Browse Items (16472 total)

Building on recent studies related to space and epistemology, this study argues that Chaucer, as well as the "Pearl"-poet and author of "The Cloud of Unknowing," take a pedagogical stance in their writing and "proffer a space from which or by means…

Assuming a consistent narrative voice across the Chaucer canon, this study treats Chaucer's use of animal, specifically, avian, discourse as a means of exploring subjectivity. The author emphasizes the role of non-humans and women in "challenging…

Mentions Hoccleve's role in establishing Chaucer as the prototypical English writer in the course of a larger discussion of Hoccleve's negotiation of the relationship between author and reader.

Examines the role of the avenger in several medieval works, including RvT and Mel.

Includes discussion of Rita Copeland's representation of Chaucer as an author intending to supersede previous texts; where Chaucer would supplant classical texts, Langland is presented as attempting to conserve and extend scriptural/liturgical texts.

Examines various codes by which homosocial relationships were allowed to develop without violation of sodomy taboos. Uses as a case study the relationship between Troilus and Pandarus in TC.

Uses Chaucer, Spenser, Homer, Virgil, and Bunyan as test specimens in the presentation of allegory as a vision of superimposed frames of reference.

Discusses temporality and "cultural imaginings" of time in Lydgate, Hoccleve, and Chaucer. Refers to Chaucer's use of narrative and seasonal time and memory in CT, BD, PF, HF, and Astr.

Through Harry Bailly in CT, Chaucer explores the literary tastes of his new audience. Although the Host's interpretations of Chaucer's tales are usually wrong-headed, Chaucer uses the Host to suggest appropriate audience reactions to various…

Haweis's book (1876) included edited versions of six of the CT and four shorter poems, in Middle English and translation. Addressing mainly an audience of boys, Haweis placed special emphasis on the theme of friendship, both in the poetry and in…

Argues that Middle English writers employ gendered terms at moments when they are probing new ideas about women's roles; writers "invented womanhood" to describe women's experiences beyond their relation to men. KnT and ClT use gendered language to…

Explores use of temporality ("the experience of living in time") in CT and Gower's "Confessio Amantis," suggesting that CT is present-centered and considers the relationship of past to present, while Gower "focuses on the present as it becomes the…

Posits a connection between literature, subjectivity, and the diagnosis of medical symptoms in the late Middle Ages. Uses CT and other literary and medical works.

Considers representations of the Flemish in such works as "Piers Plowman," the Paston letters, and CT, with a particular eye toward the use of negative stereotypes and the use of Flemish people as an Other for the purpose of developing an English…

Spurr cites A. E. Housman's lecture "The Name and Nature of Poetry" and calls upon the makers of the Australian National Curriculum not to excise CT and other canonical texts from the program.

Uses CT as a source of data for a linguistic study of hyperbole, particularly for diachronic case studies in Chapter Six. Charts Chaucer's hyperbolic use of a few, selected words. In Chapter Seven, suggests that Chaucer uses hyperbole in GP to…

A sourcebook of "fifteen centuries of history" about the historical, social, political, and religious development of pilgrimages. Includes a section on "Pilgrimage and Piety in the Late Middle Ages," with an abridged version of GP, pp. 325-30.…

In the context of the biblical passages alluded to in a couplet evoking "gem-encrusted plows," it is worth noting that in Blake's depiction of the Canterbury Pilgrims, "he represented the Plowman as a medieval version of himself."

Examines "The King of Tars," "The Siege of Jerusalem," and KnT in order to demonstrate that identity, however embodied, was unfixed in these works and perhaps in the later Middle Ages at large.

Argues against reading Emelye as absent or purely symbolic and instead posits her as having a more complex subjectivity that can be more fully accessed when reading KnT alongside Boccaccio's "Teseida." Close reading of Emelye's prayer to Diana shows…

Focuses on Anglo-Saxon architecture and poetry and draws connections between physical spaces and literary texts. Argues that Anglo-Saxon buildings should be viewed as "dynamic spaces" to enrich an understanding of development of Anglo-Saxon…

Chaucer's use of the interjection "Oo" in KnT (2533) is adduced as a stage in the history of "Ahoy" going back to the Anglo-French verb "oir" (to hear, listen).

Chaucer and Gower both adapted the story of Constance from the Anglo-Norman chronicle of Trevet. A comparison of the proper names, institutional terms, and speeches shows that Gower closely follows Trevet while Chaucer modifies the story in MLT.

Considers Custance of MLT to be an exception to the medieval stereotype of the barbarous female founder of a society.

Assesses Chaucer's presentation of women in TC, LGW, and CT (especially MLT) for the various ways that he invigorates them as characters to give them voice and dimension.