Spencer, William
Chaucer Review 4.3 (1970): 147-70.
Tallies evidence that the "twelvefold pattern of [zodiacal] signs and planets" of medieval astrology is the "hidden ground plan" of GP, underlying its sequence of characters and some details of their descriptions.
Svartvik, Jan, and Randolph Quirk.
English Studies 51 (1970): 393-411.
Studies the grammar and usage of non-finite clauses in five samples from Chaucer's works (GP, Mel, PF, Bo, and TC), each approximately 500 lines long. Focuses on the "conditioning" factors of grammatical function, source material, and elements that…
Explores the sexual connotations of "deth" (death) in TC (3.63 and 1577), both instances helping to characterize Pandarus as unscrupulous and the latter encouraging us to see incestuous relations between Pandarus and Criseyde.
Bishop, Morris, ed.
Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1970.
An anthology of Latin, Continental, and English medieval narratives in modern translation, including RvT (pp. 305-09) in a section called "Merry Tales and Salty Fictions."
Chapter four (pp. 89-127) treats together Chaucer, Gower, and "Piers Plowman," presenting Chaucer in his time but arguing that, as an artist, he transcends it. Introduces Chaucer's life and offers summary comments on each of his major works,…
Delasanta, Rodney.
Modern Language Quarterly 31 (1970): 298-307.
Presents the Host as the figure of Judge in CT and identifies the judgment imagery in ParsP and elsewhere in CT, along with its Biblical and iconographical roots. This theme of judgment anticipates the concern with penance in ParsT.
Although of "no use to chaucerians," the fragmentary text of John Rastell's version of PF reflects the humanist's admiration of Chaucer's works even though he mangled the text.
Considers evidence that January's knife-image ("Ne hurte hymselven with his owene knyf"; MerT 5.1840) when commenting on sexual relations with his wife may have indicated to some members of a medieval audience that he was "a sexual pervert of the…
Finkelstein, Dorothee.
Archiv für das Studium der Neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 207 (1970): 260-76.
Identifies the allegorical traditions that underlie the mysteriousness of alchemy in Arabic and Latin writings, focusing on the sources, nomenclature, and descriptions mentioned at the end of CYT (8.1428-65) especially the comments on mercury,…
The entry for Chaucer (pp. 168) includes brief biographical information, critical bibliography, a list of editions, and a tally of individual works with dates of first publication. Accompanied by a b&w plate from Thynne's 1532 edition, the first page…
Reiss, Edmund.
Papers on Language and Literature 6 (1970): 115-24.
Explicates the "Gerveys scene" of MilT, focusing in particular on the meaning of "viritoot," the implications of "seinte Note," the demonic and infernal associations of blacksmithing, and Absolon's transformation of character from lover to wrathful.
Discusses the concerns with suffering and pity in BD as aspects of universal nature that binds together everything and thereby makes possible the consolation in the poem for the Black Knight (John of Gaunt), the Dreamer (Chaucer), and the audience.…
Shinsuke, Ando.
Studies in English Literature, English number (1970): 63-74.
Adduces examples of formulaic phrasing, diction, and rhymes in fragment A of Rom as evidence of Chaucer's familiarity with native English literature; also shows where such evidence appears in his later works.
Sisam, Celia and Kenneth, eds.
Oxford: Clarendon, 1970.
Selections from Chaucer (pp. 257-316) include excerpts from HF, LGWP, TC, GP (Prioress, Clerk, Wife of Bath, and Reeve), WBP, and PardT, along with the complete RvT, Form Age, the rondeau from PF, Truth, Purse, and MercB. All are in Middle English,…
Suggests that the placing of the "greyn" on the tongue of the clergeon in PrT (7.622) is a reflex of the ubiquitous folk motif of the soul-as-bird being held, lured, or released from the body.
Thro, A. Booker.
Chaucer Review 5.2 (1970): 97-111.
Shows that "in Chaucer's comedy the triumph of wit is often a 'creative' act, an act of imaginative invention and ingenious construction," commenting on the division of the fart in SumT, demonstrating the prevalence of creative, constructive…
Topliff, Delores E.
Journal of English Linguistics 4 (1970): 78-89.
Tabulates and analyzes the "positive, comparative, and superlative adjectives in Chaucer's works," challenging the notions that in Middle English only monosyllabic adjectives that end in a consonant are inflected and comparative and superlative…
Tripp, Raymond P. Jr.
Bulletin of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association 24 (1970): 51-59.
Contends that Chaucer's adaptation in HF of Virgil's "Aeneid" "anticipates his development away from medieval conventions toward modem, psychological people."
Watts, Ann Chalmers.
Chaucer Review 4.4 (1970): 229-41.
Posits that the "distance" between Chaucer and his various speaking personae is difficult to define because it "fluctuates" within individual poems and because a reader's sense of a given narrator is modified by the "fantastic" setting of the poem…
White, Robert B. Jr.
English Language Notes 7 (1970): 190-92
Identifies an allusion to the final couplet of CkT in an issue of the "Female Tatler" (12 September 1709) which presents the wife in the Tale a seamstress as well as a prostitute. Observes that several other near-contemporary allusions to the Tale…
Defines the medieval literary modes/genres of personification allegory and mirror, using them to analyze various works of Middle English literature and their models in Latin, French, and Italian. Treats HF as a personification allegory; aspects of…
Argues that Anel is "more a stylized emotional history than a series of meaningful events." In its plot, mode, and formal features, it is more akin to French love narratives ("'dits' of complaint and comfort") than other models that have been…
