Browse Items (16453 total)

Dramatic irony in FranT and FranP results in incongruities between the characters' appearances and their absurdities, also demonstrating the Franklin's ill-claimed eloquence and acquaintance with rhetoric.

Compares several theories of Middle English pronunciation, arguing that Chaucer's rhymes require pronunciation of final -e (in Korean with English abstract).

NPT subverts the idea of tragedy reflected in MkT, and KnT counterpoints its tragic view of fate. Diverse and comprehensive in his outlook, Chaucer is not content with a simple formula.

Examines the polyphonic aspects of CT, following the theory of Bakhtin; regards CT as serio-comic and carnivalesque.

In HF, Chaucer criticizes incompetent poets for pursuing fame, claiming fame for himself as a true poet. (In Korean, with English abstract.)

Chaucer's sympathy toward women is questionable, given the context of ClT and Walter's dominance over Griselda.

Chaucer prompts his readers to recognize that the Wife of Bath misreads and adapts the authorities she confronts, reminding us that multiple meanings are everywhere possible. This deconstruction of meaning prompts deconstruction of the male/female…

Contrasts WBT with its English analogues and assesses the role of rhetorical dilation, which Chaucer derived from Roman and French traditions. The digressions compel readers to engage WBT dialogically.

Considers the "politics of translation" in ClT, arguing that the tale is primarily concerned with how Walter "draws out the willing submission of his subjects," manifest in the "analogical relation between Walter and Griselda as the translator and…

Argues that a "pre-modern nationalist discourse" inspired Chaucer to "spawn his own 'nationalist discourse,'" and that Chaucer's reception as the "father" of English poetry "mediates thirteenth century post-colonialism and nineteenth-century…

Surveys Chaucer's use of astrological, alchemical, and physiognomic details as devices of narration and characterization.

Draws examples from "Beowulf" and CT to demonstrate transition in impersonal constructions in the Middle English period, especially evident in uses of the expletive "it" with an infinitive ("It happed hym to ride").

The allegory of ParsPT assumes that literature can somehow represent truth, while the theology of ParsPT emphasizes the impossibility of humanity's comprehending such truth. Ret espouses a mediating negative allegory that indicates divine…

In Chaucer's prose, where usage is unaffected by metrical considerations, the presence or absence of the "y-" prefix in past participles is not random. Chaucer uses "y-" for stylistic variations and to convert nouns to verbs, and it almost always…

Surveys electronic databases for the historical study of English; includes a one-page summary of Old and Middle English corpora, including those with Chaucer texts, accompanied by web addresses.

Traces usage of generic 'they,' following an epicene antecedent (such as 'anyone' or 'everyone') to the late fourteenth century. The Hengwrt manuscript of CT shows an eighteen percent occurrence of 'euery,' 'ech, 'and 'euerich' as antecedents to…

Addresses historical sociolinguistic trends between 1400 and 1800, tracing the disappearance of multiple negative (negative concord) usage to the latter half of the eighteenth century. However, data also suggest that Late Middle English initiated the…

Studies the occurrence of "extra" (doubled or mismatched) prepositions in Middle English relative and interrogative clauses and the persistence of the phenomenon in modern English. "Noncategorical" (gradient) constraints such as "preposition…

Tabulates and analyzes the "positive, comparative, and superlative adjectives in Chaucer's works," challenging the notions that in Middle English only monosyllabic adjectives that end in a consonant are inflected and comparative and superlative…

Fulk extols two collaborative editions of Chaucer for their excellent textual editing: The Variorum Chaucer by Ruggiers and Ransom, and Benson's Riverside Chaucer; additionally, praises Peter Robinson's digital Canterbury Tales Project. Warns…

Applies modern translation theories to Rom, identifying Chaucer's goal of testing the "capacity of English to attain higher spheres of expression." Far from being a servile translator, Chaucer composed a "metapoem" with a range of translational…

Thomas W. Ross's "Variorum Edition" of MilT creates new possibilities for interpreting the misdirected kiss.

Ambiguous old men in English poetry, including the one in PardT, can be illuminated by the psychological archetype of the "wise old man" that Jung describes in "The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairy Tales."

Details of the Prioress's GP description, WBPT, and Emelye's desires in KnT indicate that "women by nature oppose man's endeavor to rule and establish order in the world."

Treats the first misdirected kiss as a regression fantasy, followed by cleanliness neurosis; the second as a homosexual humiliation.