Browse Items (16472 total)

Reviews and revises Eleanor Hammond's discussions of the relations among the fifteen known manuscripts of PF, focusing on the five manuscripts of Group B and providing the evidence for relocating Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Tanner 346 in a new…

From a feminist perspective, Fernández Rodríguez compares FranT and ClT with Fanny Burney's "The Wanderer" (1814) and Maria Edgeworth's "The Modern Griselda" (1805). Dorigen's and Griselda's domestic constraints contrast the ones depicted by…

Analyzes the unique marginal annotations in the Harley 2392 version of TC, exploring the role played by the scribe of the manuscript. The marginalia seem to hint at something beyond the task of a copyist, since they entail interpretation of what…

Maíz Arévalo describes the functions of rhetorical questions and assesses their uses in CT, where the device is linked to "heigh style" (Harry Bailey's term) and specific genres. Rhetorical questions are used to express and elicit emotion, to…

Analyzes HF in light of Saint Augustine's understanding of memory, showing how Chaucer proposes a dialogue with history and literature of the past in which the author and the reader are recipients of a common legacy.

Analysis of PhyT and its connection with the storyteller through the notions of authority, sovereignty and power. In the post-plague context, when doctors had become broadly distrusted, a story that stresses these aspects would help to restore the…

The authors maintain that Chaucer's visit to Monserrat inspired aspects of HF and suggest that Chaucer's man of great authority (HF 2158) was Pedro IV.

Identifies instances in which the letters in TC follow rhetorical principles found in Cicero, medieval rhetoricians, and Ovid's Heroides.

Compares the figures of the Old Man in PardT and Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus," arguing that each represents the "Christian paradox of moral strength manifesting itself in physical weakness."

The liveliness of characterization in GP and elsewhere in CT derives from theatrical rather than narrative tradition. The interplay between typicality and individuality reflects the dual traditions of narration and drama.

Describes the Host's speech habits, assessing how they characterize him and how his various forms of address depict him as pilgrim, master of ceremonies, philosopher, etc.

Argues that Chaucer's Ret was influenced by the prologue to Don Juan Manuel's "El Conde Lucanor," citing parallels not only in attitude and sentiment but also in structure, syntax, and grammar. Uses discourse analysis to compare linguistic features.

Surveys scholarship pertaining to Chaucer's 1366 visit to Spain and Gaunt's 1386-87 campaign in Spain, commenting on historical events and Chaucer's involvement with them.

Compares PrT with Gonzalo de Berceo's thirteenth-century "Judiezno" (Little Jewish Child) from his "Los Milagros de Nuestra Seʹora."

Traces the classical and colloquial origins of Chaucer's stereotyped comparisons (e.g., "as stille as any ston," "white as chalk"); describes their syntax; and assesses the functions of grammar, alliteration, and prosody in the development of terms…

Briefly surveys medieval attitudes toward destiny and suggests the difficulty of being certain what Chaucer's attitude was.

Tabulates Chaucer's allusions to Spanish people and places; explores ways to account for these political, social, and cultural references and what they can tell us about medieval Spanish/English relations.

Explores Chaucer's understanding of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth to argue that Criseyde's reference to Eurydice (TC 4.791) is the poet's way of "lending voice" to a classical figure who, like Criseyde, was the object of barter.

Pragmatic analysis suggests that the Wife of Bath in WBP and the loathly lady in WBT flout the "Quality and Quantity maxims of the Cooperative Principle" and the "maxims of Tact" of the "Politeness Principle." Targets of Chaucer's satire, the two…

Surveys scholarship and evidence concerning Chaucer's familiarity with Spanish literature, arguing that critics have exaggerated the possible influence. It is "highly improbable" that Chaucer was directly influenced by medieval Spanish writers;…

Considers medieval family structures, attitudes toward sexuality, and marital practices to argue that the Wife of Bath "almost definitely had no children." Unlike Margery of Kempe, she may have been sterile.

Surveys classical concepts of authority and Chaucer's uses of classical authorities, arguing that although Chaucerian allusions reflect medieval continuity with Stoicism and Epicurianism, the poet uses classical authorities, especially Ovid, in…

Systemetic functional analysis of TC, exploring how Chaucer seeks to change or improve his community's views on love.

Chaucer expresses the dialectical tension between subject and history, between the inner and the outer self, between canon and parody in CT and TC. He represents this conflict through dramatic dialogue and theatrical performance, making the…

Explores two folkloric motifs in ClT and "Lay le Freine": the patient wife and twin sisters who are rivals in love. Rooted in the same myth, the stories imagine alternatives to patriarchal culture as well as dramatizing wifely obedience and female…