Browse Items (16476 total)

Despite the usual closure of the dream-vision form (as in Pearl), some dream visions are open-ended or exhibit surprising or disappointing closure. HF, usually considered unfinished, exhibits features of closure.

Describes the tradition of the rhetorical topos of the abandoned lover's apostrophe to the bed, considering the "gendered" fetishism of Ariadne's address in LGW, the description of Alceste in LGWP, Troilus's address to the empty house in TC, and Dido…

Examines connection between "language and cultural identity" and claims that Chaucer mocks "Alexander's 'storie' as 'commune' "in MkT. Analyzes how Latin, French, and English Alexander narratives were read, and rewritten, in medieval literature…

Assesses the "depiction of women as ethical signifiers" in Chaucer's and Gower's writings, summarizing the "multilingual and transnational networks on which both poets draw," exploring the "ethical valences" of gender (especially feminine) in their…

Presents a variety of historical contexts for Chaucer's characterization of the Clerk, discussing medieval universities, manuscripts from fourteenth-century Oxford, and the role of clerks in medieval society. Includes appendices of "Manuscripts…

MilT develops the theme of "pryvetee," which in Chaucer refers to both human genitalia and divine secrets. Echoes of Exodus and its tradition of commentary reinforce the theme and enable Chaucer to suggest an orientation of the "Tale" as a…

Briggs describes Shakespeare's "emendation and expansion" of his medieval sources in "Troilus and Cressida" and "The Two Noble Kinsmen," assessing the importance of KnT and TC in Shakespearian work. Also explores how the various medieval influences…

Challenges the traditional "misleading" explanation of a Chaucer life-record, particularly the uses of the name Malin/a, reopening "the question of the Malin branch of Chaucer's ancestry." Observes that the name is used in RvT

References to "Lameth" in WBT and SqT comprise links in a sturdy chain connecting the tragic actions of Shakespeare's prince of Denmark to Lamech, a "(pseudo-)biblical figure associated with murder, rage, and vengeance."

Latin and French antifraternal works preceded English ones, which display a distinctive treaatment of friars as peddlars,as in Chaucer's SumT. In the Renaissance, antifraternal writing gradually disappeared from Britain, along with the friars.

This Bakhtinian discussion of KnT argues that the "flaws" perceived by earlier critics result from misguided efforts at finding homogeneity in the poem. As a product of a complex literary culture, KnT reflects the culture's "heteroglossia" and…

Demonstrates the "stylistic virtuosity" of NPT, consistent with its "multiple perspective," commenting on the plain style of the widow frame, "cinematic" details in descriptions, the quality and comedy of direct dialogue, the "graver rhetoric of the…

Audio recording of hip-hop performance of adaptations of GP (cast as a bus trip), KnT, MilPT, PardPT, WBPT, and Ret (with additional tracks: "Rhyme Renaissance Prologue," "Rhyme Renaissance," and "Dead Poets"). Affiliated website at .

Facing-page adaptations of KnT (abridged), MilT, PardT, and WBT, with Middle English and lyrics designed for rap performance. The Middle English text is glossed, and each Tale is accompanied by a brief introduction to the plot. Brinkman's…

Considers patronage and the developing status of the poet in the role of "court maker" in late medieval England, aligning the change with the influence of Italian culture. In his response to Th, the Host represents a courtly "negative feedback loop,"…

Uses TC as a tests case to reinforce Otto Funke's argument that "gan" is a structural marker, noting its relations with sequencing adjectives.

Delimits "the notion of iconicity in syntax before examining how iconic word order patterns contribute to the 'iconic text interpretation.'" Applies theories to Mel.

Documents the development of whilom from its origins as an Old English adverb, to a discourse marker associated with orality, to an adjective. Although this development does not challenge the "unidirectionality hypothesis of grammaticalization," it…

Traces the development of "anon" from Middle English to Early Modern English, using evidence drawn from TC and elsewhere. A revised version of chaper two of Brinton's Pragmatic Markers in English (Berlin and New York: Gruyter, 1996).

Identifies three concerns in Mel: being reasonable in worldly affairs, sovereignty and proper cousel as themes, and the role of the tale in the sentence / solaas dynamic in CT. Includes a survey of criticism.

Four connected webpages that introduce Chaucer's language by focusing on the pronunciation and vocabulary of the GP descriptions of the Cook and Shipman, with an audio link, an image from Caxton's first edition, and exercises in vocabulary…

Digital reproduction of William Caxton's two editions of CT that enables onscreen comparison of them, with links to background information on Caxton and print history.

Establishes how Shakespeare and Fletcher used "images of Africanness to link race and class" in "The Two Noble Kinsmen," and claims this differs from Chaucer's concern with the "racial alterity" and "whiteness" of the Amazonian women in KnT.

Consider "the two quite different versions of the Dido and Cleopatra stories as they appear in the works of major Latin and English poets, beginning with the commissioning of Virgil's "Aeneid" ca. 29 B.C. and carrying through to the publication of…

Studies the Christian and Platonic underpinnings of romantic love in Renaissance drama and poetry, exploring its roots in courtly traditions, and distinguishing it from love depicted by Augustan, Romantic, and modern writers. A section on Chaucer…