Brindley, D. J.
English Studies in Africa 7 (1964): 148-56.
Demonstrates the "stylistic virtuosity" of NPT, consistent with its "multiple perspective," commenting on the plain style of the widow frame, "cinematic" details in descriptions, the quality and comedy of direct dialogue, the "graver rhetoric of the…
Calderwood, James L.
English Studies 45 (1964): 302-09.
Argues that in PardPT the Pardoner "is parodying himself--deliberately magnifying his character and conduct in order to portray himself as a monster of evil" exaggerating so that the other pilgrims will interpret him comically, as a "charming rogue,"…
Cartier, Normand R.
Revue de Littérature Comparée 38 (1964): 18-34.
Reviews attempts to clarify Chaucer's reference to Morpheus's companion "Eclympasteyr," found in BD line 167 and also found in Froissart's "Paradys d'Amour" as "Enclimpostair." Argues on linguistic and literary grounds that the name in "plain…
Christophersen, Paul.
English Studies 45.1-6 [Supplement] (1964): 146-50.
Scans two lines of GP (49 and 173), "usually felt to be awkward," arguing that in light of comparable Middle English examples the syllable counts and stress patterns of these lines are consistent with the "iambic-decasyllabic theory."
Argues that in ClT Chaucer "has successfully humanized the psychological motivation of both Walter and Griselda," de-emphasizing the "supernatural" aspects of the characterizations found in analogous narratives, and depicting his protagonists with…
Dean, Christopher.
Canadian Journal of Linguistics / Revue Canadienne de Linguistique 9.2 (1964): 67-74.
Tabulates and analyzes Chaucer's use of function words before nouns and pronouns, showing that his usage "resembles in the main that of modern English," although in at least one respect more similar to "modern vulgar English than modern standard…
Dunning, T. P.
Duthie, G. I., ed. English Studies Today, Third Series: Lectures and Papers Read at the Fifth Conference of the International Association of Professors of English Held at Edinburgh and Glasgow, August 1962 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1964), pp.89-106.
Contrasts the "quasi-heretical," "so-called Augustinian" views of sex in marriage as always sinful with those of Thomas Aquinas and others who treat sexual love in marriage as sinless when consistent with "amicitia" (friendship) and reason, arguing…
Elliott, John R., Jr.
Tennessee Studies in Literature 9 (1964): 11-17.
Argues that MerT "characterizes the Merchant" consistently, attributing several "awkward" passages in the Tale to the Merchant's engagement with an ongoing "debate" about marriage and considering his "pretensions" and "intense personal involvement"…
Erzgräber, Willi.
Riesner, Dieter, and Helmut Gneuss, eds. Festschrift für Walter Hübner (Berlin: Erich Schmidt, 1964), pp. 139-63.
Examines the tragic, comic, and ironic features of TC, comparing it with MkT in the genre of tragedy, and assessing its tragic, comic, tragicomic, and ironic aspects of theme, situation, characterization, and dialogue.
Gaylord, Alan T.
English Miscellany15 (1964): 25-45.
Explores the "shock of contrast" between the rejection of worldly love at the end of TC and the celebration of love found in earlier sections of the poem. The address to "yonge, fresshe folks" (5.1835) is consistent with the protagonists' youthful…
Penninger, F. Elaine.
South Atlantic Quarterly 63 (1964): 398-405.
Argues that by "idealizing" reality "into unreality" KnT opens the "question of appearance and reality," a recurrent concern throughout CT which is resolved only in ParsT.
Presson, Robert K.
English Miscellany 15 (1964): 9-21.
Surveys Chaucer's uses of thematic and stylistic contrast, antithesis, and contention, treating them not as examples of a divided mind "but rather of a mind most aesthetically aware how best to state what is experienced most intensely." Draws…
Explores associative and metaphoric links between Chaucer's Miller (GP and MilP), the devil, and Pilate, who was "traditionally an agent of the devil."
Adduces "popular lore" to show that Chaucer's references to a hare and a goat in the GP description of the Pardoner (1.684 and 688)--corroborated by other details from the actions and descriptions of the Pardoner--characterize him as a "testicular…
Rowland, Beryl.
Archiv für das Studium der Neueren Sprachen und Liteaturen 201 (1964): 110-14.
Surveys Chaucer's various metaphoric uses of animals, from "simple and conventional ideas about animals to throw light on man" to more elaborated or developed characterizations through more detailed comparisons.
Applies the techniques of "close reading" or "practical criticism" to works of medieval literature, adjusting the method to accord with medieval literary and linguistic conventions, especially oral recitation. Examines passages from "Piers Plowman,"…
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.
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.
Hoffman, Richard L.
Classica et Mediaevalia 25 (1964): 263-72.
Surveys arguments that seek to identify sources and analogues to the claim in KnT 1.1625-26 that neither love nor lordship "likes competition with another of its kind," citing similarities with TC 2.755-56, FranT 5.764-67, and others, and arguing…
Kleinstück, Johannes.
In Johannes Kleinstück, Mythos und Symbol in Englischer Dichtung (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1964), pp. 25-55.
Argues that Chaucer's depiction of fame in HF is skeptical, emphasizing its dependence upon fortune, and arguing that it is more similar to Montaigne's notion of glory than to those of Dante or Petrarch.
Sargeson, Frank.
In Collected Stories (Auckland, N.Z.: Blackwood and Janet Paul, 1964; London: MacGibbon and Kee, 1965), pp. 12-13.
Brief short story in which the narrator's desire to hear an authentic story--"to get to the Canterbury Tales outside the covers of a book"--leads to a change in his life.
Malcolmson, Anne, ed.
New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1964.
Modern English verse translations of portions of CT, designed for a juvenile audience, comprising abridged versions of GP, MkT (Samson, Nebuchadnezzer, and Croesus), NPT, ClT, ManT, FranT, Th, MLT, CYT, and PardT, each introduced with brief comments…
Twelve short dramas for oral reading, including a Modern English prose adaptation of CT (pp. 161-83) that retells portions of GP, KnT, WBT, NPT, and PardT, with narrative transitions between them. Designed for juvenile audience; reading time…
Summarizes CT in "outline form," divided into units (following the Ellesmere order) and interspersed with brief interpretive comments on background, genre, plot, and characters. Opens with a General Introduction to backgrounds and Chaucer's Life;…
