Kean, P. M.
London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972.
Describes Chaucer's contributions to English literary tradition: a "new kind of organization" of large narrative, an "urbane" style that assumes a shared set of values with its audience, and a "new attitude" toward the "usefulness and dignity" of…
Close comparison of passages in TC and their sources in Boccaccio's "Filostrato" discloses how Chaucer "sets in motion" early in his poem "a train of events whose implications go far beyond the immediate moment, perhaps beyond the love story itself,"…
Kearney, A. M.
Essays in Criticism 19 (1969): 245-53.
Argues that tensions within FranT indicate that Chaucer was subtly reinforcing the notion that male sovereignty in marriage is, realistically, advisable when combined with mutual trust and cooperation between the partners.
Kearney, Anthony.
Essays in Criticism 21 (1971): 109-11.
Responds to Dorothy Colmer's critique (Essays in Criticism 20 [1970]) of Kearney's earlier discussion of FranT (Essays in Criticism 19 [1969], taking issue with Colmer's notion that "quadruple irony" redounds upon the reader.
The 'certyn thyng' the narrator deludedly pursues through scholarly exploration is the necessity of undergoing experience (i.e., entering the gates "for better of for worse") to discover the meaning of love. Nature's concern for the "commune profyt"…
Kearney, John.
South African Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 4 (1994): 95-107
In FranT, the seriatim pity of the characters makes it possible for others to move through the worldly truth that it is necessary to suffer in time, toward the greater truth of unchanging stability. The rocks represent the need for worldly…
"Wyn ape" in ManT (9.44) should be taken as "fool's wine." The Manciple had drugged the Cook in order to prevent him from betraying his (the Manciple's) chicanery, and in the Headlink, he serves him with an antidote.
Kearney, Milo, and Ken Hogan.
Milo Kearney. The Historical Roots of Medieval Literature: Battle and Ballad (Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen, 1992), pp. 439-91.
Surveys CT and contemporary works for their reflections of social turmoil. CT reflects Chaucer's views of social order as properly based on class structure and the ultimate goal of salvation.
A general survey referring to the hag of WBT as part of the tradition of women who approach heroes in disguises; to Troilus's dream of Diomedes as a pig, a symbol of lust; and to the Pardoner's counterfeit relics, pig bones.
Kears, Carl, and James Paz, eds.
London: King's College London Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies, 2016.
Includes essays that seek to redefine science fiction as literature that combines interests in both science and literature. Also examines the use of the medieval in modern fantasy texts. For three essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Medieval…
Kears, Carl, and James Paz.
Carl Kears and James Paz, eds. Medieval Science Fiction (London: King's College London Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies, 2016), pp. 3-38.
Argues for a consideration of texts as "science fiction," even if they were produced before the Enlightenment, and further defines the genre to include any text that combines interests in science and fiction. Includes comparison of CYT to Shelley's…
Kee, Kenneth, ed.
New York: St. Martin's; Toronto: Macmillan of Canada; London: Macmillan, 1966.
Reprints (generally from Chaucer Society publications) selections from Chaucer's short poems (MercB, Ros, Sted, Buk, Adam, and Purse) and from CT (GP, WBPT, MerPT, FranT, NPT, ParPT, and Ret), with sidebar glosses and bottom-of-page explanatory…
Kee, Kenneth.
English Studies in Canada 1 (1975): 1-12.
The Franklin, not to be identified as Chaucer's spokesman regarding marriage, frequently intrudes into his story in order to present a favorable self image before his listeners. His intrusions also divert his audience from serious moral issues his…
Representative British poetry (lyrics and selections from narrative verse), ranging from Middle English lyrics to poetry written in the 1990s. Arranged chronologically, with no introduction or notes, but with indexes of poets, first lines, and…
Keen, Maurice.
V. J. Scattergood and J. W. Sherborne, eds. English Court Culture (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1983), pp. 45-61.
Why is the Knight identified with crusades against the infidel at a time when crusading fervor had supposedly dissipated? Evidence from three contemporary disputes over armorial bearings (at one of which Chaucer testified) suggests that the…
Keen, Maurice.
Matthew Strickland, ed. Armies, Chivalry and Warfare in Medieval Britain and France: Proceedings of the 1995 Harlaxton Symposium. Harlaxton Medieval Studies, no. 7 (tamford, Lincolnshire: Watkins, 1998), pp. 1-12.
Keen surveys a range of late medieval attitudes toward chivalry, knighthood, and warfare, especially a "streak of puritanism" that criticized the vainglory of chivalry. He considers a range of texts, including Chaucer's ParsT and the GP description…
Assesses the six oaths by saints--Martyn, Denys, Peter, Yves, Austyn, and Jame--in ShT, arguing that familiarity with details of the saints' lives provokes the audience to condemn the characters in the Tale.
Keen, William Parker.
Dissertation Abstracts International 28.10 (1968): 4133-34A.
Traces the character development of the Host in CT (following the Ellesmere ordering of the parts) and reads NPT as his "turning point" when he abandons comic "crudity, violence, and carelessness" for "capable leadership." Assesses Harry Bailly's…
Considers the diction and details of the description of the Host, Harry Bailly, in GP, especially as they are developed in the dramatic action of GP in anticipation of the Host's comic slips later in CT. Discusses his merriness; his concern with…
Keenan, Hugh T.
American Notes and Queries 16 (1978): 66-67.
The 29 pilgrims may allude to Becket's feast day, December 29. The etymology of "Thomas" in Mirk's "Festial" as "alle mon" corresponds to the representative range of pilgrims and sounds like the Knight's description. Readers might add this…
Keenan, Hugh T.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 79 (1978): 36-40.
The "snow" of food and drink in the Franklin's house evokes manna, which was like hoarfrost in the Bible, and therefore snow in medieval references. The result is eucharistic parody, discrediting the Franklin's feast.
A series of essays by various authors, some with continental applications, with an annotated bibliography of medieval English literature through 1987.
For essays that pertain to Chaucer. search for Typology and English Medieval Literature under…
Kehler, Joel R.
English Language Notes 12 (1975): 184-87.
Joseph's Conrad's epigraph to "The Rescue" quotes FranT 5.1342-44, and the two works share concern with "chivalric idealism" and 'amour courtois'." The heroines of the two works are "captives of illusion," and they abandon courtly suitors when…
