Browse Items (16472 total)

Examines Caxton's deletions from his first to his second edition of CT, showing that most of them were "bawdy spurious verse." Argues that the deletions evince Caxton's awareness of Chaucer's own "ribaldry" and that—not concerned with obscenity per…

The natural is commonly seen as a norm for human behavior in the Middle Ages, but Chaucer reveals skepticism about the normative status of Nature and the goodness of the order it oversees in ManT, SqT, BD, PF, and TC.

The "first stok" of Gent 1 refers to God as the father of "gentilesse" of Gent 8, to Christ as its exemplar and model. The genealogical image operates as metaphor, pun, and paradox in the poem.

Chaucer's harpist, Glascurion (HF 1208), is Gwydion, son of Don. Various sound changes can account for Chaucer's "hearing" of Glascurion, suggesting a lost tale about Gwydion known to Chaucer and his audience.

Asserts the importance of aspect and stylistics to make clear Chaucer's perfect-tense forms.

Examines "pryvetee" as a key word and its association with the two love triangles in MilT.

Lists forty-eight onomatopoeic words used by Chaucer. Examines some of these words' auditory, as well as visual, effects within their literary context. In Japanese.

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.

In his depiction of clerical celibacy, Chaucer may have been influenced by Andreas. The two authors approach the topic in similar fashion and reflect contemporary attitudes and turmoil.

Early in his career Lydgate borrowed from Chaucer for particular effects: echoes of GP appear in "The Siege of Thebes." In his later career Lydgate tried to create a Latin-derived poetic language linked to Chaucer.

Refutes Benson's view (SAC 3 (1981), pp. 77-120) that Ellesmere represents Chaucer's final arrangement of CT. Like Manly and Rickert, Blake thinks there is no Chaucerian order and that after Chaucer's death scribes tried to achieve a satisfactory…

The fluctuation of the narrative point of view in GP results in a paradox: whereas the compositional devices inhibit verisimilitude, received critical opinion recognizes the pilgrims as highly realistic representatives of fourteenth-century life. …

Assesses the "linguistic, communicative and narrative markers of performativity" in BD, HF, and PF, arguing that Chaucer composed them for live performance but also with an eye to repeated performance or reading.

Comments on Pierre Nora's theory of cultural memory loss and on Christopher Nolan's film "Memento" (2000). Then explores TC for the ways that it represents the relations between historical events and the reconstruction or remembering of these…

Caie argues that modern editions of medieval texts ought to be accompanied by the glosses that accompany them in the manuscripts. He discusses Chaucer's glosses to CT, as well as his use of the humility topos. The glosses to CT may be Chaucer's own,…

Sell identifies "verbal parallels" and "ontological similarities" between Criseyde and Chaucer's version of Boethius's Fortune. Association with Fortune undermines "sentimental views of Criseyde" that Chaucer the narrator may share though Chaucer…

Analyzes modern approaches to Chaucer's portrayal of women.

The lack of a clearcut distinction between connotative and denotative associations of words, as well as the looseness of syntactical patterns in Middle English, forces us to focus on the rhetorical arrangement of ideas and words--repetition, balance,…

Explores the vibrant language of CT (and the difficulties of translation), its relations with oral tradition, and the constraints and possibilities of traditional medieval narrative set in tension with a competitive tale-telling contest among diverse…

Explores analogues to PardT, including sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spanish versions. Focuses on a modern Andalusian legend from Priego de Cordoba.

Assesses the terms used for varieties of dreams summarized in HF 1-12, comparing them with their source in Macrobius's "Commentary on the Dream of Scipio," with Latin usage, and with Chaucer's uses of the terms elsewhere in his works.

Contrasts Chaucer's concern for the role of authors in the preservation of historical "fame" with Pope's emphasis on the enduring value of art. Di Rocco shows how Pope's personal interest in fame is tempered by humility like that of Chaucer's…

Departures from Boccaccio's tale of Griselda are examined to prove that Chaucer had been familiar with three other versions, those of Petrarch, MS 1165, and Mezieres. Chaucer used differences in detail to add delicacy to enhance the emotional…

The imitation in GP's opening of Virgil's Second "Georgic" suggests a sexual motivation for the pilgrimage and some of the stories. This allusive effect is seen in MerT but it affects other tales and portraits, e.g. the Prioress's. Similarly Horace…

Accepts Ret as earnest but impersonated, surveying critical opinions, and suggesting that it is best read as an instance of Chaucer's "contrast principle" in operation, offering examples of his "many pretended or real about-faces" in CT. After ParsT,…