Browse Items (16382 total)

Argues that concern with Providence is a major factor in the "high seriousness" of Chaucer's poetry, exploring relations between theological and poetic formulations of Providence before Chaucer and in a variety of his works.

Observes parallels between the failed sight of Katherine's guide Adrian and that of January in MerT. Argues that Capgrave's use of such problems of vision highlights the human tendency to rely on "oculi carnis" rather than "oculi mentis."

KnT, FranT, MLT, NPT, and ParsT all reveal the Providential plan for the world as benign. Despite the irony, CT upholds Boethian Christian ideals.

Summarizes ClT, describing it as a successful riposte to WBT and a victory for "book-learning."

In light of Hans Jauss's reception theory, the fabliau can be seen as an evolving genre of social satire with humor deriving from the discrepancy between the behavior of social climbers and society's expectations. Treats Chaucer's fabliaux and…

Uses MLT and Trevet's version of the Constance story to show how Gower "infused" his Constance story in the "Confessio Amantis" with "pastoral rhetoric in order to transform Constance into a representative of Charity" and thereby offer an "'exemplum…

Offers advice on how an undergraduate course focusing on Chaucer can serve the curricula of both literary and linguistics programs. Proposes several learning outcomes, and provides classroom strategies and emphases whereby linguistic and literary…

Examines the symbolic role of the privy pit in PrT, arguing for analogy "between the pit in the Jewish ghetto and the womb of the Virgin Mary."

In light of Hans Jauss's reception theory, most scribes' and readers' glosses characterize SNT as either a study of Cecilia's personality or a reflection of Chaucer's religious nature. The narrative structure, however, places it at the juncture of…

Lexical similarities and broad organizational strategies in Bokenham's legend suggest that his sources were SNT, the "Legenda," and the "Passio." Bokenham reveals an early fifteenth-century appreciation of Chaucer's skill as author and translator.

Although SNT has been considered a straightforward account of St. Cecilia, apocalyptic techniques make it more complex. Engaging apocalyptic imagination, Chaucer focuses on "eschatology, renovation, and the collapse of time."

Compares and contrasts descriptions of feasts by the "Gawain"-poet and Chaucer (WBT, KnT, SqT, the GP description of the Prioress, and ParsT), with comments on the "Second Shepherds' Play," and Robert Henryson.

Describes aspects of late medieval celebrations--focusing on feasting--to provide context for celebratory scenes in Middle English literature: "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" compared with "Cleanness"; Chaucer's KnT, WBT, SqT, the GP description of…

Item not seen. Young-adult, historical novel about Edward III's ascendancy to power and marriage, presented as a tale told by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of Edward's reign.

Explores connections between text and places (landscapes, architecture, textual architecture) in KnT, focusing on Theseus's efforts to organize space and events and on the narrative's introduction of original motifs and discrepancies.

Jasper examines Petruchio's use of clothing as a form of gender control in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, comparing it with similar uses of clothing in versions of the Griselda story-Boccaccio's, Petrarch's, ClT, and John Phillips's "The…

Reads CT as a unified, encyclopedic "symposium on what men should seek, and what they should avoid," focusing on variety in the GP, the pilgrimage motif, and the "three longest tales": KnT, Mel, and ParsT.

Anthologizes in chronological order poems and extracts from English poetry written in Britain, including selections from Chaucer in Middle English (pp. 5-8): "Now welcome, somer" (PF 680), "At the gate" (TC 5.1114-1183), and "The fresshe flour"…

By means of vocabulary items, characteristics of Chaucerian English as found in the "Kingis Quair" are noted in passing.

Applies "register-theory" to PardPT to demonstrate Chaucer's "Gothic" juxtapositioning of various kinds of discourse. Jeffrey examines the mode, domain, topic, and tenor of the discursive units in PardPT and suggests that the characteristic variety…

Twelve essays by various hands on Chaucer's received Christian tradition, scriptural interpretation, and glossing. For individual essays, of this volume.

Until 1369, Wyclif, powerful and influential, dominated Oxford; the "Lollard Knights" were prestigious men of court;and John of Gaunt was patron of both Chaucer and Wyclif. Appendix applies Wyclif's ideas to Chaucer's poetry: Gent, Truth, Form Age,…

The Aeneas story as cliche is appropriate for the poem's subject: fame. The fame of Aeneas was important in Christian historiography, but ambivalent because of his betrayal of Dido. Biblical language and allusion rather than "the story of Troy or…

Jeffrey explores Chaucer's allusions to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), arguing that they reflect Chaucer's distrust of glossing and that the Sermon underpins theological themes of CT most evident in Mel and ParsT: peacemaking and obedience.

Chrétien's "Erec and Enide" does not celebrate courtly love but provides a "model for rightly ordered desire." Chaucer highlights the "social and spiritual value" of marriage in CT, PF, TC, and various lyrics. Henry VIII's own theatrics, however,…