A critical description of Chaucer's major works (except LGW) that focuses on narrative techniques, genres, treatments of source materials, stylistic registers, varieties of audience, and the engagement of audiences through experimentation and the…
Merrill, Rodney
Eric Rothstein, ed. Literary Monographs, Volume 5 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1973), pp. 1-62.
Challenges traditional perceptions of Mars and Ven as separate poems, arguing that they are better recognized as a single work, "The Broche of Thebes." Traces the history of scribal, editorial, and critical receptions of the complaints, analyzing…
Leonard. Frances McNeely.
Ph. D. Dissertation. University of Kansas, 1972. DAI 33.11 (1973): 6316-17A. Fully accessible via https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/entities/publication/0f8d3fe5-47a1-4a74-92f4-a04a137a986d (accessed April 12, 2026).
Despite the apparent clash between comedy and moral allegory, writers from Chaucer to Spenser combine the two, a fusion rooted in 'La Roman de la Rose.' Treats BD and HF as well as works by Gower, Dunbar, Skelton, and Spenser.
Opie, Iona and Peter, eds.
Oxford: Clarendon, 1973.
An anthology of samples of English verse for children, ranging from selections by Chaucer and Lydgate to works by A. A. Milne and T. S. Eliot. Includes one sample from Chaucer: "Controlling the Tongue" (i.e., ManT 9.319-42), in Middle English, with…
Quennell, Peter
Springfield, Mass.: Merriam, 1973.
Surveys English literature produced in Britain from the late Middle Ages to the modern period. The chapter entitled "The Age of Chaucer" includes a section (pp. 24-32) that surveys Chaucer's life and works, emphasizing Chaucer's dexterity with…
Stevens, John.
London: Hutchinson University Library, 1973
Describes the plots and concerns of medieval romances, especially those produced in France and England, seeking to characterize the genre and demonstrate its "pervasiveness" in medieval culture. Identifies a number of recurrent motifs, including…
Surveys critiques of court culture in English writing from John of Salisbury to Edmund Spenser; includes discussion of (pp. 124-36) of NPT as a moral-satirical narrative.
Milward, Peter, Hideo Okamoto, and Takao Suzuki.
Tokyo: Kaibunsha, 1973.
Item not seen. WorldCat record indicates that this includes English commentary by Milward on GP (and other works of English literature), with notes in Japanese by Okamoto and Suzuki.
Hart, Roger.
London: Wayland; New York: George Putnam's Sons, 1973.
Illustrated social history of late-medieval England, with literary examples drawn from CT and contemporaneous literature, with visual reproductions from various manuscripts, including the Ellesmere manuscript and printed facsimiles. Arranged…
Lewis, Robert E.
Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1973.
Describes the history, procedures, and practices of editing volumes for the Chaucer Library which was created in 1945. Comments on how to select texts, editorial responsibilities, and preparation of typescripts. An appendix provides four pages of…
Introductory study guide to PrPT, WBPT, and the accompanying GP descriptions, focusing on the ambiguity of the Prioress and the "moral incoherence" of the Wife of Bath. Includes questions for discussion but no text of the poetry.
Trapp, J. B., ed.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1973
Textbook anthology of Old and Middle English literature that includes selections from Chaucer (pp. 119-283) in Middle English with glosses, notes, and introductions to Chaucer's life, works, and language. Selections include GP, MilPT, NPPT (with two…
Ullmann, Ingeborg Maria.
Bern: Herbert Lang, 1973.
Analyzes narrative aspects of CT and the readers' role in understanding the functions and significance of various structural features, the pilgrimage frame, and point of view; uses late-medieval illustrations to explore and illuminate reader…
Wax, Judith.
New Republic 169.10 (September 17, 1973): 24-25.
Sendup of the Watergate political scandal in pseudo-Chaucerian rhymed couplets, based on GP descriptions. Includes comic foonotes. Reprinted in "Time" 102.13 (1972): 20, with a brief introduction.
Maček, Dora.
Studia Romanica et Anglica Zagrabiensia 33-36 (1972-1973): 695-708.
Analyzes a sample of periphrastic verbal phrases drawn from GP, describing practices and problems in pursuing computer analysis of Middle English. Focuses on frequency of verbal periphrases, uses of auxiliaries, ordering of elements, and grammatical…
Tedeschi, Sveto.
Studia Romanica et Anglica Zagrabiensia 33-36 (1972-1973): 849-72.
Surveys critical commentary on the possibility of Chaucer's debt to Boccaccio's "Decameron" in CT, arguing that the evidence for influence is unpersuasive, especially when other analogues are closer. Considers various critical discussions of the…
Conlee, John W.
Studies in the Humanities 3.1 (1973): 1-3.
Suggests that the Pardoner's specification of "eight" bushels of treasure at PardT 6.771 symbolizes betrayal and the irony of desiring to achieve ultimate happiness through worldly means.
Gosselink, Robert
English Quarterly 6.1 (1973): 1-8.
Summarizes RvT and explores the characterization and motives of Symkyn's wife, suggesting the possibility that she intentionally hit her husband with the staff.
Notes that the account of the Princess of Apulia found in some versions of the "Gesta Romanorum" has parallels with the biblical account of Jonah and with MLT, which alludes to Jonah.
Donaldson, E. Talbot.
[North Hollywood, Calif.]: The Center for Cassette Studies, 1973.
Item not seen; the note(s) to the WorldCat record provide the following description: "Dr. E. Talbot Donaldson, a foremost Chaucerian authority, overviews the historical and literary milieu of Geoffrey Chaucer ans [sic] his Canterbury tales, outlines…
