Browse Items (16472 total)

In its carnivalized parody of the sacrament of confession, the "calculated self-portrait" of the Archpoet's "Estuans intrinsecus" foreshadows PardPT. Each speaker creates a "mythopoeia of self" by manipulating sacred topoi; the Pardoner draw his…

Enumerative bibliography of Italian influence on English literature, arranged by English authors, Italian authors, and selected topics; 4022 items (about 400 pertaining to Chaucer), some with very brief annotations. Includes an index of scholars'…

Studies the "3500 second-person pronouns" in CT, using a socio-linguistic model that attends to "Social, Kinship, and Ideational Domains" to account for patterns of usage.

Study guide to KnT that includes an introduction to Chaucer's court culture and courtly tradition and discussion of KnT in relation to part one of CT (GP, MilT, RvT, and CkT). Includes a summary/commentary on KnT, arranged in narrative fragments,…

Challenges R. V. Ramsey's argument (Studies in Bibliography 35 (1982):133-54) that Hengwrt and Ellesmere CT MSS are by different scribes. Hg, El, Trinity College Cambridge R.3.2,and the Cecil fragment are all by the same scribe, as changing scribal…

The only manuscript which reflects Chaucer's own spelling is that of "Equat." Because this text is short, it does not provide a complete model for editors; Hengwrt is probably the best choice for a complete model.

Argues that pronounced Chaucerian final -'e' is generally conservative and grammatical (rather than rhetorical or colloquial), identifying parallels in Old English usage and Middle English scribal practice, and commenting on the loss of final -'e'…

Explores editorial implications of the South-West Midlands features of several London copyings of works by Chaucer, Gower, and Langland, including four manuscripts of the CT (Ha4, La, Cp, Pw).

An anthology of the editor's "favorite scary tales," collected for a juvenile audience. Includes a modernized, simplified version of PardT, entitled "Three Who Sought Death" (pp. 75-77).

Assesses the poetic structure of Edwin Arlington Robinson's "The Man Against the Sky," demonstrating that it "juxtaposes two dissimilar ideas forcing a new understanding of relationship" in an inorganic fashion similar to that found in Ovid, Chaucer,…

Ottomans and Saracens, people, whom Chaucer knew mainly through trade and crusade narratives, embody for him alterity in general and absolute determinism in contrast to Chrsitian free will. MLT suggests that these groups live in error, and while KnT…

Focuses on the meaning of brotherhood in "Ipomadon," "Octavian," and Chaucer's KnT.

Explores implications of the fact that the pilgrims never arrive at their destination in CT, commenting on late medieval travel and pilgrimage.

Regards the process of reading as the essential pilgrimage of CT, which obviates the need for an arrival at Canterbury. For previously published version, in French, see "Canterbury, la cathédrale où Chaucer n'arrive jamais . . . Mais est-ce bien…

Summarizes the literary and social position of women in Chaucer's time and discusses the various marital relationships in CT.

Characterizes the GP Knight based on his participation in Christian crusades and his worthy "non-involvement" in the Hundred Years War.

In KnT, Theseus is "devoted to chivalry" and yet ineffectual in his attempts to achieve order. Through him, the Knight indicates the need for chivalry to undergo reform.

Applies modern translation theories to Rom, identifying Chaucer's goal of testing the "capacity of English to attain higher spheres of expression." Far from being a servile translator, Chaucer composed a "metapoem" with a range of translational…

Considers the date and provenance of the Longleat 257 manuscript, describes its contents, and offers a full codicological analysis of collation and compilation, hands, and illustrations.

The author addresses the question whether Chaucer had Adam Pynkhurst in mind when berating his scribe Adam for his sloppy work and, on the basis of palaeographical evidence, seeks to determine whether Pynkhurst's performance improved afterwards. To…

Analysis of literary patronage from the Anglo-Saxon times until the end of the fourteenth century, when royal patronage was essential for authors such as Chaucer.

Translation of CT into Hebrew, with end-of-text notes, reproductions of the Caxton woodcuts of the pilgrims, and a postscript by Lawrence Besserman.

Addresses two questions: Is KnT a romance? and Whose story is it, Palamon's or Arcite's? More lines are devoted to these issues than to philosophic matter and Theseus. Arcite shows more nobility than any other character in KnT, and the story…

In the Dido episode of LGW, Chaucer minimizes both Aeneas's destiny and his character, focusing on Dido's character and thus producing a (negative) feminist exemplum.

Contrary to contentions of A. C. Spearing and others that Criseyde is a passive heroine "at the mercy of events," Criseyde is a decisive figure who actively takes charge of her own destiny. She is representative of emerging "scientific" intellectual…