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In ShT, Chaucer may have used the well-known text of Proverbs 31.10-31, which praises the valiant woman, in ironic fashion. The scriptural "mulier fortis" is praised for her "huswifery," her provision of food and clothing, her "rendering" to her…

Although thought immortal and evil, the Old Man in PardT is mortal in his longing for death, and, furthermore, good, patient, and kind. Chaucer's audience might have seen a parallel with Noah, the incredibly old survivor of a worse "plague," the…

Recently computerized astrological tables permit faster and more accurate computation. Chaucer describes events that took place in 1385, but the unusual planetary configurations would undoubtedly have been predicted before that date; hence one…

For his portrait of the Monk in GP, Chaucer probably recalled Dante "Paradiso" 21.118-20, 127-35, an encomium of Peter Damian, and Damian's own words regarding "unholy hunters, cloisterless monks, and waterless fish." "Palfrey" may be an echo of…

As all five saints of PrT had Lincoln associations in Chaucer's day, so the poem was intended for Lincoln. PrT commemorates the visit to Lincoln Minster, on March 26, 1387, of Richard II, who sought by its means the political support of John…

Christine de Pizan uses the Griselda tale to illustrate the virtues of patience and constancy in her "Livre de la Cite des Dames," derived from a French prose version of Philippe de Mezieres, perhaps also consulting the anonymous French prose…

A listing of current research, completed research, desiderata, and publications.

A report of the publication schedule and membership of the Chaucer Library Committee.

It has been argued that the poem exhibits multiplicity and disharmony, though the poet shows a commitment to traditional forms of culture. There is no such commitment in PF. The multiplicity of authority and the "continuous self-reflexivity" does…

Chaucerians should welcome the new critical techniques, which will help them determine what it is in the words that causes us to respond as we do. The application of these methods will transcend cultural differences that separate us from Chaucer.

Critics differ in their assessment of the structure and the nature of the consolation in BD. Chaucer uses juxtaposition as his structural principle. The consolation is Boethian, transcending the intensity of human grief, but Chaucer insists upon…

Unlike his earlier dream visions, Chaucer's PF exhibits no structural confusion. Rather, the poet poses the possibility of variable pluralisms and leaves the poem inconclusive. The narrator is relatively uninvolved in the action, which permits…

Numerology is an aesthetic basis for TC. The architectural metaphor of Geoffrey of Vinsauf and Euclid's theorem on proportion in triangles can be used to demostrate proportions (involving line numbers) in TC.

Hole's "Remarks on the Arabians Nights' Entertainments" contains speculations about the sources of the pear-tree motif and the magical objects in the two tales. While many of his guesses are without substantiation, he does suggest a pear-tree…

The words "sodeny(ly)" and "proces" are keys to Chaucer's narrative skill. In both his serious and his comical narratives there are sudden changes in events, sudden shifts in emotions. He usually makes the sudden seem humorous, ridiculous, or…

Chaucer's references to education are scattered, unpredictable, and peripheral except in the WBT and SqT, where the education theme is central.

Chaucer shows keen awareness of children--they are not merely miniature adults--and their relationship to their parents, as is clear in GP, FranT, ManT, PrT, SumT, MkT, WBT, PhyT, ClT, and especially Astr.

Although the major sources of the Old Man figure have long been known, the existence of the figure in alliterative and lyric poetry shows how Chaucer transforms the tradition. His Old Man is a trope for man's desire for transcendence.

The use of "but" helps the reader determine the moral character of both the Parson and the Narrator.

MLT is a test case of Chaucer's use of Christian materials directed toward a "new human center." Christ and Christianity are uniquely transformed into a pervasive humanism, through Chaucer's tolerant ambivalence.

The fragment containing SNT and CYT is unique in the intrusion of new pilgrims undescribed in GP. Two seemingly unrelated stories are tightly unified: SNT in the "lastynge bisynesse" of Saint Cecilia; CYT in the fraudulent "bisynesse" of the Canon,…

Detailed lexical and literary comments, based on passages of identical or very similar wording in medieval religious writings, on the following passages in ParsT: 79-81 (the "way" of penance), 113-16 (the tree of penance), 157 ("groyn"), 319…

Only Chaucer places the story of the rioters' search for gold in plague time. The article examines the implications of the plague setting and the plague in literature to explain Chaucer's choice of plague setting.

Despite the textual authority of the half line (GP A 164) "and preestes thre," arguments from an analysis of Chaucer's practice in the portrayal of other pilgrims suggest that the words should be suppressed in a modern edition. There were probably…

Readers have been too ready to dismiss Th as a parody of popular romances. Chaucer's achievement is something much more subtle: he invents his own English, his own literary idiolect, and then goes on to parody not merely the romances but also the…