Browse Items (16470 total)

The Reeve's words at A 3883-85 draw on Saint Fursey's otherworld journey and contribute to his impersonation of a preacher.

Shows that key passages in the Wife's monologue can be justifiably located in the context of Lollardy, focusing on her use of the word "expres" (WBP 27, 61, 719) and her insistence on the primacy of scriptural authority.

Suggests that the use of "rusty" in GP 618 foreshadows the moral criticism of the Reeve as corrupt, envious, and rancorous.

Provides critical analysis of Chaucer's "ABC," examining in turn its genre, plot, two characters, style, and reception, and comparing it to its source.

Medieval literature utilizes landscape symbolism for both positive and negative emotional effects. The article touches on KnT, FranT, BD, and medieval lyrics.

Chaucer may have known the "Ephemeris Belli Troiani" of Dictys Cretensis.

Suggests that Chaucer identifies the virtuous women in MLT, ClT, PhyT, and Mel with one of the four cardinal virtues to enhance the characteristics found in his sources.

Analyzes Chaucer's treatment of bereavement and its consolation, particularly in relation to the exploitation of lyric in French narratives (both dit and elegy).

The discourse of antifraternalism is important in understanding Pandarus's role in relation to Troilus and, especially, Criseyde. Havely examines words that form part of that discourse.

Despite traditional misconceptions of their relative chronology and a lack of specific verbal echoes, the "structural and thematic parallels" of BD and Froissart's "Dit dou Bleu Chevalier" indicate Chaucer's dependence on Froissart. Their common…

Since Chaucer uses the same passage in the Roman de la Rose as a source for the Prioress and the Wife of Bath, these two characters "are bonded in ironic literary sisterhood."

The carpenter's comments on his knave's report of Nicholas's condition must be seen in terms of the vigorous promotion of the connection between the working class and a severely circumscribed knowledge of the rudiments of faith.

Chaucer's ABC closely reflects its original, a portion of Deguilleville's "Pelerinage." What critics have seen as Chaucer's creative contributions are better described as examples of "redistribution."

Suggests that two annotations in St. John's College Cambridge MS 204 of Trevisa's "Polychronicon" were inspired by a reading of Chaucer.

Records a Latin poem written by Clemens upon visiting Chaucer's tomb. The poem indicates that Clemens was familiar with Chaucer through Sir Frances Kynaston's Latin version of TC 1-2.

Although most critics agree that Chaucer intended ParsT and Ret to conclude CT, early manuscript history indicates that ParsT may have been an independent work, a "Treatise on Patience," for which Ret would serve as a fitting conclusion.

Isolates various religious formulae that are "more than mere line-fillers" in Middle English romances; they are significant in the vows and prayers.

Reburial is always a political act. Richard II had started having his fatihful servants buried in Westminster Abbey, and Chaucer may have become an Abbey tenant in 1399 to be buried there.

MilT develops the theme of "pryvetee," which in Chaucer refers to both human genitalia and divine secrets. Echoes of Exodus and its tradition of commentary reinforce the theme and enable Chaucer to suggest an orientation of the "Tale" as a…

Prints the lyric "My lefe ys faren in a lond," referred to by Chaucer in NPT 7.2879.

Positioned midway between aristocracy and the lower orders of society, the Franklin appropriately tells a story that emphasizes the necessity and correctness of the social order as he (and Chaucer) would have understood it. Thus, the…

At NPT 7.3445, the referent for "my lord" is Christ.

Details from a Latin flyting poem indicate that the Pardoner in GP is presented as an example of "effeminizing heterosexuality."

Paul Bush's dream vision, "The Extripacion of Ignorancy," was influenced by Chaucerian models and coins the phrase "lycour laureate" to describe Chaucer.

Includes discussion of MilT, arguing that it "participates in the scandalous discourse on the perceived problem of Richard II's deviant sexuality," reading the scene of the hot coulter as an echo of the sodomitical execution of Edward II that engages…