Browse Items (16472 total)

Introduces medical, historical, sociological, and literary aspects of various infectious human diseases, including addiction, illustrated with sidebar facts, literary examples, and photographs and reproductions. A chapter on "The Black Death"…

Examines the literary backgrounds of the birds in TC to argue that the birds "carry with them themes of treachery and unnatural and sorrowful love"; they help depict the "dubious nature of temporal love."

Offers evidence that the "Ovidius Moralizatus" of Peter Bersuire (Petrus Berchorius) was the source of iconographical details associated with Venus in Chaucer's descriptions of the goddess in HF 131-39 and KnT 1.1955-66.

All aspects of CT--the pilgrims themselves and the characters,themes, and language of each tale--unite to present the pilgrimage to Canterbury as a representation of the conceptual pilgrimage of all Christians.

Chaucer's strategy, rather than the Wife's incapacity, has warped conventional views of class, sex, and romance in WBT.

WBT is an ironic Arthurian romance, particularly when viewed alongside Marie de France's "Lanval" and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," which parallel it in several ways.

Identifies how and where Chaucer's poetry engages contemporary society and politics, as well as how it adjusts to changes in these arenas. As a court poet, Chaucer was knowledgeable about worldly affairs but unwilling to comment or criticize openly.…

From the "Roman de la Rose," Chaucer inherited a view of "janglerye" that implicated himself as a court poet. Throughout his career, and especially in CT, he explores the dangers of "janglerye" as an appetite.

Explores the humor and "tonal delights" of LGW, examining the poem as a script for oral performance; argues that the F version was written for oral presentation; the G version, a revision, for manuscript publication.

Briefly discusses some of the critical responses to Chaucer's alleged raptus of Cecilia Champaigne (Cecily Champain) and how this incident may have influenced certain works, particularly TC, PF, and HF.

Explores ABC as a prayer, especially in its relations with Psalm 118 and 119 and the rosary, and in light of the possibility that it was presented to Duchess Blanche for inclusion in her devotional primer. Quinn confronts several formal features and…

Monroe's essay "Chaucer and Langland," published in her journal Poetry in 1915, argued that Chaucer's preference for French forms and rhythms had cut off later English poetry from the true native tradition represented by Langland's alliterative…

Quinn defines the genre of dream vision, surveys "standard readings" of BD, and offers a "re-vision" of the poem that reconciles its humor and sadness by imagining it as a performance some years after the death of Blanche. The poem may have been…

PrT and SNT mirror each other but "with a telling difference." The two stand in relation to each other as Old Testament figura to New Testament fulfillment (the shadow and substance of the title). Ironically, in this figural scheme, PrT takes the…

Quinn describes the "performance" features of each of the manuscripts and printed editions of LGW, exploring ideas of oral composition, performance theory, and performativity. Addresses how each witness to the text of LGW shapes the "protocols of…

Chaucer's interest throughout HF in the nature of phantoms--from dreams to spirits of the dead--ultimately reflects a single "immediate concern: the survival of his rehearsal of the dream in script, that is, the translation of his voice into our…

Reads Robert Henryson's "Testament of Cresseid" as a "compilatio" addressed to an audience of women, gauging the tone, theme, and unity of the poem. Includes recurrent comments on Henryson's uses of Chaucer's attitudes and perspectives, especially…

Corroborates Terry Jones's view that Chaucer was a pacifist, and argues that Jones and Chaucer both use humor and indirection against war. Chaucer was very earnest in his critiques of war in Mel and ParsT, but less direct in KnT and his description…

The Squire's digressive, complex tale may be understood as a reenactment of the creative process. Critics may be mistaken in trying to explain the significance of the four gifts, the falcon's distress, and other details, if the center of the tale is…

Studies fame, death, and related motifs in William Dunbar's "Lament for the Makars" ("Timor Mortis"), including comments on his echoes of and references to Chaucer.

Examines the unique witness to the text of "Kingis Quair" (Bodleian MS Arch. Selden B.24), assessing what the two scribal practices of the manuscript indicate about the composition, reception, and meaning of the poem. Includes discussion of the…

Recovers clues to Chaucer's own authorial recital by searching for evidence of tonal intentions in TC. Provides a performance-based reading of the poem that begins with "the premise that Chaucer himself once recited TC aloud," thus allowing "evidence…

Investigates TC fragments as a window into how Chaucer's first readers experienced and interpreted his works.

The Ptolemaic universe of MLT should have a still center, but neither this Tale nor the CT as a whole seems to reflect "a single interpretive order." Thematic and tonal threads pull in different directions, as if the Tale harbored an anticipation of…

Explores Chaucer's attitude toward the Boethian notion that "right reasoning alone should guarantee rhetorical success." Mirrored in Chaucer criticism and inflected by issues of gender and point of view, "objectivity," effective persuasion, and…