the gaps left in the Wife's discourse, exploring implications of rape, sexual economics, and prostitution.

Compares and contrasts Griselda of ClT with the Biblical Job to show that her morality is unorthodox and that she can be seen as a usurper of male roles.

Examines the GP sketch of the Prioress for evidence that she is poorly matched with her vocation, a mismatch especially evident in her attractiveness, coquetry, and "zest for life."

Examines the interconnections of theme and genre in NPT, maintaining that rhetoric links the "fictive manner" and the "fictive matter" of the tale.

Analyzes the rhetorical shift between the third-person presentational voice of the first eighteen lines of GP and the following first-person voice of the involved narrator. The passage exploits a new paradigm of narration and validates the theories…

Explores Emily's moments of speech and silence in KnT to argue that, at the end of the narrative, she is "the perfect example of the silent signifier," lacking any personal meaning beyond what is inscribed by the prevailing courtly attitudes.

Jones explores the use of the leek as a phallic symbol in works by Chaucer, Shakespeare, Boccaccio, and Rabelais.

Impressionistic commentary on the levels of narration in MilT, its self-conscious concern with auditory and visual perspective, its mockery of the Bible, and the process of its humor. The reader's point of view is that of a panopticon that turns out…

The comedy of MerT is brought out through Chaucer's manipulation of various literary sources and styles.

Mel capitalizes on a pattern of attention to women earlier in CT, reflecting Chaucer's own concern with female rights of speech and self-expression.

Criseyde rejects the values of courtly love that Troilus embraces. In her relation with Diomede, Criseyde rejects courtly love and its attachment to death in favor of a life-affirming love.

Examines Chaucer's narratorial intrusions in TC, arguing that they both lead the reader to assimilliate abrupt shifts in sensibility and perspective and move the reader from objective observation to subjective response.

While Chaucer approached TC as a "historical" poet, Henryson wrote as a "literary" poet, relying less than Chaucer on rhetorical ornamentation and more on his own invention.

Examines a series of passsages that characterize Criseyde's relations with her lovers.

Compares the consciously nominalistic modern poetics of German realist Andersch to Chaucer's nominalist mentality as evident in the anti-deterministic mood in TC.

Critical edition of BD with introduction, text and notes, and an appendix which includes selections from analogous French works by Machaut and Froissart.

Surveys issues in the textual history of LGW, e.g., its production in booklets and evidence of readership. Also describes codicological details of the ten surviving manuscripts that include the poem. Does not address the two versions of LGWP.

Surveys the issues in the textual history of "Parlement of Fowls," e.g., the role of Cambridge University Library MS Gg 4.27; the status of the roundel; and the influence of the poem. Also describes codicological details of the fourteen surviving…

Surveys engagement with Dante by writers in English, from Chaucer to Seamus Heaney. Discusses Dantean influence on the Hugelyn section of MkT, and on other portions of CT, HF,Lady, and TC.