Browse Items (16471 total)

Argues that changes Chaucer made to his source, Boethius's "Consolation of Philosophy," in TC 4.957-1078 "emphasize Troilus' eagerness to shun responsibility by denying the very possibility of human freedom," saving "him from the need to act."…

Surveys Chaucer's references to dogs, showing that his depictions of the animal are generally "pejorative," following a tradition of denunciation by satirists, homilists, and the writers of romances. Argues that the whelp in BD 389ff. is not…

Explores the moral and intellectual "failings" of the priest in CYT, arguing that his greed, his gullibility, and his status as an "annueleer" make him a target of the Tale's satire by way of dramatic irony.

Argues that a possible source for the references to "Sampsoun" in PardT 6.549-61 and for aspects of the account of Samson in MkT 7.2914-94 is "Livre du Chevalier de la Tour-Landry."

Reads the GP description of the Monk as strongly critical of the cleric's worldliness, particularly in light of "St. Benedicti Regula Monochorum."

Traces several iconographical, etymological, and punning associations of cherubs with redness, commenting on confusion with seraphs, and suggesting that these associations underlie details of the Summoner's description in GP.

Comments on details of the Monk's description in GP, explaining how they characterize him as "both an epicure and a sexual connoisseur."

Suggests that in FrT the association of the fiend in with the color green may show how exegetical tradition filtered into folklore.

Announces that. in the future, reports on Chaucer studies in progress with be published in this journal, and calls for submissions.

Suggests that in the drama of CT the Summoner's idea of friars residing in Satan's arse (SumP) was prompted by the demon's promise to the summoner in FrT that he would know the devil's "privetee" (3.1637), an echo of the Miller's claim about "Goddes…

Analyzes the relations between verse form and meaning in ShT and PF. In the first, patterns of closed and open couplets (where rhymes do or do not "coincide with syntactical closure") align with sententiousness and its uses; in the second, the…

Reports on book length-studies, articles, and dissertations in progress, arranged in topical categories.

Suggests that behind several legal maxims found in RvPT stands the broader principle of measuring one law by another: "the old by the new, the Continental by the English, the private by the public, the Mosaic by the Christian."

Identifies a "number of medieval commonplaces" in KnT that support the notion that "greater idealism" is what distinguishes Palamon from Arcite, i.e., a "loftier" view, more a matter of theodicy than determinism.

Sketches several underlying principles of the "via moderna" or Ockhamist reasoning (limitless power of God and three-value logic) and argues that HF rejects this "mode of thought." In the dream vision, Geffrey finds himself in a "kind of parody of…

Argues that the primary concern of MerT is January's foolish lechery, that the tone of the Tale is not mordant, and that its various parts cohere as a harmonious whole. Challenges the idea that the Tale is essentially a contribution to the Marriage…

Contends that Chaucer introduced into the plot of MLT (2.463-504) the motif of the help of God, helping to explain Constance's survival at sea at the beginning of Part 2 of the Tale; the motif is not found in Nicholas Trevet at this juncture.

Reports on book length-studies, articles, and dissertations in progress, arranged in topical categories.

Provides examples of medieval English stereotyping of Pavia as a "city of delight," helping to connect January of MerT with the vice of sensuality.

Interprets details of physiognomy in the characterizations of Alison and Absolon in MilT; hers indicate her "availability"; his, his timidity and foppishness.

Reports 125 items.

Suggests that T. S. Eliot's "The Wasteland" echoes RvT 1.3889-3898, where Chaucer "personifies Death as a bartender."

Explicates details and images of the Cook in ManP to argue for a "three-fold elaboration": the besotted Cook is a "victim of obsession with drink" who exhibits the pallor of the love-lorn knight which is also the paleness of the alchemical…

Records the generally positive view of Chaucer as a "compilator" of CT found in Bibliothèque Nationale Paris MS, fonds anglais 39, once owned by John of Angoulême. The rubrics of the manuscript, executed by the scribe Duxworth, record particular…

Finds three kinds of character doubling in TC: Hector is an "echoic or reflective doubling" of Troilus, Pandarus and Troilus double as complementary portions of one lover, and Diomedes is Troilus's "dramatically opposing" double.