Cherniss, Michael D.
Papers on Language and Literature 8 (1972): 115-26
Argues that the obtuse narrator's misreading of the Ovidian story of Ceyx and Alcyone in BD misleads him and underlies the poem's general encouragement that people must accept misfortune. The narrator within the dream is not obtuse, but he does not…
Delasanta, Rodney.
Papers on Language and Literature 8 (1972): 202-06.
Characterizes the Wife of Bath as "an ecclesiastical camp follower" who tellingly misuses her familiarity with Scripture and liturgy, exemplifying this tendency through her blasphemous use of the term "quoniam," which is the "opening word of the…
Dickerson, A Inskip Jr.
Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 66 (1971): 51-54.
Argues that there is no valid reason for treating line 480 of BD as inauthentic; it derives from Thynne's edition which has as much authority as manuscripts.
Higdon, David Leon.
Papers on Language and Literature 8 (1972): 199-201.
Suggests that the liturgy for the Lenten holiday of Refreshment Sunday underlies the Wife of Bath's two references to refreshment (WBP 3.37-38 and 3.143-46) and the juxtaposition of the seconmd one with her reference to the parable of the loaves and…
Surveys the characteristics of the genre of the Breton lai in French and English, and argues that Chaucer labeled FranT as such in order to "minimize the religious implications of certain elements in the story" and encourage response to its courtly…
Laird, Edgar (S.)
Philological Quarterly 51 (1972): 486-89.
Explores the astrological term "valunse" as it seems to mean something approximating lack, want, or non-being, used by Chaucer in this sense at Mars, line 145.
Bloomfield, Morton W.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 73 (1972): 15-24.
Identifies antecedents to Troilus's address to Criseyde's empty palace and his reference to its doors (the rhetorical topos "paraclausithyron"), comparing Chaucer's and Boccaccio's versions of the scene, discarding suggestions of astrological…
Summarizes the historical and formal stumbling blocks involved in describing a tradition of Middle English secular lyrics, with comments on Chaucer's innovations and on the evidence in his works for courtly and popular legacies.
Kaske, R. E.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 73 (1972): 122-26.
Exemplifies the "allusive richness" of SumT by explaining the references to horn and ivory (3.1741-42) which emphasize the falsity of the tablets of the Summoner's Friar.
Kirby, Thomas A.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 73 (1972): 127-33.
Gauges Matthew Arnold's familiarity with Chaucer's works, judging it to be "thin" and "not extensive until the last eight years of his life," and suggesting that Arnold might not have misjudged Chaucer's "high seriousness" if had he read more of him.
Assesses the "tenderness" of Chaucer's own feelings by examining his adaptations of the genre of consolation in BD and his techniques for evoking "consolatory feeling" in TC.
Tallies and comments upon various irreversible paired words in Chaucer's works (e.g., "joy and bliss," "word and dede," wele and wo," etc.), observing where modern usages vary or continue medieval practices.
Challenges characterizations of the Wife of Bath that treat her as an icon or as a representative figure. Reads WBP for the ways that it may be regarded as a "modern case history" that reflects a complex personality rife with desires and regrets.
Stanley, E. G.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 73 (1972): 417-26.
Shows that the bob-lines in Tho are characterized by "Bathos and vapidity," and focuses on their placement in manuscripts and the unique qualities of the first bob-line (7.793) to show that these characteristics are intentional and artful. Includes a…
Identifies limitations in the Manly-Rickert "Corpus of Variants" and urges caution in its use, explaining that their use of the term "variant" excludes dialectical variants as well as spelling variants. Regional dialectical variants are especially…
Advocates a pedagogical approach that encourages students to regard "what happens to Troilus" as the central concern of TC, leading them to discover that the poem expresses a generally approving view of passionate love modified by the frustration of…
Summarizes debates about the relative importance of logical explanation (authority) and practical experience in medieval medical theory, an opposition between doctors and surgeons. Presented as both doctor and surgeon, Chaucer's Physician embodies…
Connelly, William Joseph.
Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Oklahoma, 1972. DAI 33.02 (1972): 721A. Fully accessible via https://shareok.org/items/93da1b5d-2529-4aa1-baba-33772dfb564c (accessed Aoril 12, 2026).
Surveys criticism of Chaucer's works from Hoccleve and Lydgate to Dryden, identifying what it "reveals and contributes to the understanding and appreciation of Chaucer's poetry" rather than his literary reputation or the "state of English criticism…
Edits the Constance portion of Trevet's "Cronicles," with discussion of Trevet's life and works, manuscripts of his work, a table of variants,and related materials. Includes (pp. 181-217) discussion of Chaucer's use of this source in MLT.
Treats medieval tragedy as a combination of the tragedy of fortune and the potential for tragedy of damnation, surveying antecedent traditions and exploring each of the four poems of the title. Reads TC as a poem that fuses both views of tragedy, and…
De Weever, Jacqueline Elinor.
DAI 32.08 (1972): 4559A
Provides historical and literary background to names used and mentioned in Chaucer's works, identifying their Arabic, Greek, and/or Latin equivalents, exploring the relations of the names to their contexts in Chaucer's works, and commenting on…
Examines the significance of astrological allusions to the "form and meaning" of CT, particularly how they reflect and contribute to the work as a "dramatic allegory" of human pilgrimage through worldly sorrow.
