Hardman, C. B.
Reading Medieval Studies 6 (1980): 20-30.
Though Chaucer's reputation in the 16th century depended partly on works wrongly attributed to him, he was thought of as a proto-Puritan thinker, a model of eloquence, a love poet. Thus Spenser found it advantageous in the "Shepheardes Calendar" to…
Deschamps had in mind Chaucer's short lyrics--Truth, Gent, Sted, Wom Nob--when he praised him in the ballads. These poems constitute Chaucer's advisory poetry whose subjects is moral philosophy stated in polished language and in French forms.
Assesses the Proem to Boccaccio's Il Filostrato as a source for TC: the artist's "dual-self of helpless lover and ingenious artist" is split between Troilus and Pandarus, and Boccaccio's two ladies, Filomena and Criseis, "are first merged and later…
Rupp, Jan.
REAL: The Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature 36 (2020): 219-37.
Describes uses of "iconic extant narratives" in twenty-first-century refugee writing, using CT as a "key and core example," and focusing on how it adds "to the ethical potential" of three volumes of "Refugee Tales" (2016, 2018, and 2019) edited by…
Minnis, Alastair.
REALB: The Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature (Tubingen) 12 (1996): 203-21
Assesses differing opinions of female preaching and teaching in medieval orthodoxy and in the Lollard movement, arguing that Chaucer's depiction of the Wife of Bath and the loathly lady in WBT confronts these opinions. Just as PardT confronts…
Wicher, Andrzej.
REALB: The Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature (Tubingen) 7 (1990): 19-60.
Considers Chaucer's tales of marriage in light of patterns of the supernatural marriages in folktales, identifying MLT and SNT as tales that transcend marital opposition through allegory, and viewing ClT, MerT, FranT, and SqT as tales in which the…
Wimsatt, James I.
Rebecca A. Baltzer, Thomas Cable, and James I. Wimsatt, eds. The Union of Words and Music in Medieval Poetry. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991, pp. 132-50.
Applies Deschamps' concept of natural music (i.e., words in verse, from L'Art de dictier) to Machaut's ballade "Tout ensement," to "The Fair Maid of Ribblesdale," and to Chaucer's Ros, demonstrating how the rhythms of Middle French and Middle English…
Guthrie, Steven (R).
Rebecca Baltzer A., Thomas Cable, and James I. Wimsatt, eds. The Union of Words and Music in Medieval Poetry. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991, pp. 72-100.
Explores lyric and narrative meters in Provencal poetry, Old and Middle French, and Middle English texts--especially Machaut and Chaucer--showing that a poet's intuitive sense of genre affects verse rhythm more directly than does musical notation. …
Whitehead, Christiania.
Rebecca Lemon, and others, eds. The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature. (Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), pp. 134-51.
Whitehead surveys Chaucer's engagement with the Bible and biblical texts in CT and suggests a parallel between the poem's dialogic structure and the fourteenth-century debate over Wycliffite ideology. While parts of CT may corroborate certain…
Workbook for early readers of English, including retellings in modern English of GP, KnT, ClT, MerT, FranT, and PardT accompanied by pedagogical materials on Chaucer, his works, and contemporary society. Audiodisk includes readings from the tales.
Johnston, Alexandra F.
Records of Early English Drama Newsletter 13:2 (1988), 13-20.
Allusions in MilT and WBP help date the mystery plays. Despite the paucity of archival records, Chaucer's allusions clarify contemporary familiarity with the plays and their production.
Honoré-Duvergé, Suzanne.
Recueil de Travaux Offert a M. Clovis Brunel, Membre de l’Institut, Directeur Honoraire de l’École des Chartes, par Ses Amis, Collèagues et Élèves (Paris: Société de l'École Chartes, 1955), Volume 2, pp. 9-13.
Republishes (from 1890) a document originally from the "Cartulario" of Carlos II, king of Navarre, correctly transcribing Chaucer's name (Chauserre rather than Chanserre), and suggesting that he was granted safe-conduct in Spain to participate in…
Pantalone, Vince.
Red Bank, N.J.: Newman Springs, 2018.
Fictional prequel to the CT, set in 1366, when Chaucer and his fellow pilgrims (many from CT) are involved with a kidnapping and murder plot while traveling to Canterbury.
Johnston, Andrew James.
Regina Toepfer, ed. Tragik und Minne (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2017), pp. 207-24.
Explores tragic fate and the genre of tragedy in TC, arguing that the "double sorwe" of the opening of the poem (I.1) anticipates the "tragedye" mentioned at the end (V.1786) and that each applies to Criseyde as well as to Troilus. Includes…
Mitchell, Ken, Thomas Chase, and Michael Trussler, eds.
Regina, Saskatchewan: University of Regina, 1999.
An anthology of forty works of short fiction designed for "first-year university students," with an Introduction that discusses the genre, and an appendix of related literary terms. Each narrative is accompanied by a brief assessment and a…
Chaucer and Henryson use the bestiaries in different ways. Chaucer only hints at the allegorical potential of his animals in CT and PF, although he does capitalize on familiar allegorizations in his similes and symbols. More directly, Henryson…
Medieval iconography of the monkey physician examining a urinal reflects concern about contemporary physicians but may also evoke associations with Christ as salvific doctor. Hardwick briefly considers aspects of Phy-PardL and the Ellesmere portrait…
Riehle, Wolfgang.
Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowoht, 1994.
An introductory biography of Chaucer and chronological commentary on all of his major works in light of social and personal history. Includes a time line, brief selections from critical traditions, a bibliography, an index, and illustrations largely…
Brewer, Derek.
Reingard M. Nischik and Barbara Korte, eds. Modes of narrative: Approaches to American, Canadian, and British Fiction. (Wurzburg: Konigshausen & Neumann, 1990,) pp. 166-78.
TC is a dramatic monologue delivered by a narrator who is distinctly detached from Chaucer himself. Brewer reexamines the narrator's position and function in TC and the history of the concept of that narrator.
Kirkpatrick, Robin.
Religion & Literature 47.3 (2015): 1-24.
Focusing on TC, argues that Chaucer relied heavily on previous works, primarily Dante's "Divina commedia," for theological and linguistic direction. Contends that Chaucer, like Dante, does not merely regurgitate biblical narratives, but expands on…
Greene, Darragh.
Religion & Literature 54 (2022): 141-62.
Focuses on CT and PardT, specifically. Discusses the Pardoner's fabrication of relics and the "preposterous" transformation of "accident into substance," a reversal of the trope used in PardT, the narrative voice in both GP and PardT, and deception…
Hines, Jessica.
Religion & Literature 54 (2022): 49-71.
Presents the role of pity as an "essential virtue" that does not negate suffering in TC; claims that Chaucer shifts language as a way to understand the "complex social and subjective position of pity" in TC.
Kamowski, William.
Religion and Literature 25 (1993): 1-18.
Argues that fragment III of CT is a coherent, extended critique of corruption of the sacrament of penance. WBT provides a "model for how penance should be practiced," while FrT and SumT reflect abuse of the sacrament through economic and…
Watson, Nicholas.
Religion and Literature 37.2 (2005): 99-114.
Chaucer's religion is important even in his secular tales, a reflection of his public stance as a lay penitent, a member of the "mediocriter boni," a category of the religious to be distinguished from the contemplative path of the "perfecti." Reads…
