Suggests that when referring to St. Peter's sister in MilT 1.3486 and to Thomas's combination of wrath and frigidity in SumT 3.1825-31 Chaucer was influenced by Robert Grosseteste.
Discusses seven examples of the influence of the "Ovide Moralisé" on Chaucer: HF 957ff., Anel 1-6, TC 5.1464-84, WBP 3.733ff., MLT 2.633-35, ParsT 10.261ff., and the recurrent phrase "alone, withouten any compaignie" (KnT1.2779, MilT 1.3204, and…
Woo, Constance and William Matthews.
Comitatus1 (1970): 85-109.
Comprised of two related essays. The first, by Woo, assesses the pilgrimage frame of CT, its ecclesiastical pilgrims, ParsPT, and Ret, emphasizing the contrasts between the Pardoner and the Parson as religious figures. The second, by Matthews,…
Includes three essays that pertain to Chaucer and brief synopses of three additional ones that are not included in the volume: Stephen Knight, "Rhetoric and Poetry in 'The Franklin's Tale'''; H. E. Hallam, "The Throne of Chaunticleer"; and Brian…
Elliott, R. W. V.
A. P. Treweek, ed. Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association 1969. Proceedings and Papers of the Twelfth Congress Held at the University of Western Australia, 5-11 February 1969 ([Sydney]: AULLA, 1970), pp, 417-34.
Shows by multiple examples from various works that Chaucer "used oaths not only to give poignancy to character but to add irony, to give a touch of local colour, [and] to create atmosphere and background." Oaths in Chaucer's works tend to be…
Gillam, D.
A. P. Treweek, ed. Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association 1969. Proceedings and Papers of the Twelfth Congress Held at the University of Western Australia, 5-11 February 1969 ([Sydney]: AULLA, 1970), pp, 435-55.
Explores the "fruyt" and "chaf" of WBT, arguing that it is "eminently suited" to the character established in GP and WBP, that the teller manipulates her narrative material intentionally, and that Chaucer signals her tendentiousness. The female…
Ramson, W. S.
A. P. Treweek, ed. Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association 1969. Proceedings and Papers of the Twelfth Congress Held at the University of Western Australia, 5-11 February 1969 ([Sydney]: AULLA, 1970), pp, 456-76..
Accepts that much fifteenth-century admiration of Chaucer praises his rhetoric and "ornate eloquence," but explores comments that convey wider, more sophisticated appreciation of his stylistic range and philosophical depth, considering comments by…
Sketches several underlying principles of the "via moderna" or Ockhamist reasoning (limitless power of God and three-value logic) and argues that HF rejects this "mode of thought." In the dream vision, Geffrey finds himself in a "kind of parody of…
Farrell, Robert T.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 71 (1970): 239-44.
Contends that Chaucer introduced into the plot of MLT (2.463-504) the motif of the help of God, helping to explain Constance's survival at sea at the beginning of Part 2 of the Tale; the motif is not found in Nicholas Trevet at this juncture.
Shores, David L.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 71 (1970): 119-33.
Argues that the primary concern of MerT is January's foolish lechery, that the tone of the Tale is not mordant, and that its various parts cohere as a harmonious whole. Challenges the idea that the Tale is essentially a contribution to the Marriage…
Toole, William B. III.
South Atlantic Bulletin 35.2 (1970): 3-8.
Mentions that Browning's Fra Lippo Lippi is "perhaps the most Chaucerian of his creations," whose vitality and sensuality "may well remind us" of the Wife of Bath or Shakespeare's Falstaff.
Brooks, Douglas, and Alastair Fowler.
Medium Aevum 39 (1970): 123-46.
Identifies parallels between the "planetary deities" and the human characters in KnT; describes the "iconology" of Lygurge and Emetreus, particularly the psychological implications of their astrological affiliations; and explores the physiognomic,…
Currie, Felicity.
Leeds Studies in English 4 (1970): 11-22.
Gauges the Pardoner's attitude toward his Canterbury audience, including the Host. In PardP, he reveals how he usually treats his audiences, then insults the pilgrims by leveling differences in PardT. Like Faus Semblant of the "Roman de la Rose," the…
Eldredge, Laurence.
Revue de l'Université de Ottawa 40 (1970): 441-59.
Describes three positions on the topic of universals versus individuals (ultra-realism, moderate realism, nominalism), and argues that the depictions of nature, love, common profit, and fortune in PF align approximately with moderate realism, and…
Traces the origins of the names Elpheta and Algarsyf, used in SqT, to "familial" clusters in Arabic star catalogs that were translated into the Latin Middle Ages and mentioned in Astr. Suggests affiliations of the names with the magic sword and horse…
Describes the associations of coral with apotropaic power in medieval lapidaries, and suggests that the Prioress's rosary of coral in GP (1.158) ambiguously may signal religious intent as well as courtly luxury.
Friend, Albert C.
Medievalia et Humanistica 1 (1970): 57-65.
Late twelfth-century English stories by Alexander Nequam and Berechiah haNakdan provide context for the caged bird episode in SqT, indicating that Chaucer may have intended to complete the episode with the falcon reuniting with her own kind. Also…
Posits that Chaucer arranges matters in FranT to pose the possibility of a "dual response to the subject matter" of "trouthe," exploring reality and illusion and the competing requirements of conjugal and courtly loves. The Tale illustrates the…
Explains the ambivalences, ambiguities, paradoxes, and ironies--the double meanings--that are generated in TC by Chaucer's combination of Boccaccio's plot with Boethian philosophy (inflected by twelfth- and thirteenth-century philosophy of love),…
Labriola, Albert C.
Texas Studies in Language and Literature 12 (1970): 5-14.
Shows that "figures" (ship, castle, and related images) drawn from Augustinian theology and medieval sermons convey the "Christian concept of charity" in MLT and heighten its "religious intensity."
Lanham, Richard A.
Studies in Medieval Culture 3 (1970): 169-76.
Assesses Pandarus, Troilus, and Criseyde as prisoners of their own rhetorics (proverbial wisdom, courtliness, and expediency, respectively) and the social conventions that attend them, reading TC as a "comedy about man's inevitable imprisonment in…
Identifies three aspects of Robert Henryson's uses of proverbial wisdom in his "Fables," locating precedent for each of them in a work by Chaucer: use of proverbs by fable characters (NPT), comic misapplication of proverbial wisdom (MilT), and…
