Reiss, Edmund.
Edward Vasta and Zacharias P. Thundy, ed. Chaucerian Problems and Perspectives: Essays Presented to Paul E. Beichner, C. S. C. (Notre Dame, Ind.: Univeristy of Notre Dame Press, 1979), pp. 164-79.
Although giving the impression of belonging to the world of courtesy, "deerne love" is actually more pertinent to the activities detailed in fabliaux. But secrecy, even when it would appear to be taken seriously, causes destruction of love and…
Taylor, Paul Beekman.
Neil Forsyth, ed. Reading Contexts. Swiss Papers in English Language and Literature, vol. 4 (Tubingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 1988): pp. 133-46.
Parodied in MilT, exposed as "disordered and violent" in RvT, Theseus's "faire cheyne of love" (KnT 2991) is the first of several "images of mediation which cluster in interlocking fashion" throughout CT. Like other comedies of mediation, CT reveals…
"Former Age" emphasizes not so much former innocence as prelapsarian lack of technical knowledge. Though the speaker takes his stance between the first age and the present, he employs ironic diction, aligning himself with the latter. Besides…
Transcribes witnesses to three of Chaucer's short poems--"For," "Truth" (both from Leiden University Library Vossius 9), and Gent (from Cambridge University Library Gg 4 9.27.1b)--all previously unpublished and here supplied from, perhaps, "the final…
Those who insist on reading historical allusions into For's concluding stanza miss C̀haucer's subtle plea that charity, and not Fortune's favor, be the motivating force in human affairs.
Wicher, Andrzej.
Marcin Krygier and Liliana Sikorska, eds. Naked Wordes in Englissh (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2005), pp. 160-68.
Wicher tallies a number of folktale motifs in FranT and argues that they are rationalized or obscured in ways that qualify the exemplary value of the Tale. Central is the motif of the "rash promise given to a supernatural suitor," with Arveragus,…
Kearney, John.
South African Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 4 (1994): 95-107
In FranT, the seriatim pity of the characters makes it possible for others to move through the worldly truth that it is necessary to suffer in time, toward the greater truth of unchanging stability. The rocks represent the need for worldly…
The Summoner addresses the devil in formal pronouns (you) until he learns the fiend's true identity; then, he speaks to him informally (thou). The devil, however, is consistently formal in his own usage.
Reiss, Edmund.
J. B. Bessinger and R. Raymo, eds. Medieval Studies in Honor of Lillian Herlands Hornstein (New York: New York University Press, 197), pp. 181-91.
By the fourteenth century "fin amor" was associated with "legitimate married love and...Christian charity." Thus, when the God of Love in the Prologue to LGW refers to "fyn loving," Chaucer's meaning (whether ironic or not) is that of an ideal love.…
Lenaghan, R. T.
Comparative Studies in Society and History 12 (1970): 73-82.
Treats GP as a record of social history, focusing on the economic information available in the descriptions of the pilgrims, particularly as it is evident in the work they do and the status they hold in relation to land, the Church, and trade. Treats…
In GP 6 "inspired" evokes the Vulgate Gen. 2:7, suggesting Lenten spiritual renewal and the natural regenerative effect of the west wind in springtime.
Orton, P. R.
English Language Notes 23 (1985): 3-4.
"Burdoun" as an obscene pun in Chaucer's description of the Pardoner in the GP is supported in Shakespeare's "Two Gentlemen of Verona" and even more strikingly in Wyatt's poem "Ye Old Mule". The latter shows the ribald possibilities of the word as…
Nakao, Yoshiyuki.
Jacek Fisiak and Hye-Kyung Kang, eds. Recent Trends in Medieval English Language and Literature in Honour of Young-Bae Park (Seoul, South Korea: Thaehaksa, 2005), vol. 1, pp. 321-45.
Nakao examines uses of gentil in TC, MerT, and FranT, gauging the level of subjectivity involved on the part of the character, the narrator, and/or the author, modified by the audience's subjective understanding. Poses a "double-prism" structure…
Davis, Norman.
Review of English Studies 20 (1969): 43-50.
Describes the contents of a page in Nottingham University Library, MS ME LM 1, that includes a "genuine witness" to Gent and several English and Latin proverbs,; also shows that the version of Gent in Cambridge University Library Gg. 4.27.1b "has no…
Di Gangi, John J.
American Notes and Queries 13 (1974): 50-51.
Hende Nicholas of MilT and Frere N. Lenne, a source of "Astr," both refer to the Oxford astronomer and mathematician Nicholas of Lynne. This is borne out by chronological, local, and occupational similarities among the three.
Doob, Penelope Reed.
Chapter 11 in Penelope Reed Doob, The Idea of the Labyrinth from Classical Antiquity Through the Middle Ages (Ithaca, N. Y. and London: Cornell University Press, 1990), pp. 307-39.
Familiar with the "visual and verbal labyrinth traditions" and their metaphorical significances, Chaucer incorporates in HF a controlling labyrinthine uncertainty, chaos, and obscurity in its "disoriented turnings back and forth, its paradoxical…
