Laird, Edgar (S.)
Philological Quarterly 51 (1972): 486-89.
Explores the astrological term "valunse" as it seems to mean something approximating lack, want, or non-being, used by Chaucer in this sense at Mars, line 145.
Scattergood, John.
Essays in Criticism 44 (1994): 171-89.
John Shirley's comments about the relationship of Ven to court scandal have been misconstrued, disguising the poem's connection to Otto de Graunson's "Cinq ballades." Chaucer used five ballades to realize Graunson's "curiosite" (intricate…
"Toune" in line 17 of the poem means "predicament," not a literal place, just as it stands for an abstract condition in the Harley lyric, "Lenten is come with love to toune."
James, Max H.
Christian Scholars' Review 18 (1988): 118-35.
Although many of Chaucer's works are bawdy, modern readers can find contemporary ethical and moral issues resolved or discussed according to Christian values. "Christlike" faithfulness, steadfastness, and truth underlie TC, WBT, ClT, MerT, and…
Thundy, Zacharias P.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 86 (1985): 343-47.
Derived from Matheolus's "Lamentationes," the two crowns or "corones" in TC 2.1935 are rewards for Troilus's fidelity in marriage and his heroic death in the Trojan war.
Doob, Penelope B. R.
Chaucer Review 7.2 (1972): 85-96.
Interprets Pandarus's reference to "corones tweyne" (TC 2.1735) in light of lapidarian tradition, suggesting that it refers to the two kinds of "caraunius" (thunderstone), differently colored gemstones that emblematize Criseyde's beauty, lightning,…
Chaucer often treats of the discrepancy between intent and words, especially in GP 725-42, PardT, and ParsT. Philosophically, Chaucer's view of language is that of a Christian Platonist; he aspires toward a linguistic realism in which intent informs…
Linguistic and philosophical notions underlying the idea of "cosyn to the dede" fascinate Chaucer and Jean de Meun, who follow Plato and Augustine in accepting that signs reveal ultimate meaning and that myths relate to eternal ideals.
Braswell, Mary Flowers.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 16 (1994): 29-44.
Chaucer's office as Justice of the Peace necessitated his close familiarity with the forms and styles of court proceedings available to us in the records of the "Court Baron." Braswell notes in such records the frequency of figures similar to…
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.
