Browse Items (16110 total)

The success of Chaucer's early translations from French cannot be attributed solely to his knack for finding the "mot juste" or to his "good ear" for English idiom. He drew on the native English poetic tradition for visual concreteness and…

Considers BD, ABC, Pity, and HF to be Chaucer's "Edwardian" poetry, produced when he was closely associated with the royal family--first with the households of Elizabeth of Ulster and her husband, Prince Lionel, and then with the king's household.

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…

Suggests that the "Ovide Moralisé" (14.827-30) is the "probable source" of the reference to Elysium in TC 4.789-90.

While six Middle English terms of emotion are in some measure coterminous - "onde," "affect," "mood," "spirit," "passioun," and "affeccioun" - only the latter two closely approximate modern usage. "Passioun" connotes a state of being acted upon;…

The end of PF shows a flagging of spirits; the end of TC is complex and self-reflexive. Although several early poems indicate that Chaucer could not think of an ending or that he lost interest, ABC is notable as a return to the beginnings.

An introduction to the social, political, and intellectual history of Chaucer's age, aimed at a general audience. Individual chapters pertain to fourteenth-century England and its relations with the Continent, social hierarchy, "cracks" in the social…

Brief introduction to Chaucer, his age, and his language, with samples in Middle English and modern translation, followed by a dramatization of adapted portions of GP and PardPT, in stylized modern English, prose and verse.

Surveys several chapters of William Godwin's work that deal with Chaucer's England.

Ten essays explore the intersection between history and literature in Chaucer's lifetime; issues of class, gender, and politics are recurrent concerns. One essay on literature and Richard II's court, two on Langland, one on medieval hunting, and one…

An introduction to Chaucer's pronunciation, grammar, and prosody, followed by an extensive analysis of his lexicon that considers aspects of his syntax, prose vocabulary, colloquial language, oaths, scientific diction, characterization through…

Four connected webpages that introduce Chaucer's language by focusing on the pronunciation and vocabulary of the GP descriptions of the Cook and Shipman, with an audio link, an image from Caxton's first edition, and exercises in vocabulary…

Argues that medieval English literature in general, and Chaucer's poetry in particular, is primarily a product of a cross-cultural and multilingual experience. Compares multilingualism in Chinese with aspects of medieval English culture, and…

Discusses Chaucer's English inheritance from a Taiwanese-Chinese point of view. Reviews multilingualism in Chinese and medieval English cultures, and examines Chaucer's cross-cultural and multilingual literary experience in fourteenth-century…

Explores how Chaucer's prologue to Astr engaged "new models of English translation" from the 1380s, including Wycliffite translations. Traditionally, critics have focused on Chaucer's continental models of translation.

Defines kinds of rhyme by their varying degrees of "richness," from "simple rhymes" to "triple rhymes" (in which three successive terminal syllables rhyme).

Virtually all aspects of Chaucer's English need further work. Some of these are the poet's idiolect, word-formation, syntax and its adjustment to oral presentation, learned and "lewed" words, social dialect, and polysemy and synonymy. Much…

A brief introduction to Chaucer's vocabulary compared to present-day English, his grammar, his pronunciation and spellings, and his versification. In Japanese.

Citing rhymes, wordplay, puns, and anagrams, Ahl proposes that Chaucer produces the "kind of wordplay found in classical Latin poets." Ahl compares Chaucer's uses with examples from Shakespeare and Milton, showing that such wordplay in Chaucer is not…

Argues that the enigmatic "thing" thrice referred to in PF is a "structuring device" but also a "reflection on the process of translation, specifically Chaucer's translation of Boethius's 'Consolation of Philosophy'." PF depicts "translation as an…

Chaucer intended to entertain and edify Bukton by means of a network of biblical allusions that also provide an oblique comment on late-fourteenth-century biblical interpretation.

Chaucer's envoys should be examined not within the context of history but within the context of the art of letter writing, the medieval concept of friendship, and the description of late medieval diplomacy. Chaucer's is a "public stance," which…

KnT offers a reflection of several problems in late fourteenth-century society and of a judge and commentator, Theseus, who is free because he can rationally interpret history. Through KnT and its inversion in MilT, Chaucer offers a mythos of peace…

Although earlier dream visions aimed at revelation of universal truths, Chaucer's poems in this mode present individuals who achieve no direct answers to their questions. William of Ockham, not necessarily a direct influence, provides methods for…

Rather than personal comments to private friends, Buk and Scog may be seen as Chaucer's experiments with "[t]urning the relationship between writer and reader into a poetic subject of its own." The characteristic sense of play and seemingly…