Browse Items (16472 total)

Suggests that "popular superstition" of "ill-luck" underlies the Host's reference to "fynde an hare" in Th-MelL 7.696, supported by his use of "elvyssh" at 7.703.

Explores proverbial implications of the variant readings of KnT 1.1810, "than woot a cokkow or [var. of] hare," and suggests "hare" might be a pun on "whore."

Suggests that the description of Blanche's throat as a round ivory tower may "carry on the idea" of the Duchess being referred to as a "fers," a chess piece, found elsewhere in the poem.

Clarifies the conventionality of Chaucer's references to allegorical and/or exemplary animals and their significances, offering numerous examples to show that Chaucer's allusions are "brief" and generally similar to and/or derived from "the most…

Surveys historical comments on the odor of daisies and suggests that Chaucer's praise of its odor in LGWP may be due to botanical accuracy, unusual because he usually follows literary conventions.

Suggests that "wood" indicates lechery in FrT 3.1327, echoed punningly by "harlotrye" in the next line.

Explores the possibilities of using folklore, ornithological markings, and Chaucer's possible first-hand experiences to offer perspective on several birds and their attributive qualities referred to in PF, and one each in MilT, RvT, and SumT.

Observes that the "ferses twelve" of BD 723, though impossible on a common chess board, was possible on some medieval boards (especially in Germany) of twelve squares by eight squares, with their twelve pawns. Then argues that the phrase has…

Explores the sources and meanings of Chaucer's "analogies" between animals and humans, focusing on hares, dogs, horses, wolves, and sheep, arguing that, generally, Chaucer uses them to indicate the need for humans to control their "natural passions."

Explores literary legacy of medieval writers, including Chaucer, Gower, and Wyclif "in light of the translation and interpretive reproduction of the Bible in Middle English. For four essays pertaining to Chaucer, search for Writers, Editors and…

A late-fifteenth-century French riddle about the dividing of a fart cites Chaucer as the solution, evidence that SumT was known at the time in France.

Offers a satire of "hipster pilgrims" at a modern music festival, rendered in faux Middle English.

Compares the representation of Cresseid and Dido in Robert Henryson's "The Testament of Cresseid" and in Gavin Douglas's "Eneados," along with other female figures, mortal and immortal, and reflects on the differences between these Scottish poems and…

A collection of essays by various authors on the cultural history of Canterbury. For three essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Canterbury: A Medieval City under Alternative Title.

Impressionistic commentary on the levels of narration in MilT, its self-conscious concern with auditory and visual perspective, its mockery of the Bible, and the process of its humor. The reader's point of view is that of a panopticon that turns out…

Examines the history, purpose, and effects of "quick fiction." Royle draws examples from his own writings, as well as the works of past authors, noting how "quick fiction" explores themes of "lifedeath [sic], spectrality, and radical otherness,"…

Addresses word choice in Thomas Hoccleve's English translation of Henry Suso's "Ars moriendi," a Latin text. Chaucer's use of the word "similitude" shows that it had entered the English language; however, Hoccleve translates both imago" and…

Fifteen essays by various authors on topics related to medieval mysticism, art, literature, and their later reception and influence, with an introduction by the editors and an account of Newman's publications by Jeffrey E. Singerman. For two essays…

Medieval romances reflect changing attitudes toward social conflicts with chronologically developing alterations in their audiences. Chaucer's romances are studied briefly.

Places Mel in the context of Richard II and his detractors in the 1380s and 1390s and examines the competing kinds of masculinity in the Tale as argued by Prudence and allegorized in the character of Sophie.

Mentions NPT and Rom in a survey of late-medieval "pervasive understandings" of women and femininity. Finds places within this survey for instances of "feminist moments" and the "dialects within which they were set."

As speech acts, threats are usually both conditional and commisive; i.e., they depend on an inferred promise, and they commit the speaker to some future course of action. Threats in Chaucer's works are usually modulated by the additional element of…

The Parson's attribution of a statement on the Crucifixion to Saint Augustine has never been identified; it may be a "Freudian slip," or it may originate in Augustine's detailed discussion of prelapsarian v. postlapsarian sexuality ("The City of God"…

Carl Lindahl's hypothesis (Earnest Games, SAC 11 [1989], no. 135) of folkloric approaches to Chaucer oversimplifies and stereotypes the poet's art. Such readings, which detract from close reading, "have a potentially distorting effect."

The restaurant scene in "The Sun Also Rises" echoes the conclusion of Chaucer's PardT. Like the Pardoner, Jake Barnes is "sexually disabled" and spiritually remiss. Both characters see money as power; both substitute food and drink for sex; both…