Spearing, A. C., and J. E. Spearing, eds.
London: Edward Arnold, 1974.
An anthology of Middle English verse, with individual introductions and facing-page glosses and notes. The General Introduction (pp. 1-40) considers prosody and poetic techniques, genres, and various linguistic concerns. Includes FrT (discussed as…
An introduction to TC that considers the demands it places on readers to resolve tensions posed by the work: the genre of romance opposed by conversational and material realism and by philosophical depth; the varying attitudes its poses toward the…
Spearing, A. C., ed.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Edition of KnT, originally published in 1966, based on F. N. Robinson's 2d edition (1957), with a new Introduction (pp. 1-111), "reconsidered" notes, and a corrected glossary, both included at the end of the volume, much as in the 1966 original. The…
Spearing, A. C., ed.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Rev. ed.
Text of FranT and the GP description of the Franklin (based on Robinson's edition, 1957) with end-of-text notes and glosses. The Introduction (pp. 1-76) describes the sources and analogues of FranT; the Breton lai genre; the tale's major themes of…
Spearing, A. C., ed.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965.
Rev. ed.. 1994.
Text of PardPT and the GP description of the Pardoner (based on Robinson's edition, 1957) with end-of-text notes and glosses. In his Introduction, Spearing summarizes the practices of medieval pardoners and preachers, assesses the character and…
The Wife's changing of the name Sulipucious Gallus to Symplicius Gallus (3.643) allows her to poke fun at one of her antifeminist "authorities" as well as to link this man to another antifeminist "gallus," the cock in NPT. She indicates that a man…
Spearman, Robert Alan.
Dissertation Abstracts International 58 (1998): 4672A.
Constructs an Augustinian "rhetoric of youth" to assess the depictions of infancy, childhood, and youth in Boethius's "De consolatione philosophiae," Innocent III's "De miseria condicionis humane," and the "Roman de la rose." Then considers how…
Ethopoeia, Latinized as "adlocutio" and treated by most rhetoricians, classical and medieval, is a subspecies of dramatic character portrayal, as distinct from the formal portrait. TC 5.1054-85 employs it in Criseyde's interior monologue. Other…
Specht, Henrik.
Raken Ringbom and Matti Pissanen, eds. Proceedings from the Second Nordic Conference for English Studies (Abo: Abo Akademi, 1984), pp. 403-13.
Examines "ethopoeia" and "adlocutio" in characterizations and portraiture.
Specht, Henrik.
Studia Neophilologica 56 (1984): 129-46.
As seen in GP, the formal method of characterization is rooted in Cicero, Priscian, and Matthew of Vendome. The physical repugnance of the Summoner symbolizes moral ugliness.
Discusses the Franklin "class" of late-medieval England: etymology, legal status, land tenure, wealth, rank, and social position. Adducing contemporary evidence, some of which is here discussed for the first time, the author explores the clues…
Spector, R. D.
Notes and Queries 201 (1956): 23-24.
Compares and contrasts examples of diction in Dryden's translations of CT to explain why Dryden did not translate the low-style fabliaux and to show that Dryden's translations of Chaucer's humorous passages evince metaphysical wit rather than the…
Spector, Stephen.
Robert R. Edwards and Stephen Spector, eds. The Olde Daunce: Love, Friendship, Sex, and Marriage in the Medieval World (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991), pp. 211-28, 289-300 (notes).
Explores the "joining of contradictions in irony" in the GP portrait of the Prioress and the "joining of contraries" in the "sublime paradox" in the allusion to the Incarnation in PrT. A further contradiction is "that the Prioress, whose faith and…
Speed, Diane, ed.
Sydney: Department of English, University of Sydney, 1989.
Correction and update of 1987 edition. Volume 1 includes a general introduction and bibliography, plus texts and introductions to Havelok, Sir Orfeo, Chevelere Assigne, Sir Cleges, Rauf Coilyear, and The Grene Knight. Volume 2 includes explanatory…
Speed, Diane.
Sydney Studies in English 15 (1989-1990): 3-30.
Speed gives a careful reading of FranT based on the Franklin's statement of contradictory intentions in his prologue: to tell a Breton lay and to render his tale plain and simple because he has never studied rhetoric. Presenting a romantic fairy…
Speed, Diane.
Geraldine Barnes, John Gunn, Sonya Jensen, and Lee Jobling, eds. Words and Wordsmiths: A Volume for H. L. Rogers (Sydney: University of Sydney, 1989): pp. 119-36.
A study of language in PhyT reveals intricate patterns of cohesion among elements sometimes regarded as disparate. The text invites the reader to consider several ethical and literary issues.
Speed, Diane.
Sydney Studies in English 22 (1996): 3-14.
Comparison of WBT with its analogues reveals Chaucer's manipulation of generic expectations to create a sequence of "evocations and subversions of romance optimism." The hero's conventional quest is supplanted by "a textual quest on the part of the…
Speirs, John.
Boris Ford, ed. The Age of Chaucer. Volume I of a Guide to English Literature (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin), pp. 17-67.
Offers advice to modern readers on how to read Chaucer--and what to read of his works--as preparation for appreciating Middle English verse more generally, emphasizing his "civilized delicacy" and his variety while surveying his works. Then surveys…
Spence, Timothy L.
Scott D. Troyan, ed. Medieval Rhetoric: A Casebook (New York and London: Routledge, 2004), pp. 63-90.
The Prioress's prayer to Mary shares characteristics with the "genre of prayer known as 'pura oratio'." Spence identifies features of this genre in rhetorical tradition, shows where they are evident in PrP, and suggests that they extend into PrT,…
