Browse Items (16470 total)

Explores differences between the narrator's depictions of the passing of time in TC. Books 1-4 record events consecutively, with little or no inference of simultaneity of action, and Book 5 shifts abruptly to an "outside-narrator time sequence"…

Characterizes the Host as a "delightful traveling companion," summarizing details of his GP description and of his interactions with the other pilgrims in the links between the tales. He is "sometimes pompous, often impudent, and always forceful," a…

Describes techniques used by medieval authors for presenting human emotions, drawing examples from various writers, and focusing on Chaucer's uses of the heart as a physical object or a concrete image in depicting the pains of love, whether caused by…

Derived from North's book, Chaucer's Universe (Oxford, 1988), this article argues that Chaucer's imagination was illuminated by astrological and astronomical knowledge of an unusually high quality.

An anthology of four tales of cuckoldry, with a brief Introduction. Includes a version of ShT in Spanish, here titled "Vestida de Pecado: Versión Libre Sobre un Cuento de Geoffrey Chaucer" (pp. 37-65).

Witnesses' statements and other court documents concerning marriage litigation in the Northern Province (including the dioceses of York, Lincoln, Chester, and others) indicate that many lay people would have known the stipulations of canon law well…

Alphabetical gazetteer of "geographical and ethnic names of the ancient and biblical world as reflected in the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer," along with "names pertaining to . . . the geography of Greek mythology" and the "names of languages" found…

Alphabetical gazetteer of "names in Great Britain. mainly England" found in Chaucer's works. Entries include modern equivalents, Chaucerian forms, and explanations of references and allusions in his works to sites and locales.

Additions, corrections, and refinements of previous study by Magoun: Chaucer's Ancient and Biblical World. Mediaeval Studies 15 (1953): 107-36.

Indexes the proverbs of Serlo of Wilton ("Prouerbia Magistri Serlonis") in Anglo-Norman, English, and Latin, evidently collected for pedagogical use, ca. 1150-1170. Includes 108 proverbs attributed to Serlo, with an additional five unattributed in…

Distinguishes medieval and modern notions of "seemliness"--a sociological concern distinct from legality and morality--and clarifies medieval ideas of linguistic, sartorial, aesthetic, and marital propriety in CT, observing a "gap" between what is…

Assesses parallels between PrT and the "liturgy of the Feat of the Holy Innocents" (mass, vespers, etc.), a source likely to have been known to Chaucer. Also labels PrT a "devotional" tale, sharing distinctive similarities of imagery and symbolism…

Describes grammatical and metrical conditions that restrict or encourage pronunciation of final -e at the end of lines in Chaucer's verse. Introduces double-consonant rhymes as a previously unnoticed factor in these concerns, explores their…

Includes examination of the verbal play on praying and belching in SumT 3.1934, arguing that the pun is effective satire even when manuscripts (including the Ellesmere) substitute "but" for the onomatopoetic "buf." Considers other puns…

Focuses on Chaucer's uses of "this" to "create narrative tone and dramatic meaning" in CT, discussing a variety of examples and exploring metrical, rhetorical, and syntactic features as they help in characterization. Includes comments on the six uses…

Reads FrT as "one of Chaucer's more carefully worked and closely unified poems, and, . . . one of his most dramatic." Focuses on the poem's "Faustian situation," its '"unusual withholding of the denouement," and "its moral implication," exploring…

Describes the "traditional Christian" symbolism that underlies the fowler/bird and winter/spring imagery in LGWP 125-39, identifying biblical roots, exegetical commentary, and literary examples that precede Chaucer, suggesting that the "alert…

Corroborates and extends Carleton Brown's effort to show (in 1937) that the MLH was intended to introduce the first story in the CT, exploring evidence and counter-evidence for positing an "original opening sequence" as follows: GP, MLH, Mel, MLE,…

Traces from Jerome to Frère Lorens's "Somme le Roi" the legacy of commentary on Isaiah 40 which links spiritual ascent and contempt for the world, discussing Lorens's "Somme" as the source for the rise of Arcite in Boccaccio's "Teseida" and as a…

Explores the events of a single day in the first half of Book 2 of TC, particularly changes Chaucer made to Boccaccio "Filostrato," showing how this section helps to characterize Pandarus and Criseyde. Argues that the "muted contrast" between the…

Surveys "unreliable" information about Constantine Africanus in scholarly discussions of Chaucer's references to him in GP 1.433 (Doctour of Phisik) and MerT 4.1810-11. Then clarifies Constantinus's importance in the history of medicine, what is and…

Explores medieval English marital laws and practices that underlie details of the WBP and her description in GP, particularly her marriages at "chirche dore," her dowers, and the transaction that gave Jankyn control of her lands--before she took it…

Offers evidence that patristic commentary is a more likely immediate source of the Parson's proverb in GP 1.500 than is Lamentations 4.1.

Explores the possibilities of using folklore, ornithological markings, and Chaucer's possible first-hand experiences to offer perspective on several birds and their attributive qualities referred to in PF, and one each in MilT, RvT, and SumT.

Assesses parallels between the "greyn" of PrT 7.662 and the three grains of legend that Seth laid upon the tongue of Adam when the latter was buried; suggests that the ambiguities of Chaucer's presentation indicate his artistic purpose.