Browse Items (16369 total)

The narrator of TC has two functions: structurally, he acts as a narrative device which, via book and scene division, lends dramatic immmediacy to Chaucer's romantic drama; he also is a "dramatis persona" characterized by his very use of narrative…

That Diomed was indeed "of tonge large" is to be evinced from his conversations with Criseyde in Book V. His large tongue becomes a symbol of the eventuality of Criseyde's infidelity and of Troilus' tragic demise, as well as of the inevitability of…

Criseyde protects herself from self-knowledge by distancing indirections--dream, pun, reference to the dead husband, etc.--which still tell the truth.

The dreamer's apparently inept, clumsy responses to the knight's complaint result not from sympathetic tactfulness, but rather from his ignorance of courtly love conventions. His recognition of the transience of all earthly things in the knight's…

Comments on three "distancing-involving" devices in BD--the narrative pose, structural arrangement, and the "self-reflexive consideration of the poem's poetics." Include a brief Jungian analysis of the dream.

Reads the Man of Law's materials in CT as an unfolding characterization of the lawyer, commenting on the relationship of tale to teller, the narrator's use of law and legalistic rhetoric, and the relation of MLT to other rhyme royal tales in CT. The…

The exensive emendations in the text of "Lady" are unjustified. The poem is a series of unfinished metrical innovations, showing Chaucer experimenting and practicing his art. The search for metrical regularity has in this lyric deprived the poem of…

The four volumes of manuscript variants added to the Manly-Rickert edition of CT have been neglected too long.

Chaucer's art of characterization is an act of poetic creation rather than the mere use of rhetorical convention. By employing rhetorical devices which vivify emotion and intensify dramatic action, or which infuse suggestion of movement, Chaucer…

WBP/WBT are best read as one woman's satire of both preachers and their anti-feminist propaganda. Attacking antifeminism in medieval preaching, she uses the structure of the medieval sermon.

MerT is both fabliau and romance, both realistic and allegorical. Janus was god of gates and of marriage beds. January falls under Aquarius, associated with old age; May, under Gemini, was associated with youth. The name of the sacred Roman gate…

The Squire's concupiscence and selfishness contrast with the Knight's love of chivalric virtues. Through the Squire and his tale Chaucer may be suggesting that the knights of Richard II's court return to the values represented by his own perfect…

The text of the "Alma Redemptoris Mater" in PrT may have been written by Hermannus Contractus. A reconstruction of its tune must depend on the Use of Sarum. This particular text and this tune are especially appropriate to the themes of the tale.

The Summoner's highly-qualified reference to Sittingbourne does not imply that the pilgrimage has progressed past Rochester. The shift of fragment B2 is not justified.

One should not apply a naturalistic test to ClT, which displays the traditional characteristics of the parable--an illustrative story directed to a single point. The point here is that Griselda is true to God, which is a sufficient principle of life…

Chaucer refers to popular uprisings in the Monk's legend of Nero and in NPT. Jack Straw was a title used in springtime games in England, and the rebellion he reputedly led may have stemmed largely from popular ritual.

Twelve essays on a range of topics that consider Chaucer in light of his contemporary culture and literary tradition. For individual essays, search for Geoffrey Chaucer. Writers and their Background under Alternative Title.

Exemplifies a variety of "inconsistencies and discontinuities" in Chaucer's works, particularly CT, presenting them as typical of the poet's "Gothic" aesthetics and consistent with contemporaneous art and the "complex cultural pluralism" of his age,"…

Characterizes Chaucer's world as "lightly peopled," mobile, in economic transition, and hierarchical; characterizes Chaucer as economically successful, relatively untouched by tumultuous events, entertaining, modest, and with "a foot in several…

Comments on the limited impact of Chaucer's prose on later tradition, and explores the stylistic dexterity of his verse in light of contemporary linguistic features: his use of open and close vowels in rhyme and the impact of rhyme on his diction;…

Describes the editorial practices necessary to produce a modern edition of Chaucer's works, commenting on spelling, punctuation (especially virgules), meter (especially final -e), and distinguishing scribal and authorial forms. Summarizes the number…

Explains why Eustace Deschamps considered Chaucer to be the "grant translateur" of French into English by detailing the general and specific ways in which Chaucer imitated and emulated three of his French predecessors. As the "archetype" of the love…

Clarifies various difficulties in determining "how much classical Latin literature" Chaucer knew and details his relative familiarity with works by Cicero, Livy, Cato, Lucan, Statius, Claudian, Virgil, and Ovid. Chaucer was little influenced by…

Part 1 traces the influences of Bernard Silvestris and Alan of Lille on Chaucer's works, focusing on themes of fatalism (in MLT), cosmic ascent (in HF) and hierarchy and nature (in PF). Regards Alan's influence as "profound," especially in PF, and…

Argues that medieval Latin satiric writers such as Nigel of Longchamps and Walter of Châtillon contributed to the "essential nature" of Chaucer's "poetic imagination." In WBP, NPT, and elsewhere, Chaucer capitalizes on the satiric potential…