Browse Items (16035 total)

The parallel between Griselda and Mary, from preelection and marriage through maternal suffering to final coronation, is integral and pervasive in ClT. Mary embodies the canonical myth of the life of the Christian soul from baptism to heaven;…

Studies the uses, meanings, and nuances of the concept of magnanimity in the English Middle Ages and Renaissance, including discussion of Chaucer, who, although "he makes no full-scale attempt to portray the magnanimous man in his wholeness,"…

Proceeding by "oblique allusions and undertones," the treatment of the Virgin in MerT is "mordantly ironic," leading up to January's "brazen parody of the 'Canticum Canticorum'." This blasphemy is appropriate to the Merchant's bitter cynicism.

Suggests that the referent for "this king" in BD 1314 is the Black Knight as a figure in the poem's chess conceit.

Includes commentary on "Piers Plowman"; Boccaccio's "Decameron"; and the impact of the plague on Chaucer's life, CT (especially PardT), and BD, claiming that Chaucer "could not have been Chaucer" if not for the plague.

Six essays by various hands on the plague and its effects: demographics, millenarianism, iconography of death, the "Decameron," and Middle English literature.

Argues that the Plague, or Black Death, "stands behind" BD, helping to "give it a shape and a meaning," describing late-medieval attitudes toward death and fortune as described in commentaries on plague.

Compares the treatment of love in the "Roman de Thebes," "Brut," and "Eneas" to that in Benoit's "Roman de Troie," a twelfth-century romance and apparently the first work to introduce Briseis-Cressida. A product of Anglo-Norman love debate, Benoit's…

Argues for the later date on two counts. First, discrepancies in the records allow only the conclusion that in 1361 Blanche was at least 14 years of age. Second, the custom of early marriage makes plausible that Blanche was only 12 when married in…

Discusses parallels between the Birds' Parliament and the Good Parliament in 1376. In PF, Chaucer probably parodied the obstreperous Commons that played an active part in this historic parliament.

Anthologizes animal fables from worldwide cultures and various historical periods, classical to modern, including a modernized prose adaptation of NPT, here titled "The Tale of Chanticleer" (pp. 158-64), accompanied by five pen-and-watercolor…

Sequel to the author's "The Bible in Early English Literature," this volume surveys literary trends using biblical traditions: examines medieval drama, lyrics, PF, works of the "Pearl" poet, and "Piers Plowman."

Studies of how Scriptural narratives and their themes have been "re-Scriptured" in particular works of Western literary tradition. Chapter 3 (pp. 77-100) explores how NPT prompts and resists the exegetical potential in reading and leads to…

A frame-tale narrative modeled on and adapted from CT, with tales told by a range of individuals traveling by bus in 1969 to attend the "Woodstock Music and Art Fair." The introduction acknowledges Chaucer's inspiration in form, styles, and…

Recent debates over editing of "Canterbury Tales" reflect "best-text" (Hengwrt) versus "best-book" (Ellesmere) views, but both sides continue to make editorial assumptions about unity and closure.

Includes selections from GP, WBP, and PardP in Middle English, with glosses, and an introduction in which Bloom comments on Chaucer's characterizations, his influence on Shakespeare and Spenser, and reading Chaucer in its original Middle English.

Fleming examines Chaucer's mixture of sacred and secular texts and illustrates how Chaucer's idea of the Wife of Bath grew from an amalgamation of Le Roman de la Rose, Ovid, and St. Jerome, particularly in WBP.

The Northumberland manuscript of CT (Alnwick Castle 455) shows evidence that the scribe had access to a manuscript of CT that included the Prologue and Tale of Beryn and that he worked in a scriptorium that produced multiple copies of popular texts.

Focuses on the opening section of BD, arguing that it depicts a "Narrator suffering excessive grief resulting from bereavement, who within the poem moves toward a means of consolation based chiefly upon a conception of Nature as Life, and whose…

Summarizes the life and legacy of Isabella of Castile, examining in detail her last will and testament (included in Latin and French). Refutes John Shirley's suggestion in his manuscript afterwords to Mars and to Venus that the poems link the…

The stellar phenomenon of TC 3.624-25 certainly occurred in 1385, more likely May 12 (though Saturn was not quite in Cancer, something which Chaucer's Tables may have erred about) than June 9, when a crescent moon may not have been visible in London.

Nine essays by various authors with an introduction and epilogue that discuss literary and linguistic aspects of early standardization in English. For five essays that consider Chaucer specifically, search for Beginnings of Standardization under…

The authors consider linguistic and cultural factors in English standardization of the fourteenth century, including the reciprocity of Chaucer's contributions to standardization and the role standardization played in "'the making' of Chaucer."

Surveys the lyric and romance traditions of England and France that most likely influenced Chaucer's early writing, commenting on how Rom, ABC, and BD reflect the possible sources and development of Chaucer's colloquial English style.

Claims that writing about painting in England began with Chaucer's "definition of visual art" in PhyT 6.9ff., sketching classical and medieval background to Chaucer's description, particularly Pliny, Bartholomeus Anglicus, John Trevisa, and the Roman…