Browse Items (16382 total)

Considers BD, ABC, Pity, and HF to be Chaucer's "Edwardian" poetry, produced when he was closely associated with the royal family--first with the households of Elizabeth of Ulster and her husband, Prince Lionel, and then with the king's household.

Chaucer maintained a persistent interest in the complaint genre. Its modest dimensions and unprepossessing claims are part of its appeal, but Chaucer raises large questions about the foundations of cultural and metaphysical truths through the…

CT is a collection of narratives bound together in a frame with two central features: a pilgrimage and a game. The pilgrimage is the outer frame, while the game is a second, inner framing device--the organizing principle that brings the stories into…

Explores Chaucer's radical, bookishly theoretical preoccupation with language and art and argues that the social and psychological "realism" seen by earlier critics is also present. Knopp examines the Ovidian section of BD as an example of narrative…

"Pryvetee" assumes a spectrum of meanings and a range of functions in the overall scheme of CT. Hanning examines a few of these functions, suggesting that at the center of the poem and Chaucer's art is a mysterious, antithetical, yet symbiotic…

Proposes viewing Donne's poem "The Flea" from the theoretical perspective of D. W. Robertson, and argues that "if we read Donne's poem as Robertson reads Chaucer, a different kind of Donne emerges" than previously shown by scholars.

Considers the "international" aspects of Chaucer's works and Chaucer's "European nature as a writer." Emphasizes the importance of Chaucer's "ability to draw upon international vernaculars . . . and retain elements of his own culture" in his works,…

Focuses on Chaucer's storytelling style, which combines fiction, invention of literary characters that bring in "details and personalities from 'life,' " and metafictive narrative elements.

Concerns Chaucer's authorship of Astr, and "what that instrument contributes to Chaucer's idea of travel.

Contends that Chaucer's "international presence," due to his European travels connected to his position and service within the court, "instilled in him a European sensibility distinctly at odds with his modern image as the avatar of Englishness."

Discusses how Chaucer's storytelling narrative structure of MkT reflects the Italian genre of "casus tragedy," learned from Dante and Boccaccio.

Presents overlap between Chaucer's writings and the writings of Thomas Nashe, particularly the late sixteenth-century poem "The Choice of Valentines," which is "considered to be the most pornographic piece of writing to survive" Shakespeare's time.…

Traces the history of English from earlier times to Chaucer's age to reveal Chaucer's facility with language, focusing on his powerful and special words. Refers to J. R. R. Tolkien's 1934 lecture to the Philological Society, and claims that Chaucer…

Provides an overview of Chaucer as storyteller and narrator in CT, BD, HF, and TC.

Explores how CT reflects Chaucer's "orientation toward life that celebrates 'bisynesse' [business/busyness] and abhors wasteful idleness." Focuses on the importance of the Host and Chaucer's "marking of the time" in CT.

Examines the influence of Boethius on Dante, Boccaccio, and Chaucer. Focuses on how understanding "The Consolation of Philosophy" enhances the "philosophical reflection" and reception of TC for readers.

Argues that humor and multiple points of view make Chaucer's work essential reading in the "polemical atmosphere" of the present time. Contends that readers must pay careful attention when interpreting Chaucer's frequent ambiguities, reversals, and…

Examines how Chaucer and Gower handled the genre of "estates satire," and speculates how "their social critique moves away from an estates satire framework." Addresses mercantile practice in MerT, MLT, and WBT, and claims that Chaucer, like Gower,…

Outlines the basics of Middle English orthography and pronunciation, and Chaucer's vocabulary and literary models for students. Claims that learning to read Middle English, and understanding concepts of manuscript study, editing, and translation,…

Summarizes Chaucer's life, including his service and work within royal courts, his family, and a history of his writings.

The Pardoner and Elmer Gantry are "charlatan preachers," who are "comic satirical types." Both characters "reveal their own very human limits" and exemplify their authors' concern with the inadequacy of serious words to convey truth.

Examines MLT as one of several historical and literary accounts of princesses who marry husbands of a different religion and either convert themselves or persuade their husbands to convert. In addition to Constance, Goodman considers accounts of…

Assesses the characterizations of Dido in HF, LGW, and William Caxton's "Eneydos," analyzing their direct discourse and representations of mental state as examples of how premodern authors present well-known figures from the literary past. Chaucer's…

Surveys several classical, oriental, and exegetical traditions of the symbolic or exemplary value of the cock, variously an emblem of wisdom, pugnacity, or stupidity. Chauntecleer of NPT is unusual in combining many qualities, for later literary…

FrT is a tale warning Chaucer's audience about the stupidity of sin. The Friar tells a story of a foolish summoner who gives in to at least three of the deadly sins. Stupidity, not wickedness, leads the Summoner to hell.