Brown, Calvin S.
Boston University Studies in English 3 (1957): 228-30.
On contextual and linguistic grounds, rejects Marion Montgomery's suggestion (1957) that "for the nones" in LGW-P (F 292-96 and G 194-98) is a "reference to the canonical hour of Nones, with its attendant services."
FranT contains a system of alternating parallel events--troth-plighting, complaint, and compassionate help--repeated in threes, reinforcing the theme of "gentilesse." The "trouthe" and "complaint" episodes show a "progressive decline," but the…
Brown, Carole Koepke.
Dissertation Abstracts International 47 (1987): 3030A.
That theme relates to numerical structures is apparent not only in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" but also in FranT,where each of the three parts reveals a pattern of A ("a major trouthe"), B (complaint), and C (helpful human intervention). Thus,…
Episodes in the first part of WBT parallel events in the second. This "step parallelism structure" reveals a "pattern of attenuation" that emphasizes the development of the knight, who becomes less impulsive and more reflective through the course of…
Brown, Dorothy H.
New Laurel Review 12 (1982): 6-16.
The Yeoman is an unreliable narrator who seems to confess only his own sins, holds contempt for the Canon; in his pride he is a "caricature of repentance."
Brown, Elaine.
Kathleen A. Bishop, ed. "The Canterbury Tales" Revisited--21st Century Interpretations (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2008), pp. 75-87.
ShT reflects Chaucer's belief that "the dominance of a husband over his wife is too strict" in traditional marriages. Private games threaten to open out into public scandal.
Asks why Chaucer uses a "Latin masculine name of the month to refer to his very feminine heroine" in MerT, answering that it contributes to the theme of healing in the Tale, much as does Damyan's association with St. Damian, patron saint of healing.
Brown, Emerson Jr.
Chaucer Review 4.1 (1969): 31-40.
Explores the sources of Chaucer's allusions to Priapus and to Pyramus and Thisbe in MerT (4.2034-37 and 4.2125-31) and argues that the allusions deepen the bitter cynicism of the Tale by suggesting sexual fruitlessness and frustration in the pear…
Brown, Emerson Lee, Jr.
Dissertation Abstracts International 28.10 (1968): 4118A.
Investigates the "plurality of meaning" in a number of Biblical and classical allusions in MerT, comments on sources, and discusses the setting of the Tale and the names of its characters, arguing that the cultural context of the Tale is a major…
Brown, Emerson, Jr.
Chaucer Newsletter 13:1 (1991): 5.
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.
Brown, Emerson, Jr.
Chaucer Review 13 (1978): 141-56.
MerT is not just a merry fabliau, uncomplicated by a fictional narrator. Through evidence included in the prologue, most of the first hundred and fifty lines, and various other passages in the work, we see that Chaucer may have consciously tried to…
Brown, Emerson, Jr.
Mediaevalia 15 (1993, for 1989): 183-205.
Chaucer initially uses "worthy" for the Knight in GP with clear denotative meaning, but by the word's final appearance its meaning becomes ambiguous. The Knight is not being criticized; rather, the semantic degeneration of "worthy" indicates a…
Brown, Emerson, Jr.
Alan T. Gaylord, ed. Essays on the Art of Chaucer's Verse (New York and London: Routledge, 2001), pp. 267-79.
Brown discourages emendation ("dreary refinements") of Chaucer's meter, arguing that "broken-backed" or "Lydgatian" lines recorded in good manuscripts are likely to be Chaucer's own. Metrical variation within Chaucer's dominant patterns can have…
Brown, Emerson, Jr.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 74 (1973): 92-106.
Attends to the details and imagery of old age in MerT in order to clarify the "precision and complexity" of Chaucer's art, commenting on January's name, age (60 years), physical condition, sexual prowess, attitude toward counsel, etc., and exploring…
Brown, Emerson,Jr.
George D. Economou, ed. Geoffrey Chaucer: A Collection of Original Articles (New York: McGraw Hill, 1976), pp. 37-54.
Chaucer's poetry is highly dependent on Latin, French, and Italian works and genres, and on medieval thought in general. In his day his various works represented stages in the development of different medieval literary traditions; he borrowed from…
Chaucer insists through the Merchant that we keep in mind the treachery as well as the virtue of the Old Testament heroines Rebecca, Judith, Abigail, and Esther. We are forced to maintain a multileveled viewpoint on them, on their function in the…
Manly's reordering of the final lines of ParsP in his 1928 edition is contested by manuscript evidence, Chaucer's general usage of pronouns, and the intelligibility and literary excellence of the original version.
Brown, Emerson,Jr.
Studies in Philology 72 (1975): 258-74.
Chaucer emphasizes the phallic deity Priapus as a figure of frustration in PF. He does not try to abolish or deify the sexual passion Priapus represents. Priapus and the noble suitors may represent unproductive extremes of a more balanced position…
Brown, Emerson,Jr.
David G. Allen and Robert A. White, eds. Traditions and Innovations: Essays on British Literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1990), pp. 50-58.
CT, like the intellectual disputes of the fourteenth century, is characterized by extremes. Applying David Knowles's discussion of the period to fragment VII of CT, Brown notes that ShT, PrT, Th, Mel, and MkT show the "tendency to extremism…
A comma at the end of line 2639 suggests that Emetreus has treacherously struck Palamon. Editorial punctuation could be contrary to Chaucer's intention, which may have been to leave the sense ambiguous. We need an edition of Chaucer without modern…
Brown, Emerson,Jr.
Leigh A. Arrathoon, ed. Chaucer and the Craft of Fiction (Rochester, Mich.: Solaris Press, 1986), pp. 63-84.
The Merchant's comparison of May to "Queene Ester" (MerT 1744) indicates the terror, treachery, and hatred that lie beneath a demure exterior; the Prioress's response to trapped mice (PrT 144-45), which figure Christ ensnaring the devil, reveals a…
Analyzes the function of the proper names as playful, complex allusions, and associates with January--holder of the silver "clyket" to the garden--both Janus, god of passageways, and Saint Peter, who holds the keys to paradise.
Deals with relationship of PhyT to FranT and PardT and suitability of tale to teller, treating the sources in Titus Livius and Jean de Meun's "Roman de la Rose," as well as the theme of justice.
