Browse Items (16320 total)

Compares the knight's decision in the marriage bed of WBT to that of the analogous one in the more mythic "Marriage of Sir Gawain," arguing that in the context of Chaucer's relatively realistic Tale, the decision to return the choice to the loathly…

Critiques the editorial practice of "smoothing" Chaucer's verse to produce iambic pentameter rhythms by adjustments to final-"e," and advocates following medieval scribal practice of using the "'punctus elevatus'--the medial mark" to indicate the…

Examines the "compassion" of the narrator of TC as his dominant attitude, "paradoxically allied" to his "helplessness" before "inexorable fate," and modified by his didactic intent, "historical perspective," and "ironic detachment."

Explores the archetypal imagery of bondage and liberation from bondage in five "clusters" in CT: chivalric prison, animal confinement, "juridical bondage with its emphasis on 'wit,' entrapment, and hell and purgatory.

Interprets "chiere" of KnT 1.2683 as "frame of mind" or "state of feeling," and maintains that this obviates the question of the whether or not the preceding two lines on the fickleness of women are spurious.

Organizes the narratorial passages of TC into six groups, and examines them in light of this classification: occupation, courtly love, humor, characterization, Boethian philosophy, and "medievalization," finding that the narrator is most important to…

Assesses the opposition between idealized women and overt antifeminism in Christianity, Neoplatonism, and western literary tradition, using it as background to argue that Chaucer maintained in CT a successful "tension of opposing viewpoints," even…

Describes the "metaphysical associations" that numbers had in medieval imagination, and explores Chaucer's uses of number symbolism in his verse forms, the dates and astronomical calculations within his works, numbers associated with his characters,…

Surveys the "status of rhetoric in England" during Chaucer's lifetime, documenting the "ubiquity of grammatical texts and the paucity of rhetorical texts." Tabulates Chaucer's uses of the terminology of rhetoric and style, analyzes his usage of these…

Focuses on the characterization of the Knight in GP, cast into relief by the Squire and Prioress, especially in the application of words such as "curteys" and "worthy." Distinguishes between moral virtue and professional efficiency throughout the GP,…

Analyzes the rhetoric of Pandarus's speeches in TC, exploring how they align with Chaucer's changes to Boccaccio's Pandaro and how they reflect the emphases and concerns of medieval rhetoricians. Explores the different techniques of persuasion…

Accepts that the first eighty-eight lines of WBP are a late addition, and argues that they reflect comic awareness of the unorthodox movement, the Brotherhood of the Free Spirit, echoing its valorization of sexual activity and multiple marriages,…

Argues that the main characters of ClT "have Oedipal fixations": Griselda, a masochistic form that correlates with "an incestuous quality in her relationship with her father," and Walter, a sadistic version that reverberates with the Cupid/Psyche…

Identifies changes that Chaucer's made to his source, Ovid's "Fasti," when shaping his version of the story of Lucrece in LGW, changes that "Christianized" the account.

Uses principles of Kenneth Burke's rhetoric of form to analyze NPT, commenting on aspects of its progressions (syllogistic, inverted, and repetitive), aspects of its genre conventions, and examples of its rhetorical ornamentation.

Middle English text with Modern English translation, line-by-line, of GP, KnT, MilPT, WBPT, MerPT, FranT, PardPT, PrPT, and NPT, with a brief glossary of names and terms and a bibliography appended. The Introduction describes Chaucer's life and the…

Explores the relationship between reality and romance in KnT, comparing the Tale's presentation of details and ideals with those found in Froissart's "Chronicle," and arguing that the Knight operates with the "assumptions of chronicle history" and…

Identifies parallels between the effects of grief on the Black Knight in BD (486-512) and late-medieval medical descriptions of the "falling of the heart" due to sorrow or distress, quoting parallels from John of Gaddesden and Jacopo Berengario Da…

Identifies details of the characterization of the Canon and his Yeoman in CYP that derive from alchemical practice and materials, including the Canon's "distillation" (perspiration) and "mercurial" personality and his Yeoman's transformation and…

Analyzes the lexical and thematic nuances of "gentilesse" in TC, exploring how subtle changes in meaning and usage help to characterize Troilus and the other main characters. tracing the "evaporation of the ideal of 'gentilesse'" as "moral vertu,"…

Suggests that the explanation of Cybele as the "flower of spring" in the "Liber Imaginum Deorum" of Albricius I (also known as Mythographer III, perhaps Alexander Neckham) may be the source of Chaucer's reference to Cybele in his praise of Alceste…

Describes the commentaries and glosses that are included in medieval manuscripts of Statius's "Thebaid," and shows that Chaucer was influenced by such glosses in details and passages of HF, Anel, TC, and KnT. The influence of Statius and the glosses…

Investigates the "active tension" between the characterization of the Manciple and the nature of ManT, analyzing differences between the Tale and its sources and analogues (especially characterizations and moralizations) to show how Chaucer…

Maintains that the characterizations of the Monk in GP and in MkPT are consistent, and attributes their differing tones to the Monk's decision to "change his image" in the eyes of his fellow pilgrims while requiting the Host's derision with the…

Explores the narrative devices used by modern and premodern writers of fiction to establish "an air of truth or plausibility"--first-person point of view, intimate tone, details drawn from the real world, and various "tricks" used to compel readers…