Pearsall, Derek.
C. David Benson and Elizabeth Robertson, eds. Chaucer's Religious Tales (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1990), pp. 11-19.
Chaucer's religious tales (Mel, ParsT, ClT, MLT, PrT, SNT, PhyT, MkT) are "predicated upon the assumption that the significance of human life is the transcending of its secular limitation through Christian faith." The only tales in CT not written in…
Kirk, Elizabeth D.
C. David Benson and Elizabeth Robertson, eds. Chaucer's Religious Tales (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1990), pp. 111-20.
Although it is common to separate the religious message of ClT from the tale's portrayal of women and marriage, the two are "linked," with the juxtaposition of Griselda and Alison of Bath representing "opposite solutions to the problem of women's…
Hirsh, John C.
C. David Benson and Elizabeth Robertson, eds. Chaucer's Religious Tales (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1990), no.130), pp. 161-70.
Examining both ecclesiastical and societal patriarchies, SNT addresses medieval concepts of power, authority, and autonomy. It places Cecilia's spiritual vision in the context of a broader secular and sacred order.
Frank, Robert Worth,Jr.
C. David Benson and Elizabeth Robertson, eds. Chaucer's Religious Tales (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1990), pp. 39-52.
Through pathos, Chaucer evokes the audience's sympathy, thus transforming PrT, MLT, and ClT from mere tales of wonder or religious abstraction into convincing, dramatic treatments of the virtues they celebrate.
Smith, D. Vance.
C. M. Woolgar, ed. The Elite Household in England, 1100–1550: Proceedings of the 2016 Harlaxton Symposium (Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2018), pp. 110-28.
Unpacks allegorical aspects of "domus" (household, community, regulation, tradition, order) and "lingua" (speech, noise, murmuring, poetry, vernacularity) in Gower's "Vox clamantis" and in HF, using Fredric Jameson's notion of "national allegory" to…
Huxtable, Michael J.
C. P. Biggam and C. J. Kay, eds. Progress in Colour Studies: Volume I. Language and Culture (Amsterdam and Philadelphia: Benjamins, 2006), pp. 199-217.
Huxtable surveys medieval philosophical and religious understanding of sight and color as background to commentary on social concerns with color in sumptuary habits and heraldry. In ParsT 10.424-27, colorful clothing indicates a sinful nature.
The metaphor in Eph. 4:22-24 of putting off old clothes and donning new ones influenced the use of this image in PardT, "King Lear," "Gulliver's Travels," and "The Brothers Karamazov." As the Pardoner's alter ego and a representation of human…
Assesses Spenser's Duessa in light of WBT and its Middle English analogues, exploring how Spenser turned the Irish sovereignty motif against the Irish.
Bourgne, Florence
Cahiers de recherches medievales et humanistes 29 (2015): 199–214.
Examines Chaucer's literary exchanges with contemporary French writers, including his interest in "Flaundres, in Artoys, and Pycardie." Offers
how Chaucer's translation of Rom confirms his fascination with the duchy's growing empire, where Picard…
Kendrick, Laura.
Cahiers de recherches medievales et humanistes/Journal of Medieval and Humanistic Studies 29, no. 1 (2015): 215–33.
Examines how Deschamps's balade 285 is a surprisingly generous recognition and glorification of Chaucer as a pioneering translator from Latin and French into English, and as an "illuminator" or enlightener of his native England. Reveals how this…
Challenges D.W. Robertson's approach to allegory and to the WBP, arguing that the medieval outlook was more flexible than Robertson asserted, more capable of varied attitudes toward present times, the historical past, the eschatological future, and…
Longo, Joseph A.
Cahiers Elisabethains 11 (1977): 1-15.
In Chaucer's TC and Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida," the actions focused on the lovers are remarkably alike in general contours and specific internal resonances, a resemblance which points to Chaucer as Shakespeare's source. Chaucer shows a…
Introduces a special issue dedicated to Shakespeare's references to Padua, summarizing the collected essays and addressing references to Padua in the Towneley mystery play ("Magnus Herodes") and in ClP (27). Suggests that Chaucer's linking of Padua…
Smith, Peter J., and Greg Walker.
Cahiers Élisabéthains 69 (2006): 53-57.
Smith and Walker review the dramatic performance of CT (all but CYT), describing the staging and tracing the emotional swings of the adaptation. Includes one black-and-white and four color photographs of the production.
Chaudhuri, Supriya, and Sukanta Chaudhuri, eds.
Calcutta : Allied, in collaboration with the Department of English, Jadavpur University, 1996.
Eleven essays by various authors, on topics relating to Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Petrarchan tradition, Renaissance ballads and drama, and George Herbert. For two essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Writing Over under Alternative Title.
Winton, Calhoun.
Calhoun Winton, John Gay and the London Theatre (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1993), pp. 26-40.
Assesses how John Gay's play, "The Wife of Bath," sheds light on "what Gay and his contemportaries, most especially [Alexander] Pope, knew and thought about Chaucer," exploring Pope's influence on Gay's interest in Chaucer and the nature of Gay's…
NPT illustrates the alternation of sexual dominance in CT. The Priest among his nuns is like Chanticleer, "paragon des phallocrates," among his wives. But neither maintains dominance. Moreover, in NPT, as in CT as a whole, questions of sexual…
Robbie, May Grant
California English Journal 3.1 (1967): 47-54.
Argues that Pandarus is "honorable and well-intentioned in each of his three roles" in TC: traditional friend to Troilus, courtly friend to Troilus, and protective and loving kinsman to Criseyde. Chaucer's efforts to "knit together" these sometimes…
Includes a section entitled "Shorter Chaucer Tales" (pp. 21–51) with five pieces inspired by CT: "The Host Tale," "The Summer Tale (Deus Hic, 1)," "The Franker Tale (Deus Hic, 2)," "The Not Tale (Funeral)," and "Fried Tale (London Zoo)." The…
