Browse Items (16470 total)

Comments on amplification as a factor in the "powerful dramatic force" of TC and explores, book by book, the poem's themes of "sight and blindness, the words 'bind' and 'bridle'," references to "sea and ships as opposed to references to fishing," and…

Briskly surveys English literature and studies of it from the Middle English period to 1960, providing introductions to individual historical periods and lists of editions and criticism for individual authors and topics. Chaucer figures largely in…

Shows that "clichés of thought and expression" abound in medieval alchemical treatises, and explains how Chaucer's uses of these "topoi" or commonplaces "contribute to the meaning" of CYPT. Tabulates commonplaces of alchemical behavior, preparation,…

Argues that the satire in NPT is "better interpreted as general satire of Chaucer's age" than attributed to the character of the Nun's Priest. So-called "dramatic" readings of the tale falter because, for example, its "gentle satire of courtliness is…

Assesses the morning-scene in TC 3.1415ff. in light of source-and analogue materials in Ovid's "Amores," Boccaccio's "Filostrato," and elsewhere, arguing that Chaucer combines elements from various genres and forms ingeniously to produce something…

Includes discussion of relations between "storm motifs" and "traditional attitudes towards love (conceived broadly as the relationship between man and the objects of his desire)" in various medieval texts, including BD, TC, MilT, MLT, and ABC.

Surveys medieval and early modern literary references to Julius Caesar, including description and assessment of Chaucer's allusions and references to Caesar in Astr, KnT, MLT, and, at greatest length, MkT, commenting on sources and analogues,…

Describes illusions of objectivity in recension, the genetic method of textual editing, cleverly though earnestly articulating that subjectivity--or "common sense"--is needed in the process of editing. Challenges the principle of grouping manuscript…

Contends that the six things that women desire listed by the wife in ShT (7.173-77) align the wife with the fairy-tale victim of marriage to an ogre, ironically helping to characterize her, her husband, and their marriage.

Explores the implications of three interrelated allusions in Chaucer's works (TC 2.55ff., KnT 1.1462ff., and NPT 7.3187ff.), observing connections "between Friday, May 3, Venus, the May festival season, and the Invention of the Cross," connections…

Studies the "dynamic relationship" between Fortuna and Natura in PhyT, ClT, and KnT, surveying in an Introduction (pp. 9-45) their presence elsewhere in Chaucer's works and his antecedents. In PhyT which "approaches allegory" the "destructive forces…

Explores the functions and nuances of the historical present verb tense, focusing on epic scenes in CT (especially KnT and MLT), TC, LGW, and Anel, and assessing how Chaucer's uses of the tense help with vividness, immediacy, and "visualization" of…

Describes the concern with treason in TC, identifying references to the "Troy story as a series of betrayals" and allusions to the "Troy legend" where betrayal occurs, connecting them with questions of trust and treason in a pagan world lacking faith…

Includes forty-four essays by various authors, a chronology of Margaret Schlauch's career, and a list of her publications. For six essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Studies in Language and Literature in Honour of Margaret Schlauch under…

Considers the authorship and manuscript provenance of a French version of the tale of Melibee, an analogue of Mel.

Studies the "fitness" of MLT to Chaucer's teller, surveying critical commentary, considering sources and analogues, assessing the historicity of legal details in the Tale, and suggesting that the trial scene evinces Chaucer's knowledge of…

Justifies the placement of PhyT after FranT on the grounds of the contrasting "personal traits" of the two tellers, and argues that NPT is a personal rejoinder to MkT. Both arguments attend to details of diet and nutrition.

Addresses Chaucer's techniques of evoking and changing moods in TC, closely examining hope and fear in Book 2, and commenting on imagery, character psychology, and diction.

Traces in medieval medical tradition references to the fifteen authorities cited in the GP description of the Physician (CT 1.429-434), arguing that Chaucer's "list contains just those names that an educated doctor of his day would have cited."

Comments on how "early elaboration" of characters in MilT and MerT "renders plausible later climactic action," and argues that the "marriage passage" of FranT (5.744-805) works in similar fashion, helping to justify the thoughts and actions of…

Nine essays by various authors accompanied by a cultural timeline and a comprehensive index. For the individual essays, search for Chaucer and Chaucerians under Alternative Title.

Describes the conditions under which Chaucer developed his verse and prose styles, focusing on the former. Argues that English verse romances are the foundation of Chaucer's poetic style to which he "grafted" the continental traditions of "fin…

Addresses Chaucer's "narrative art" in BD, HF, PF, Anel, and Mars, exploring how a coterie audience may have responded to oral performance of the emphases, shifts, and turns in these poems. Also attends to prosodic features, and to the poet's…

Reads TC as a "romance in the tragic mode" that reflects the "mood of many Englishmen in the late fourteenth century." Focuses on the role of the narrator and the rhetorical strategies (with reference to the "Ad Herennium") that Chaucer uses to…

Describes and comments on Chaucer's characteristic style, explaining how "insouciance" and "naturalness" combine with forward narrative movement, mastery of meter, formal listings, etc. to demonstrate his "great technical range." Then explores how in…