Chaucer treats NPT in his characteristically ambiguous manner--transcending his sources, denying, or transfiguring them. The Nun's Priest loses control of his argument, but the poet does not. In reducing the Fall of Man to a literal episode, Chaucer…
Van Dyke, Carolynn.
Donald V. Stump and others, eds. Hamartia: The Concept of Error in the Western Tradition: Essays in Honor of John M. Crossett. Texts and Studies in Religion, vol. 16 (New York: Edwin Mellen, 1983), pp. 171-91.
Chaucer's treatment of Troilus, the good man flawed by error, is compared to the treatment of Gawain in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," with a source study of the "Poetics" of Aristotle and "De consolatione philosophiae" of Boethius.
Léglu, Catherine E., and Stephen J. Milner, eds.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Ten essays by various authors explore topics related to the "Consolatio" of Boethius and its impact within vernacular traditions. The essays are divided equally under two headings: "Consolation and Desire" and "Consolation and Loss." For two essays…
Lines argues that the idealized chivalric homosocial bonding in Surrey's poem was influenced by KnT. Eulogizing the Duke of Richmond in this way critiques the debased version of political bonds in the court of Henry VIII.
Hopkins, Amanda, and Cory James Rushton, eds.
Rochester, N.Y.; and Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2007.
Thirteen essays by various authors, most focusing on depictions or deferrals of the erotic in Middle English romances, with other topics such as a branch of the "Mabinogi," female Jewish libido, fifteenth-century letters, and more. The editors'…
Pearcy, Roy J.
Notes and Queries 213 (1968): 43-45.
Attributes the sexual suggestiveness of the NPE (CT 7.3447-62) to the Host's familiarity with a commonplace association of a "man in a convent with a cock in a hen-run," citing parallels from French, Latin, and Italian sources, and exploring how the…
The Franklin revises the law of the sacrament of marriage according to the medieval understanding of Epicurus. Ironically, echoing Amis and la Vielle from the "Roman de la Rose," the Franklin advocates the pursuit of "ese" and "delit" and the…
Berensmeyer, Ingo.
Eva von Contzen and James Simpson, eds. Enlistment: Lists in Medieval and Early Modern Literature (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2022), pp. 155-71.
Focuses on the "Chaucerian tree catalogue[s]" in Philip Sidney's "Old Arcadia" and Edmund Spenser's "Faerie Queene," tracing the device as a "subtype of epic catalogue" in classical tradition and in KnT and PF, exploring its narrative,…
Discusses classical, medieval, early modern, and modern examples of literary works that have been defined as "epic," seeking to demonstrate the uses and development of the term. Includes discussion of "Langland and Chaucer" (pp. 41-44) as part of…
Appreciative commentary on nineteen major works of literature, from Genesis to T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land." The section on Chaucer (pp. 69-83) focuses on critical attitudes toward his comedy, irony, and rhetoric, and assesses the "implied…
An anthology of literary quotations from English writers, arranged by the days of the months, January through December. Includes GP 1-18 under April 15.
Ando, Shinsuke.
Julian N. Wasserman and Robert J. Blanch, eds. Chaucer in the Eighties (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1986), pp. 163-74.
Though well versed in French poetic traditions, Chaucer did not simply translate French into English. Rom uses a uniquely English idiom. Later works such as Th show a greater ability to discern connotations than do early works such as Rom and BD.
Cooper, Helen.
New York and Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2004.
The motifs of medieval romances continued to be familiar in Tudor-Stuart England, although their meanings and the ways they were understood changed in time. Cooper traces a broad variety of romance motifs--quest, pilgrimage, encounters with fairies,…
Porter, Peter, and Anthony Thwaite, eds.
London: Secker &Warburg, 1974.
An anthology of English poetry, interspersed with ongoing commentary. Includes in Middle English (pp. 1-16) sections of GP (opening, Prioress, and Pardoner) and much of PardT, with commentary that emphasizes Chaucer's "variety of moods and…
Given-Wilson, Chris.
London and New York: Routledge, 1987.
Studies the chief preoccupations of the noble and knightly families of the fourteenth century; politics (both local and national), the lands, and the family structure.
Southworth, John.
Woodbridge and Suffolk : Boydell & Brewer, 1989.
Traces the traditions and explores the functions of harpers, minstrels, fools, actors, acrobats, singers, magicians, and other entertainers from Anglo-Saxon times through the reigh of Henry VII.
Edwards, A. S. G., Vincent Gillespie, and Ralph Hanna, eds.
London : British Library, 2000.
Thirteen essays on codicology, compilation, and book production in the English late Middle Ages, an introduction, and two memorials honor the work of Jeremy Griffiths. Includes a list of Griffiths's publications, a general index, and an index of…
Goldstein, R. James.
Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2017.
Offers instruction on how to read "older poetry" rhetorically, with emphasis on conventional forms and subgenres of lyric verse, and using the scansion system of Derek Attridge (1982). Chapter 4, "The Love Complaint Ballade: Chaucer to Wyatt" (pp.…
Passmore, S. Elizabeth, and Susan Carter, eds.
Kalamazoo, Mich.: Medieval Institute Publications, 2007. xix, 272 pp.
Eleven essays by various authors and an introduction by the editors. Each of the essays touches on WBT and its relationship with Irish and/or English analogues, and seven of them consider WBT at length. The volume includes an index. For the articles…
Argues that the use of similar techniques by Chaucer, Spenser, and Dryden constitutes a "distinctive English fabular tradition," discussing ManT, PF, and NPT, as well as Spenser's "Shepheardes Calendar," "Mother Hubberds Tale," and "Muipotmos," and…
Robbins, Rossell Hope.
Moderna Språch 64.3 (1970): 231-44.
Comments on the limitations of Lydgate's "Siege of Thebes" and the Prologue to the "Tale of Beryn" as imitations of Chaucer, and discusses at greater length how his fabliaux are superior to "Dame Sirith" and to later English comic tales such as "The…
Lewis, Robert E.
Modern Philology 79 (1982): 241-55.
Although there were only a few English fabliaux before the late fourteenth century, an English fabliau genre can be identified as distinct from the earlier French in dramatic aspects, i.e., the use of direct speech. "Dame Sirith," for example,…
Russell, J. Stephen.
Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1988.
Dream visions of Langland, Chaucer, and the "Pearl"-poet use "not simply a common external form but one that contains an internal, intrinsic dynamic or strategy as well"; it derives from the "skepticism and nominalism of Augustine,…
Pearsall, Derek.
D. S. Brewer, ed. Chaucer and Chaucerians: Critical Studies in Middle English Literature (University: University of Alabama Press; London: Nelson, 1966), pp. 201-39.
Surveys the achievements, excellences, and limitations of English fifteenth-century "secular non-popular poetry," concentrating on works by Thomas Hoccleve, Stephen Hawes, John Skelton, and, especially, John Lydgate, along with other love allegories…
