Miller, Robert P.
Chaucer Review 5.2 (1970): 147-60.
Assesses MilT as an "anti-authoritarian" complaint against the estates--the clergy, the courtly aristocracy, the "providers," and women--depicting "the kind of thing the Miller would like to see happen to such people."
Contends that the source of the allusion to Semiramis in MLT (2.359) is ancient historians and perhaps Boccaccio's "De Claris Mulieribus," not Dante's "Inferno."
Pearsall, John.
London: Routledge and K. Paul; Charlottesville, N.C.: University of Virginia Press, 1970.
Combines literary biography with genre-study to assess the poetry of John Lydgate, particularly his conventionality and craftsmanship, his techniques of amplification and idealization, his commonplaces and "categories of thought," internal and…
apRoberts, Robert P.
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 69 (1970): 425-36.
Regards Criseyde's departure from Troy in TC as a "fated event," while it is a matter of fortune in Boccaccio's "Filostrato." Shows how Chaucer adjusts his source, increases the dramatic irony of the plot, and gives to his readers a perspective that…
Badendyck, J. Lawrence.
English Record 21 (1970): 113-25.
Challenges the notion that the descriptions of the pilgrims in GP are drawn from real-life models and compares and contrasts Chaucer's techniques with those of Guillaume de Lorris in "Roman de la Rose" and William Langland's in "Piers Plowman."…
Brown, James Neil.
Massachusetts Studies in English 2 (1970): 71-79.
Characterizes the narrator of BD as a comic "would-be courtier" who takes pains to "appear courtly and noble and in love." The narrator is also likeable and much in awe of the Black Knight, functioning as a device whereby Chaucer censures excessive…
Colmer, Dorothy.
Essays in Criticism 20 (1970): 375-80.
Argues that the Franklin as narrator presents the characters in FranT as both "living people and as standard types from courtly romance," not worrying excessively about consistency of characterization and revealing more wisdom than we expect from…
Cook, Robert G.
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 69 (1970): 425-36.
Surveys medieval ideals of friendship and their classical and biblical roots, arguing that Chaucer presents a double view in his presentation of Pandarus's friendship for Troilus: "both the world's notion of what a friend is and the moralist's notion…
Hoffman, Richard L.
Library Chronicle 36 (1970): 105-09.
Describes a copy of University of Pennsylvania MS Latin MS 231 which comprises three major works of Albertano of Brescia, including "Livre de Mellibee et Prudence," the source of Mel.
Lenaghan, R. T.
Comparative Studies in Society and History 12 (1970): 73-82.
Treats GP as a record of social history, focusing on the economic information available in the descriptions of the pilgrims, particularly as it is evident in the work they do and the status they hold in relation to land, the Church, and trade. Treats…
Macey, Samuel L.
Texas Studies in Literature and Language 12 (1970): 307-23.
Describes the five-act "pyramidal" structure, rising and falling action, clear-cut scene divisions, dialogue, three unities, courtly love conventions, balance and parallelism, and other dramatic elements in TC, commenting on similarities to classical…
Nist, John.
Tennessee Studies in Literature 15 (1970): 85-98.
Discusses apostrophe as speech (or writing) that is "'overheard' rather than merely heard," assessing it as a "powerful esthetic instrument for plumbing the emotional and emotive depths" of literary characters through "overheardedness." Comments on…
Peterson, Joyce E.
Chaucer Review 5.1 (1970): 62-74.
Argues that SqT reflects its teller's unsophisticated "effort to dissociate himself and courtly love from the . . . crude caricature" evident in MerT, and contends that when the Franklin interrupts the Squire he is "'pretending' to think him…
Richardson, Cynthia C.
Texas Studies in Literature and Language 12 (1970): 325-44.
Assesses the character and function of Harry Bailly, the Host in CT, as he represents the "forces external to the artist that press him to create." The Host embodies aesthetic attitudes and various aspects of Chaucer's audience; his concern with the…
Robertson, D. W. Jr., ed.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970.
An anthology of literature produced in Britain and Ireland in the Middle Ages: Celtic, Latin, Old English, French, and Middle English. The section pertaining to Chaucer (pp. 467-569) includes introductions to Chaucer's life and language, along with…
Ross, Thomas W.
Chaucer Review 5.2 (1970): 137-39.
Identifies bawdy double meaning in Pandarus's use of "al hool" in TC 2.587, signaled by Criseyde's embarrassed laughter and not apparent in Boccaccio's original.
Rowland, Beryl B.
Chaucer Review 5.2 (1970): 140-46.
Reads Chaucer's reference to "game" in MilT 1.3186 as a reference to mystery drama and discusses allusions to cycle plays in the details and correspondences of the Tale, including aspects of the Fall, the Flood, the Annunciation, the Slaughter of the…
Scheps, Walter
Leeds Studies in English 4 (1970): 1-10.
Argues that the rational absurdity of the plot of NPT and the inapplicability of the various morals applied to the Tale expose the ridiculousness of the fable genre; the Tale is an "anti-fable," as Th is an "anti-romance."
Observes parallels between the discussion of true gentility in WBT ("gentilesse"; 3.1109-1212) and fifteenth-century treatments of the subject in Latin (by Buonaccurso de Montemagno), French (Jean Mielot), and English (John Tiptoft), observing that…
Schrader, Richard J.
Chaucer Review 4.4 (1970): 284-90.
Argues that the allusions in NPT to mermaids as sirens and to Burnel the ass help to indicate Chauntecleer's own culpability in his temporary downfall as well as contributing comedy to the Tale.
Contrasts Chaucer's familiarity with and uses of astronomy and astrology with those of other Middle English authors, particularly John Gower. Indicates that 1380 is a turning point in Chaucer's uses of astral sciences, suggesting that he accepted the…
Snipes, Katherine
Discourse: A Review of the Liberal Arts 13 (1970): 240-50.
Compares Jean-Baptiste Clamence, narrator of Camus' "The Fall," with other literary characters, including Chaucer's Pardoner who is a manipulator of language and rhetoric, "acutely conscious of his own evil, yet arrogantly intent upon exploiting his…
