Browse Items (16472 total)

The controversial "gan" periphrasis occurs almost exclusively in rhymed poetry, generally to put the infinitive into rhyming position.

Chaucer's meters are of mixed Romance and native origin, but the details of scansion--whether the verse is accentual or syllabic and the pronunciation of final "e"--are still in dispute.

Shows that the use of verbs as rhyme words is ubiquitous in medieval (and later) poetry, and therefore not particularly Chaucerian as has been suggested. Suggests that rhyming with infinitives is especially prevalent because the form is…

Surveys the suggestiveness of first names in Middle English poetry, exploring connotations, denotations, name-play, and the implications of form in the uses of such names. Includes comments on names used by Chaucer, especially in CT.

Identifies several medieval analogues to the sentiment expressed in ManT 311-13, the earliest being the "Carmen as Astralabium Filium," attributed to Peter Abelard.

Comments on Senecan material in several of the CT (MkT; ManT, WBP, and Mel) and on Chaucer’s access to Senecan sources.

Topographical and social history of late-medieval London and its environs, cast as a description of what a visitor might experience, enlivened by incidents drawn from legal and political records, and including descriptions of various political,…

Tagmemic analysis of NPT that examines three of its "overlapping hierarchies" by shifting focus among them: the tale as a fable, the rhetorical elaboration of it, and the framing context of CT. Such analysis discloses the complex comedy of the tale.

Considers the appropriateness of ParsT to its narrator, examining the Tale as an example of the sermon genre ("ars praedicandi"), particularly its structural features that reflect a rational aesthetic.

Studies sermon rhetoric in CT, identifying its roots in preaching handbooks and considering its value for understanding aspects of structure, style, and characterization in SNT, NPT, ParsT, PardT, WBT, and SumT, treating the Pardoner, the Wife of…

The Pardoner is not a male homosexual but a cross-dressed female through whom Chaucer reveals the constricting gender roles available to women of his time. PardPT metaphorizes the social relations forced on a female trapped in the ambivalence of…

An anthology of eight short stories by British writers, including PardT (pp. 65-77), each accompanied by a "Vocabulary Preview," explanatory notes, and a closing commentary. Illustrations by Clint Hanson.

The entry for Chaucer (pp. 168) includes brief biographical information, critical bibliography, a list of editions, and a tally of individual works with dates of first publication. Accompanied by a b&w plate from Thynne's 1532 edition, the first page…

Animated adaptation/retelling of MerT, PardT, and FranT, with interspersed selections from GP, each dramatized in a different style of animation. The tales are shortened, reduced to simplified plots. Two versions are included, one in modern English…

Animated adaptation/retelling of NPT, KnT, and WBT, with interspersed selections from GP, each dramatized in a different style of animation. The tales are shortened, reduced to simplified plots. Two versions are included, one in modern English and…

Animated versions of SqT (with a completed plot), CYPT, and MilT and RvT (with plots interpolated), presented as tales told on each of three days as the pilgrims return from Canterbury to London. Includes a teacher's guide (pamphlet). Distributed by…

Challenges "the standard view that fifteenth-century poets wrote irregular meters in artless imitation of Chaucer," arguing instead that "Chaucer's followers deliberately misread his meter in order to challenge his authority" and rather than…

Attributes the lack of critical attention to John Metham's "Amoryus and Cleopes" to its "prosodic eccentricity," demonstrating that it "does not descend from, and does not participate in, the transmission or reception of Chaucer's Anglicized…

Argues that "because Hoccleve's metre cannot persuasively be reconciled with any known metrical system, it must be allowed its own category." Details Chaucer's metrical "template" and shows how Hoccleve varies it to create his own, although…

Although Chaucer has been seen as a medieval nominalist or realist, or both at once, he should actually be recognized as an "intentional realist" in the modern (John F. Searle) sense.

Countering the modern critical view of Chaucer as a nominalist or antirealist, Myles finds Chaucer a realist in many senses of the term: "a foundational realist, an epistemological realist, an ethical realist, a semiotic and linguistic realist, and…

Survey's Wurtele's studies of Chaucer, clarifying the critic's consistent concern with characterization and how it relates to critical trends.

Myles surveys medieval notions of natural and given signs, arguing that Griselda (and the reader with her) learns from her submission to Walter, insofar as it parallels a realist submission to quasi-nominalist understanding. Unlike Walter, Griselda…

Ten essays that pertain to Chaucer, plus a commemorative preface (by M. I. Cameron), an introduction (by David Williams) that summarizes the essays, a bibliography of Wurtele's publications, and a subject index. For individual essays that pertain to…

Includes a chapter on the issues of the text of CT. In Japanese. For an essay that pertains to Chaucer, search for What Is a Text? under Alternative Title.