Krier notes the influence of early Chaucer works upon Spenser. Chaucer's early dream visions influenced Spenser and provide an example of linking plot to daily activity.
Lines argues that the idealized chivalric homosocial bonding in Surrey's poem was influenced by KnT. Eulogizing the Duke of Richmond in this way critiques the debased version of political bonds in the court of Henry VIII.
Petrina considers the citation of Gower and Chaucer at the end of "The Kingis Quair" and the poem's context in Bodley MS Arch. Selden. B.24, a manuscript with a high number of misattributions to Chaucer; also speculates about intellectual exchange at…
The influence of KnT on Conrad's "The Lagoon" is evident in several details, in narrative method, and, more distantly, in the fact that each is written in English that is "unfixed and de-centered."
Scanlon, Larry, and James Simpson, eds.
Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006.
An introduction by the editors and eleven essays by various authors seek to vitalize Lydgate studies, exploring the status of poet laureate, Lydgate's poetic style, his political poetry, and a number of literary poems and forms (e.g., mumming,…
Steinberg examines differences between depictions of Nature in Spenser's Mutabilitie Cantos and in Chaucer's PF. For Spenser, disorder inheres in nature, while in Chaucer it results from human "pettiness and passion." Such differences remind us of…
Trigg, Stephanie.
Seth Lerer, ed. The Yale Companion to Chaucer (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2006), pp. 297-323.
Trigg considers recurrent issues in the reception of Chaucer: responses to his self-shaped "poetic signature," admiration for his rhetoric and sentiment, and mourning for the loss of his genius by poets who seek to emulate him. Surveys rewritings and…
Copeland, Rita.
Seth Lerer, ed. The Yale Companion to Chaucer (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2006), pp. 122-43.
Copeland outlines the classical-medieval tradition of rhetoric and its relationships with history, philosophy, and literary style. Considers the Pardoner as an embodiment of rhetoric and its potential for abuse; the Wife of Bath as rhetorical excess…
Fuller, David.
Corinne Saunders, ed. A Concise Companion to Chaucer (Malden, Mass.; Oxford; and Victoria: Blackwell, 2006), pp. 263-84.
Fuller insists that sound is "intrinsic to meaning" in reading Chaucer, commenting on the importance of metrical patterns and syntactic structures, appropriate intonation and pace, and pronunciation of final -e. Although it is difficult to…
Schaefer, Ursula.
Andrew James Johnston, Ferdinand von Mengden, and Stefan Thim, eds. Language and Text: Current Perspectives on English and Germanic Historical Linguistics and Philology (Heidelberg: Winter, 2006), pp. 269-90.
Schaefer considers the process of vernacularization in late medieval English in comparison with other European languages, suggesting that quotations from the period about English are commonplaces rather than reflections of contemporary attitudes and…
Caon, Luisella.
C. C. Barfoot, ed. "And Never Know the Joy": Sex and the Erotic in English Poetry (Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2006), pp. 33-47.
Chaucer's uses of thou and ye pronouns "systematically" indicate the "degree of closeness or distance" between lovers in CT, indicating not only formality and informality but also intensity of emotion and shifts in attitudes. Caon surveys previous…
Reevaluation and continuation of the studies by John Burrow and by Richard Firth Green on the meaning of the word "elvish" in CT. "Elvish" in CYT carries the meaning "delusory," whereas elvish in the prologue to Th means "abstracted."
Hughes, Geoffrey.
Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2006.
Several hundred entries cover a wide range of historical and conceptual topics, individual words, important landmarks in the history of swearing, etc. Very few entries are given over to individual writers, although the entry on Chaucer is lengthy…
Johnston, Andrew James, and Claudia Lange.
Ursula Schaefer, ed. The Beginnings of Standardization: Language and Culture in Fourteenth-Century England (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2006), pp. 183-200.
The authors consider linguistic and cultural factors in English standardization of the fourteenth century, including the reciprocity of Chaucer's contributions to standardization and the role standardization played in "'the making' of Chaucer."
Nakao, Yoshiyuki.
Michiko Ogura, ed. Textual and Contextual Studies in Medieval English: Towards the Reunion of Linguistics and Philology (Frankfurt am Main, 2006), pp. 51-73.
Nakao assesses Criseyde's comment on trusting Pandarus (TC 3.587) as ambiguous, considering "phonological, morphological, lexical/collocational, syntactic and pragmatic" aspects of Chaucer's use of "moste" as an auxiliary and an adverb.
Nevalainen, Terttu.
Journal of English Linguistics 34 (2006): 257-78.
Addresses historical sociolinguistic trends between 1400 and 1800, tracing the disappearance of multiple negative (negative concord) usage to the latter half of the eighteenth century. However, data also suggest that Late Middle English initiated the…
Pearsall, Derek.
Ursula Schaefer, ed. The Beginnings of Standardization: Language and Culture in Fourteenth-Century England (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2006), pp. 27-41.
Pearsall surveys traditional accounts of the rise of an English standard and comments on recent emphases and remaining issues. Considers the Auchinleck Manuscript as evidence of the London literary culture that precedes Chaucer.
Rissanen, Matti.
Ursula Schaefer, ed. The Beginnings of Standardization: Language and Culture in Fourteenth-Century England (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2006), pp. 133-46.
Rissanen analyzes the "grammaticalization" of several related conjunctions (because, in case, save, except) that suggest a complicated model of standardization. Popular texts such as Chaucer's CT may have had as much influence on standardization as…
Rothwell, W[illiam].
English Studies 87 (2006): 511-38.
Identifies in RvT lexical evidence of a culture permeated with French linguistic influence, evidence that could be reinforced by a more thorough linguistic study of RvT and the rest of Chaucer's corpus: "Far from being 'ephemeral and localized' or…
Etymological and semantic exploration of "fear" and related words that indicates nuances lost in translation between early English and modern editions and adaptations; discusses two uses of "no fere" in TC (3.583 and 1144) and an emendation of "thys…
Watson, Nicholas.
English Language Notes 44.1 (2006): 127-37.
This final essay in a forum responds to preceding essays and argues that vernacular writing about religion is a political act subject to study as a "single area of discourse." Literary critics examining this area will find that "the logic that…
Windeatt, Barry.
Corinne Saunders, ed. A Concise Companion to Chaucer (Malden, Mass.; Oxford; and Victoria: Blackwell, 2006), pp. 90-109.
Windeatt examines how the court and elements of courtly writing are represented and function in BD, HF, PF, and LGWP, with some attention to SqT. Comments on Machaut as Chaucer's model and how the dream vision gives Chaucer the liberty to examine…
Yoshikawa, Fumiko.
Michiko Ogura, ed. Textual and Contextual Studies in Medieval English: Towards the Reunion of Linguistics and Philology (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2006), pp. 205-16.
Yoshikawa studies Middle English verbs with both reflexive and impersonal uses in ten typical situations, considering Chaucer's uses of "menen" and "remembren" as examples where semantic value and the nature of the participants affect usage.
