Browse Items (16364 total)

Maintains that "rondeaux tercet" is the precise name for the verse form of the three stanzas of MercB and of the song at the end of PF.

Discourages pursuit of ironic and sexual implications in details in Tho (7.748-59), suggesting that the mention of "bukke and hare" is best understood as parodic conjoining of two categories of hunted beasts.

Demonstrates the "relationship in theme and imagery" between SNPT and CYPT and the "controlling design that links them artistically." Posits that SNT may have been based on a Gnostic version of the Cecilia legend, an alchemical allegory of the…

Compares the Wife of Bath's version of the Midas exemplum with Ovid's original in "Metamorphoses," suggesting that the divergences exemplify the Wife's penchant for misquoting and/or misunderstanding authorities and align with her deafness, a…

Confronts the "deliberate obscurity" of HF, seeking to resolve its apparent disjunctions and disunities by reading it as a "poetic allegory" on the "subject of fame," influenced by scriptural tradition, by the dual aspects of Venus (secular and…

Suggests that SqT 5.393-94 (description of the sun) may have inspired a detail in Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner," line 180.

Judges ClT to be "more successful than it has been thought" because it is a tale of "idealized obedience" in which Griselda's submissiveness is an "imitation" of Christ's Passion and Resurrection and a demonstration that the human will can achieve…

Edits twelve of Lydgate's poems, with end-of-text notes, glossary, and other apparatus. Includes "On the Departing of Thomas Chaucer," a selection from the "Troy Book," and "The Temple of Glas," among others. The Introduction (pp. ix-xii) and the…

Distinguishes between the "clerical" and "non-clerical" traditions of "de casibus" tragedy in medieval tradition, observing the emphasis on the goddess Fortuna in the latter, and claiming that MkT "belongs to the non-clerical tradition." In ignoring…

Suggests that in making the Black Knight 24 years old in BD (rather than 29, the age of John of Gaunt), Chaucer "assigned his own age to his patron."

Argues that Chaucer's characterization of the lovers in TC is marked by their relationships with public opinion, especially with that of "the impersonal mass of Trojans and Greeks" who are the "anti-characters" of the poem. As fortune turns against…

Considers theories of the nature of the Old Man in PardT, suggesting that he might be thought to combine feature of the Good Angel and the Bad Angel of medieval mystery and morality plays insofar as he seems to be "extra-human," advising and…

Explains errors in the biography of Chaucer that is included in John Urry's edition of 1721, particularly those associated with the poet's spurious flight to the Continent in 1384 in the face of an accusation of treason. Attributes these errors to…

Tabulates the plots and motifs of twenty-one modern Irish tales purported to be analogues of the pear tree episode in MerT, suggesting that those accounts which include the motif of optical illusion (rather than blindness) should not be considered…

Observes the presence of "symmetrical numbers" in the dates mentioned in Chaucer's poetry, e.g., third day of the third month equals May 3 when the annual calendar began in March rather than January. Comments on HF, TC, KnT, MerT, and FranT, as well…

Observes shifts in tone in NPT 7.2888-2907 (a conversation between Chanticleer and Pertelote), commenting on how these shifts contribute to characterization and drama.

Argues that the "ability of the poet to secure a just and enduring fame" is an important and unifying theme in HF, focusing on the poem's concerns with poetic authority and patronage, and suggesting that its "missing conclusion" was to entail the…

Provides context for understanding Chaucer's references to Wade and to his boat (TC 3.614 and MerT 4.1423), summarizing medieval narratives and allusions to the hero in order to outline his "salient characteristics" and the deceptive (although…

Item not seen.

Explores the roots of medieval poetic theory in medieval rhetorical handbooks, and examines MilT, PrT, PhyT, MerT, and ClT) for evidence that Chaucer was influenced by the "received medieval poetic," even though his "narrative procedure . . . may be…

A discursive review of Chaucerian scholarship and research published in 1964.

Translates a potion of the "Roman de Thebes" into modern English; the Introduction to the translation includes discussion of Chaucer's uses of the work in KnT

Argues that Ovid's "Tristia" and "Ex Ponto" influenced the ideas of Fame, Fortune, and Rumor in HF, along with several details in the poem.

Studies Chaucer's uses of Ovid in Mars, Ven, Pity, Anel, BD, HF, and TC, focusing on complaints and depictions of women, and providing lists of observed parallels between Chaucer and Ovid, work by work. This dissertation was completed in 1963.

Item not seen. WorldCat records indicate that this collection includes modernizations of GP, KnT, PardT, MkT, NPT, and SNT, portions of which were previously published in 1954 and 1960.