An overview of research in progress on the mythographic tradition in the Middle Ages (primarily commentary on the works of Virgil, Lucan, Statius, Martianus Capella, Boethius, and Ovid) and examples of its applicability to Chaucer.
Anecdotal revisitation of Harbledown, Bobbe-up-and-down, a mile from Canterbury. Chaucer himself likely traveled the Blean in official duties. As a type of Dante's "selva oscura," the Blean may have been in Chaucer mind in BD, TC, KnT, FrT, NPT,…
Discusses a "fourteenth-century lending law" as a possible source of Chaucer's ShT, with its depiction of a "bourgeois financial triangle." More work needs to be done on Chaucer's knowledge of municipal ordinances.
Scala, Elizabeth.
Chaucer on Screen: Absence, Presence, and Adapting the "Canterbury Tales" (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2016), pp. 19-32.
Assesses how Brian Helgeland's "A Knight's Tale" and John Madden's "Shakespeare in Love" "tell us more than they realize": that Chaucer always stands separate from his fiction and, conversely, that Shakespeare's "theatrical life" enables us to…
Stanbury, Sarah.
Chaucer on Screen: Absence, Presence, and Adapting the "Canterbury Tales" (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2016), pp. 196-207.
Examines ageism and Chaucerian echoes in the BBC television adaptation of WBPT, commenting on the lack of concern with age in feminist studies, attitudes towards "cougardom" in the TV episode, and affiliations between middle age and the Middle Ages…
Reads the rocks of FranT as a representation of natural evil, only apparently avoided in the plot, and an opportunity for the operations of both "gentilesse" and unearned providential grace.
Adduces details from the Old French "Floire et Blancheflor, Version 1" as evidence that Chaucer's "catalogue of magical accomplishments" in FranT 5.1139-51 was commonplace, i.e., part of a well-known tradition, deployed by the Franklin to outdo the…
Grenberg, Bruce L.
Chaucer Review 1.1 (1966): 37-54.
Argues that the concern with the "basic duality between material and spiritual values" in CYPT is based in Boethius's admonitions against pursuing false felicity in his "Consolation of Philosophy," manifested in the Canon's Yeoman's concern with…
Argues that the Summoner "triumphs over" the Friar in their tale-telling competition, revealing his greater intelligence and competence, but also indicating that his social success discloses a more fundamental "malignancy and egotism." Compares the…
Describes the advantages of close reading of Chaucer's lyrics and shorter poems, examining ABC and Ros in detail for their riches of prosody, tone, structure, and meaning, with attention to narrative voice.
McCall, John P.
Chaucer Review 1.2 (1966): 103-09.
Describes patterns of "elaborate inconsequence, incongruity and downright bathos" in SqT, attributing them to the Squire's naïve efforts to be impressive and, by extension, Chaucer's skillful weaving of character and theme.
Frank, Robert Worth, Jr.
Chaucer Review 1.2 (1966): 110-33.
Rejects the argument that Chaucer abandoned LGW out of weariness or boredom on the grounds that Chaucer had long been interested in classical love stories, that he took time to revise LGWP, that he employed abbreviation and "occupatio" effectively in…
Haller, Robert S.
Chaucer Review 1.2 (1966): 67-84.
Explores the epic elements of KnT and its sources, arguing that in placing love at the thematic center of his poem (replacing traditional political concerns), Chaucer was "attempting to make something entirely new" out of his material. By emphasizing…
Contends that the "Joce"/"croce" rhyme in WBP 3.483-84 is not just a convenient rhyme but a set of sexual puns, dependent upon the association of St. Joce with a staff.
Berger, Harry, Jr.
Chaucer Review 1.2 (1966): 88-102 and 1.3 (1967): 135-56.
Interprets SqT and FranT as "expressions of their tellers," with the latter being an "instructive modification" of the "Squire's attitude toward life." Contrasts the uses of rhetorical devices in SqT and KnT in order to show the Squire's youthful,…
Carson, M. Angela.
Chaucer Review 1.3 (1967): 157-60.
Contrasts the "tone, circumstance and result" of the Ceyx and Alcyone story and the grief of the Black Knight in BD, suggesting that the contrasts in the heart/herte hunt emphasize the consolation of Chaucer's poem.
Correale, Robert M.
Chaucer Review 1.3 (1967): 161-66.
Supports a reading of "complyn" (variant "coupling") at RvT 1.4171, identifying parodic echoes of the prayer from the Holy Office in the language and action of the end of the Tale. The parody "brightens" the comic irony and morality of the Tale.
Strange, William C.
Chaucer Review 1.3 (1967): 167-80.
Explores MkT as a revelation of its narrator, positing a structural arrangement among the individual tragedies and their various depictions of Fortune and interpreting this arrangement as a reflection of the Monk's character and psychology: he…
Wilson, William S.
Chaucer Review 1.3 (1967): 181-84.
Suggests that the three books of HF reflect the three medieval "linguistic arts," or trivium, focusing on how book 3 reflects the techniques of logic or dialectic, depicting the pros and cons of fame and "refining it into a philosophic idea." The…
