Koff, Leonard Michael.
Medieval Translator/Traduire au Moyen Age 14 (2018): 395-409.
Contrasts medieval Augustinian views of translation with those of modern translation theory and practice, applying the former to the adaptation/translation of CkT found in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 686. Argues that the Bodley scribe…
Koff, Leonard.
R. F. Yeager and Brian W. Gastle, eds. Approaches to Teaching the Poetry of John Gower (New York: Modern Language Association, 2011), pp. 83-90.
Comparative essay that includes commentary on Chaucer's "volatile response" to the story of Philomela in his LGW, suggesting that Chaucer's account may reflect anxiety about Gower's influence.
The character Malyne, more complex than her fabliau antecedents, adds an ambiguous subplot to RvT. Emphasizing disorder, the subplot undercuts the theme of "retribution" in the main storyline.
Kohl, Stephan.
Willi Erzgraber and Sabine Volk, eds. Mundlichkeit und Schriftlichkeit im englischen Mittelalter. Script Oralia, vol. 5 (Tubingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 1988), pp. 133-46.
Kohl examines conscious "orality" and appeals to the reader by narrators in the poetry of Ricardian authors: Gower, the "Gawain" poet, and others, including Chaucer (CT, TC, PF, LGW, and HF). With the introduction of unreliable narrators, the…
Chaucer's pilgrims reappear in the prologues of "The Tale of Beryn" (ca. 1410) and Lydgate's "Seige of Thebes" (1422) as "metafictions," or comments on Chaucer's GP; "Beryn" criticizes implicitly the lack of realism in Chaucer, and Lydgate portrays…
Kohl, Stephan.
Roderick J. Lyall and Felicity Riddy, eds. Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Scottish Language and Literature (Medieval and Renaissance) (Stirling/Glasgow: Department of Scottish Literature, University of Glasgow, 1981), pp. 285-98.
Aruges that in its depiction of love Henryson's "Cresseid" is more a Renaissance poem than a medieval one. Though its subject matter and verse form follow Chaucer, the poem gives license "to love a human being for his or her own sake--not for God's…
Kohl, Stephan.
Ulrich Müller and Kathleen Verduin, eds. Papers from the Fifth Annual General Conference on Medievalism 1990 (Göppingen: Kümmerle, 1996), pp. 179-87
Characterizes the treatment of Chaucer in the critical journal Scrutiny as a "deliberate fragmentation" of his works in an effort to convey upon the poet an ahistorical and timeless sense of value and authority.
Kohl, Stephan.
Frankfurt am Main: Akadermische Verlagsgesellschaft, 1973.
Assesses Chaucer's knowledge of medieval sciences, especially astrology and medicine, arguing that CYPT and the Physician's materials indicate that Chaucer "had no expert knowledge of these sciences." Seeks nevertheless to gauge his attitude toward…
In MerT and two French fabliaux ("Les perdris" and "Le prestre qui abevete"), the "victims' justifiably skeptical search for visual proof" paradoxically results in deceptive "visual confirmation." Examining how this process takes place may elucidate…
An examination of "wit" and its near synonyms provides a control for the study of terms of cognition. Bo discards native words such as "understanding" and "knowing," in favor of Romance words such as "intelligence" and "science." These latter terms…
Koivisto-Alanko, Päivi.
Irma Taavitsainen, Gunnel Melchers, and Pivi Pahta, eds. Writing in Nonstandard English (Amsterdam and Philadelphia: J. Benjamins, 1999), pp. 205-23
Quantitative analysis of the language of cognition (e.g., "intellect," "knowing," "wit") in Chaucer reveals how such language entered English usage. Borrowings from French and Latin entered with specific, high-prestige philosophical or scientific…
Kökeritz, Helge.
New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961.
Introduces pronunciation of Chaucer's English, offering a series of general rules, explained in relationship to Modern English, both "British and American" and designed for "teachers and students." Also includes transcriptions of nine passages in…
Surveys critics' attention to Chaucer's word-play, and shows through multiple examples that such play is more common in his works than previously observed, especially his early works. Clarifies kinds of word-play in medieval rhetoric and…
Kokonis, Michael.
Yearbook of English Studies (Thessalonika) 1 (1989): 367-99.
Reviews recent rhetorical analyses of TC, examining how and how much "rhetoric affects the composition" of TC. Kokonis first reviews the "history and evolution of rhetoric"; then shows how rhetoric became part of "medieval aesthetic tradition," and…
Koldeweij, Jos.
Sarah Blick and Rita Tekippe, eds. Art and Architecture of Late Medieval Pilgrimage in Northern Europe and the British Isles. 2 vols. (Boston and Leiden: Brill, 2005), volume 1, pp. 493-510.
Koldeweij comments on pilgrim badges and related materials mentioned in CT and illustrated in the Ellesmere manuscript. The commentary introduces a discussion of obscene badges (ca. 1350-ca. 1450) intended to mock pilgrimage.
Kolinsky, Muriel.
Papers on Language and Literature 3, supplement (1967): 40-49.
Tabulates the uses of second-person singular pronouns ("ye" and "thou") in speeches between pilgrims in CT, and focuses on instances in which the Host uses these pronouns to address his fellow pilgrims, observing a concern with rank.
Kolve, V. A.
Piero Boitani and Anna Torti, eds. Poetics: Theory and Practice in Medieval English Literature (Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk: D. S. Brewer, 1991), pp. 165-95.
An illustrated analysis of moral and aesthetic issues raised by Chaucer. The rocks, garden, and study that form the loci of FranT carry iconographic meaning suggesting a true poetics of illusion.
Kolve, V. A.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 12 (1990): 5-46.
In the carter's episode, the ethical center of FrT, balanced curses and blessings invoke medieval images of humanity, "in the middle" between heaven and hell, and so preoccupied with daily life that it forgets spiritual concerns. Carters are so…
Kolve, V. A.
Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1984.
Juxtaposes "visual materials and their literary analogues" to illuminate larger images created by narrative action. Seven chapters treat medieval hypotheses of audience and image; Chaucerian aesthetics of the image in the poem; KnT, the…
Kolve, V. A.
Donald M. Rose, ed. New Perspectives in Chaucer Criticism (Norman Okla.: Pilgrim Books, 1981), pp. 137-74.
Although Chaucer was not a "painterly" poet, he was, like most other serious writers of the time, an iconographic poet. Examines a number of medieval images appropriate to Chaucer's life of Saint Cecilia and includes twenty reproductions in black…
Kolve, V. A.
John P. Hermann and John J. Burke, eds. Signs and Symbols in Chaucer's Poetry (University: University of Alabama Press, 1981), pp. 130-78.
In LGW, Chaucer suppressed most of the Cleopatra tradition (asps, etc.) to make her a medieval "good woman," who builds a shrine for Anthony and enters a snake pit to dramatize the grave-worm "topos." Alceste transcends the grave--the thematic…
Kolve, V. A.
Robert Taylor, James F. Burke, Patricia J. Eberle, Ian Lancashire, and Brian S. Merrilees, eds. The Centre and Its Compass: Studies in Medieval Literature in Honor of Professor John Leyerle (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, 1993), pp. 265-96.
Wheel iconography associated with Hugh of Foilloy's treatise, "The Wheel of True and False Religion," may have influenced the plotting of the divided fart in SumT.
