Browse Items (16471 total)

Month-by-month (April to March) commentary on the significance of dates and months in Chaucer's life and works, with occasional quotations. Initial version posted April 2001. An addendum includes the transcript of a "Question and Answer Session" with…

The article assesses the range of function and the frequency of "thus" in representative samples of English poetry from Old English through the twentieth century. Data derived from electronic searches (1000-line samples) confirm relations between…

Examines the indicators of politeness and social categories (class, degree of intimacy, etc.) in the speech of romance characters in CT and TC, with attention to forms of address and second-person pronouns (ye/thou). Also considers politeness…

The Flemish proverbs in CkP and ManT "trigger a whole series of contradictions and reversals of meaning that mirror the complexity of Chaucer's comedy." They also contribute to a pattern in CT in which Flemings are associated with misused language.

Comments on the historical, religious, social, literary, and linguistic contexts necessary to understand Chaucer's subtleties and subversions throughout CT, but especially in GP. Includes close reading of GP 1.1-18.

Questions why Chaucer was not more popular with late-eighteenth-century "antiquarians and pseudomedieval dabblers," arguing that Chaucer had already been "co-opted" by earlier Enlightenment culture, "de-coupled" from his age, and valued for his…

Reprints the author's 1986 University of Sheffield M.A. thesis on second-person pronouns, forms of address, and use of the imperative in CT. Includes eight additional articles: four on Chaucer, three on Nicholas Love, and one on linguistic…

Because Alisoun in MilT and May in MerT are exempted from retribution for their active roles in adultery and deception, readers are invited to ask how women are or are not fully part of the systems by which we conceptualize accountability for…

Explores the possible "theatrical context" of MilT, clarifying the cultural value of Absolon's status as a parish clerk and arguing that Chaucer's plot and treatment of gender in his characterization of Absolon were inspired by "amateur theatricals…

Minnis surveys depictions of ambiguous pagan oracles in medieval literature, including Calchas's foreknowledge in TC and the temple scenes in KnT, arguing that Chaucer and other medieval poets held that pagans as well as Christians had the ability…

Considers SumP to be Chaucer's experiment in and assessment of the genre of the vision of the afterlife, with "possible echoes of the Visio Tnugdali" (Vision of Tundale).

Contrasts FranT with analogous medieval accounts of wife exchange to argue that Chaucer's "unusual" version "testifies to Arveragus's regard for his wife and to Aurelius's regard for Averagus's regard for his wife." Other versions testify to male…

Kennedy analyzes Benjamin Franklin's self-presentation in his Memoir, commenting on his validation of his surname by reference to Chaucer's GP sketch of the Franklin and other early sources.

Examines the depictions of Alexander, Caesar, and Peter of Cyprus in MkT in relation to their sources, arguing that the Monk attempts to impose inappropriate chivalric values on historical events; the Knight's interruption underscores the Monk's…

Fear motivates the two protagonists of TC, moves them to action, and helps bring about their respective fortunes.

Applies modern translation theories to Rom, identifying Chaucer's goal of testing the "capacity of English to attain higher spheres of expression." Far from being a servile translator, Chaucer composed a "metapoem" with a range of translational…

Explores narrative technique and meaning in PF; shifts in narrative strategies reveal intention.

Contrasts Gower's story of Ceyx and Alcyone with versions by Ovid and Chaucer (in BD). Gower imagined a new dramatic possibility in the character of Alcyone and thereby subverted "monolithic notions of culture and gender" (503).

Originally published in the Journal of Liberal Arts (Waseda University) 100 (1996), the article surveys criticism of Chaucer's prose style in Bo. Shimonomoto calls for more appropriate discourse analysis, examining two passages in which Chaucer uses…

Originally published in the Bulletin of the Institute of Language Teaching (Waseda University) 51 (1996). Challenges M. A. K. Halliday's 1988 description of the prose style of Astr, focusing on the use of second-person pronouns and calling for…

Osborn repunctuates the "astrolabic" passages in SqT and MLP (both set in the East) and considers the operation of an astrolabe to resolve apparent problems of time and date. The steed of brass and its association with the star Alpherez in SqT…

Surveys attitudes toward patriotism among early English writers. According to Stanley, Criseyde's claim to Diomedes that she loves the city of Troy (TC 5. 953-57) is untrue.

Originally published in English Literature (Waseda University) 70 (1994). Ambiguities of speech and thought in TC, particularly Criseyde's, are more likely functions of narrative strategy than reflections of individuated consciousness or…

Although not lovers, Troilus and Pandarus express deep affection for each other, and Pandarus gains Troilus's dependence. In addition, Pandarus's speeches, silences, and gaze (staging sexual scenes for his pleasure), as well as more fluid medieval…

Like the Canon's Yeoman and unlike St. Cecile (SNT), Roger the Cook is spiritually leaden, exhibiting all four of lead's distinctive qualities: heaviness, earthiness, pallor, and muteness. After his altercation with the Manciple in ManP, Roger is…