Sleeth, Charles (R.)
Chaucer Newsletter 1.2 (1979): 20-21.
In GP the Franklin and the Man of Law are presented as companions, but they have antithetical views on astrology: the Man of Law insists on its value, the Franklin condemns it as "supersticious cursednesse."
Sleeth, Charles R.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 89 (1988): 174-84.
The invocations of a mother's advice in WBP, PardT, and MkT, in contrast to the wisdom of "Oure Lady" invoked by the two nuns in CT, become an ambiguous source of authority not in themselves but because of the actions they appear to justify.
Slefinger, John.
Essays in Medieval Studies 30 (2014): 155–64.
Explores how the Miller might be interacting with the Wife of Bath when he presents Alisoun, whose description "represents an attempt to control and win the Wife of Bath's sexual attention while undercutting any agency or interiority she may have."
Slipp, Nicole Elizabeth.
Ph.D. dissertation, Queens University, 2017. Fully accessible via https://queensu.scholaris.ca/items/2168a905-fe87-4bbd-a896-5492740912bf (accessed February 22, 2026).
Outlines "the history and theory of BDSM [bondage and discipline, domination and submission, and sadism and masochism]" and explores "concepts of fantasy, performance, consent, and eroticized violence" in "Sir Gowther," "The Book of Margery Kempe,"…
Sloane, William.
Notes and Queries 205 (1960): 220-22.
Identifies three references in the correspondence and diary of Reverend Stukeley to a portrait (or portraits) of Chaucer and to a proposed edition of the poet's works.
Slocum, Sally K.
Neuphilolgische Mitteilungen 87 (1986): 365-74.
Despite previous treatment by critics, Criseyde is a pitiable character and a "good citizen of Troy." The treatment she receives at the hands of her own relatives, the Trojans, and the Greeks justifies her unfaithfulness to Troilus.
Slocum, Sally K.
Philological Quarterly 58 (1979): 16-25.
Evidence suggests Pandarus is a peer to Troilus and hardly older than Criseyde, probably around thirty. The younger age eliminates harsh judgments on his involvement in their love affair and on behavior deemed lecherous in an older man.
Slover, Judith.
Laura C. Lambdin and Robert T. Lambdin, eds. Chaucer's Pilgrims: An Historical Guide to the Pilgrims in the "Canterbury Tales" (Westport, Conn.; and London: Greenwood, 1996), pp. 243-55.
Surveys medieval attitudes of and about women as background to the GP sketch of the Wife of Bath, WBP, and WBT. Reads the Wife as a conscious manipulator of antifeminist texts, her husbands, and the conventions of romance--all aspects of her…
Smallwood, Philip.
Cedric D. Reverand II, ed. Queen Anne and the Arts (Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2015), pp. 99– 117.
Explores Alexander Pope's "transformation" of MerT in his "January and May," focusing on his "reading of Chaucer," and his poem's "consonance with the time of Queen Anne." Also comments more generally on Pope's reception and uses of Chaucer's…
Smallwood, Richard.
In Jayne Lewis and Lisa Zunshine, eds. Approaches to Teaching the Works of John Dryden (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2013), pp. 164-68.
Advocates teaching John Dryden's "Fables, Ancient and Modern" as "his most accomplished poetical production," discussing the status-resistant view of natural gentility in his translation of WBT and of Boccaccio's tale of Sigismunda and Guiscardo.…
Smallwood, T. M.
Studies in Philology 82 (1985): 437-49.
Chaucer's digressions distinguish the narrative structure of PardT, WBT, MerT, FranT, PhyT, and ManT from others of the period in a way not accounted for in rhetorical models of the period ("Confessio Amantis," "Decameron," "Ovide Moralise," "Gesta…
Argues that the phrase "for gode" in MilT (I.3526) is not, as is often assumed, a misspelling meaning "by God," but rather an intentional use of a phrase appearing in unsophisticated texts of the period. The phrase has similarly been misunderstood in…
Smarr, Janet Levarie
Jane Chance, ed. The Mythographic Art: Classical Fable and the Rise of the Vernacular in Early France and England (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1990), pp. 199-214.
Examining erotic elements, "identifications of the pear tree and the garden," and Mercury's role and attributes, Smarr analyzes similarities between Chaucer's and Boccaccio's handling of the pear-tree tale--similarities greater than those found in…
Smarr, Janet Levarie, trans.
New York: Garland, 1987.
Verse translations of Boccaccio's sixteen Latin "Eclogues," with facing texts reprinted from the edition of Massera (1928); also a substantial critical introduction and extensive notes on allegory and mythological references in each poem.
Smarr, Janet Levarie.
Martin Eisner and David Lummus, eds. A Boccaccian Renaissance: Essays on the Early Modern Impact of Giovanni Boccaccio and His Works (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 2019), pp. 293-310.
Observes that ClT sets its view of marriage in opposition to WBPT, suggesting that this reflects Chaucer's familiarity with Boccaccio's "Decameron" and inspired "the reversal of Griselda's gender" in two early modern English plays, analyzed here:…
Like "Inferno" 5, PF contains references to Earthly Paradise and Hell, the dream, and the fate of those who attend to private lusts. Dante compares the plight of souls to that of several kinds of birds, including three of the four bird categories in…
Smigen-Rothkopf, David.
Ph.D. Dissertation. Fordham University, 2022.
Open access at ProQuest Dissertations & Theses; accessed November 19, 202).
Argues that "evolving discourses of gentility . . . served as models" for Chaucer, Sir Thomas Malory, and Henry Medwall, inspiring them "to write, variably, about socio-linguistic reform . . . and meta-literary reflection on the impact of newly…
Argues that Dante in Canto XIX of his "Inferno," and Chaucer in SumT, "show essentially the same pervasive effects of simony in essentially the same manner," using similar "images of and parodic allusions to" the sin. However, the poets differ in…
Smilie, Ethan K., and Kipton D. Smilie.
Interdisciplinary Humanities 31.3 (2014): 32-52.
Surveys Marxist scholarship concerning "class clowns" in American school rooms, classroom management of them, and their vocational potential. Then discusses Nicholas of MilT and John and Aleyn of RvT as students "who 'work the system' for the sake of…
Smilie, Ethan K., and Kipton D. Smilie.
Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought 58 (2017): 349-70.
Assesses the "merits and drawbacks" of teaching "grit" (i.e., the "ability to work hard and diligently for long-term goals") as a pedagogical goal, comparing modern notions with Thomistic "studiositas" and "curiositas" and assessing three "gritty…
Smilie, Ethan K., and Kipton D. Smilie.
Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching 26, no. 1 (2019): 77-89.
Juxtaposes modern pedagogical views of critical thinking and the Thomastic contrast between "studiositas" and "curositas" as background to discussing how SumT can "be used to help students to think critically about the nature of their own critical…
Examines the vice of curiosity, arguing that Chaucer both expands its application from the realm of the intellectual to the realm of the physical, and suggests that poetry may be a cause and a remedy for the desire to inquire into private matters.…
