Browse Items (16364 total)

Links the python slain by Apollo with an alchemic symbol and argues that ManT is thematically related to CYT.

Argues that Chaucer was famous in the 15th and 16th centuries not as a love poet but as a visionary poet, a dreamer of dream allegories, and as such influenced Lydgate ("Temple of Glas"), Skelton ("Garland of Laurel"), Cowley ("Dream of Elysium"),…

Troilus' prayer to Mercury is ill-considered. The god's diffident and finally unsuccessful attempt to bed Herse brings disaster to the go-between Aglauros. Further, the reference to this affair draws a pointed contrast between Pandarus and Herse's…

Reviews, by way of the anthropological studies of Turner and van Gennep, the effects of pilgrimage on the social behavior of the pilgrims in CT. Pilgrimage removes them from the center of normative social behavior: it homogenizes social rank, blurs…

The prologue of LGW is a kind of "ars poetica" that contrasts seasonal renewal with eternal regeneration in order to show that poetry can mediate between them and serve as a true guide to love.

ABC is not polite praise of the Virgin or gentle expression of filial love: it is a needy, fearful, grasping cry for her protection, evincing the greed, craft, and importunity of a child seeking its mother's reassurance.

The headwear of the Wife of Bath and of the Pardoner, in light of I Cor. 11:3-12, links the two pilgrims symbolically, both rejecting their proper sex roles and thus simultaneously flouting Paul's distinction between male and female and literalizing…

By using the language of feudal economics Chaucer equates the summoner with the devil.

Adduces reports that St. Joce's relics were brought to Winchester (Hyde Abbey) in 901. The abbot of Hyde lived next to the real Tabard Inn and Chaucer may have introduced St. Joce into WBP as a bit of local lore.

In GP the Franklin and the Man of Law are presented as companions, but they have antithetical views on astrology: the Man of Law insists on its value, the Franklin condemns it as "supersticious cursednesse."

Argues that Chaucer's St. Valentine is a Genoese Saint Valentine whose feast was May 2, and not the Valentine of February 14. Thus the appropriateness of spring imagery.

The "formes fixes" lyrics of Middle French, especially the ballade, are almost as influential for Chaucer's works as was the "Roman de la Rose." The "formes fixes"--ballade, rondeau, and virelay--were highly musical and connected with dancing.

Presenting evidence set forth by Pamela Robinson, J. D. North, and D. J. Price, Fisher argues that Peterhouse MS 75.1 of "Equat" is a Chaucer holograph and suggests tantalizing biographical implications.

Discusses the medieval practice of selling "Canterbury signs" to the visitors of Beckett's shrine (as mentioned in 'The Tale of Beryn'), the archeological finds, and the possibility that Ellesmere portraits may have been modeled on the signs. The…

Chaucer's "modernity" and "humanity" are experienced through his lyrics, says Prescott, who, as composer and librettist, has drawn her own original libretti from CT, HF, LGW, and TC and had them set to music by Roger Nixon.

Analyzes "the state of Chaucer studies in China" by reviewing "Fang Zhong's translation into Chinese" of MilT. Beginning in the 1930s, Fang Zhong translated TC and most of CT in prose, modifying the Middle English version in two ways: changes to…

Surveys modern Canterbury, the commercial use of Chaucer's name, and the actual connections of the city with Chaucer issues.

A report on plans to publish a facsimile volume of Huntington MS El 26 C9 and an accompanying volume of essays on the Ellesmere, both volumes to be edited by Daniel Woodward, librarian at the Huntington.

Examines precedents and proposes an electronic discussion group for Chaucer scholars.

Reports on research in progress using computer collation for the textual tradition of WBP.

The name "Damyan" in MerT alludes to St. Damian, whose healing talents support a pun on "lechour." Explores Chaucer's sources of knowledge of the saint.

Even though the Hainault Forest in Essex derives from Old English "hyneholt" ("monastic forest"), owned by the Benedictine abbey of Barking, Chaucer's many connections with Flemish Hainault are evident even here since John of Gaunt contributed to the…

Considers a potential crisis in the teaching of Chaucer and suggests attending more to the pragmatic matters of teaching and less to theoretical problematizing.

With the aid of new electronic tools, Chaucer courses are making an evolutionary leap. These media foster interactive learning and provide access to materials from archives around the world.

Chaucer uses herbal imagery of licorice and cetewale, breath sweeteners associated with love in MilT, to establish the theme of character dependence on them. Cetewale is aphrodisiac; licorice quenches thirst; love is reduced to the physical and…