Stanley-Wrench, Margaret.
Schachner, Erwin, illus.
New York: Hawthorn Books, 1965.
A biography of Chaucer designed for juvenile or young adult readers, including imagined scenes from his childhood, marriage, travels, and professional life, as well as commentary on his literary works. Includes a chronology of "Dates and Events," an…
Translates TC into modern English, in rhyme royal stanzas, with end-of-text notes and three appendices: a) the "domestic background" of the poem, b) courtly love, and c) a chronology of Chaucer's life. The notes emphasize social and literary…
Steadman, John.
English Language Notes 3.1 (1965): 4-7.
Suggests that the "fatal treasure" of PardT gains ironic dimension when seen in light of the theory of the "treasury of merits," used to explain or justify the sale of indulgences.
A parody of GP in faux Middle English, rhymed in iambic pentameter couplets. Includes twenty characters, such as the Model, the Astronaut, the Beatnik, the Psychoanalyst, etc.
Turner, W, Arthur.
English Language Notes 3.2 (1965): 92-95.
Observes similarities in the parallel lists of Biblical women in MerT 4.1362-74 and Mel 7.1098-1101, and argues that their presence is "ironical" in the former but not the latter: "by the time" Chaucer wrote MerT he saw "both sides to the characters…
Explores "the complex thematic and structural functions" of the Pluto-Proserpina episode in MerT, treating it as a fit denouement in the traditional pear-tree plot, and arguing that it deepens the unifying thematic dimensions of the Tale by…
White, Gertrude M.
Philological Quarterly 44 (1965): 397-404.
Assesses the "chilling savagery" of the Merchant's attitude toward January in MerT as well as January's materialism, sensualism, and self-delusion, arguing that the character generates a kind of pathos that verges on the tragic.
Williams, George.
Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1965.
Detects flaws in previous critical approaches to Chaucer and, as an alternative, reads his works as expressions of his "interest in actual persons," especially John of Gaunt and his circle. In this view, BD, Mars, TC, PF, HF, and most portions of CT…
Wilson, Robert C.
Explicator 24.4 (1965): item no. 32.
Suggests that the name "John" links RvT with MilT, claiming that the Reeve "repays the Miller with a tale in which he himself plays a leading part--that of carpenter John.
Winny, James, ed.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965
A textbook edition of GP, with text (following Robinson's 1957 edition), end-of-text notes and glossary, introduction, and commentary on Chaucer's language and the arrangement of the Tales. The Introduction (pp.1-42) focuses on tale-teller…
Winny, James, ed.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965.
Middle English edition of WBPT, with end-of-text notes and glossary. The Introduction (pp. 1-28) discusses sources, the relation of WBP to WBT, themes, etc., with additional comments on the text and Chaucer's usage. Includes Chaucer's Gent and a…
Suggests that when she refers to her "dame" at lines 3.576 and 583 the Wife of Bath is recalling her gossip, dame Alys, identified at 530, 544, and 548.
MacDermott, Diane Conard, and David MacDermott, illus.
Coghill, Nevill, trans.
n.p.: Pomegranate Press, 1965.
Item not seen. The WorldCat record offers the following notes: "Issued in a case./ Illustrators' notes (2p.) laid in./ Limited ed. of 20. Made entirely by hand, printed on 'Tovil' hand-made paper, and signed by the illustrators."
Bentley, Joseph.
South Atlantic Quarterly 64 (1965): 247-53.
Maintains that the details and description of astrology in MilT along with its foreshadowing imagery establish a theme of Boethian determinism in the Tale. Accordingly, the character of each of the three male actors determines his unforeseen fate and…
Engel, Claire-Eliane.
Revue des Sciences Humaines 120 (1965): 577-85.
Comments on the historicity and relative chronology of the military campaigns mentioned in the GP description of the Knight, observing how the events are out of sequence and how Chaucer's may have known of them.
Gordon, Ida L.
F. Whitehead, A. H. Diverres, and F. E. Sutcliffe, eds. Medieval Miscellany Presented to Eugene Vinaver by Pupils, Colleagues and Friends (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1965), pp. 146-56.
Explains various kinds of irony evident in TC, and argues that the character of Criseyde is not ironic; she is consistent with Chaucer's sources, but "controlled by the manners and ideals of courtly love" even though these ideals are shown to be…
Compares and contrasts John Dryden's description of Zimri in "Absalom and Achitophel" with Chaucer's description of the Pardoner in GP, emphasizing the "fine tension" between "precision and . . . universality" in the latter, and remarking on how…
Knox, Norman.
Austin Wright, foreward. Six Satirists (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute of Technology, 1965), pp, 17-34.
Explores relations between the literary-critical concepts of satire and irony (both verbal irony and situational or philosophic irony), identifying specific instances in PardT, GP, the juxtapositioning of tales and tellers, and more. Replete with…
Markland, Murray F
Research Studies: A Quarterly Publication of Washington State University 33 (1965): 1-10.
Compares how and to what extent Theseus in KnT and Prospero in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" are responsible for the initial disorder and the final order of their respective stories. Theseus progresses from aggressive engagement in the world to…
Markland, Murray F.
Research Studies: A Quarterly Publication of Washington State University 33 (1965): 64-77.
Explores how each of the three major characters in TC seeks "happiness in earthly love." Even though they know that such pursuit is misguided, they are in "an unadmitted conspiracy not to recognize" their error, deceiving themselves and each other,…
