Browse Items (15542 total)

Reads KnT as an expression of Chaucer's own outlooks, i.e., his sympathetic views of chivalry and ritual.

Edwards discusses the rites and purposes of mourning in KnT in relation to the psychological theories of Freud and Derrida. Contrasts the Freudian account with medieval practices of theology and Purgatory. Tthe pagan setting is necessary to…

Annotated entries are alphabetized in five chronological periods (1900-30, 1931-60, 1961-70, 1971-80, 1981-85) under two headings: Knight in the GP (and Links) and KnT.

Examines the characterization of Theseus in KnT, comparing it with that of Boccaccio's Teseo and arguing that Chaucer depicts an ideal of moral worth, aristocratic justice, knightly virtue, and nobility of conquest.

Argues that Palamon and Arcite in KnT are very carefully balanced, "even equivalent" as warriors, lovers, and husbands to Emelye. Explains aspects of the symmetry by means of fin amor, or courtly love.

The chess metaphor in BD shows that Chaucer's knowledge of the game, while not extraordinary, was adequate for his purpose. His knowledge could have come from being an actual player, from studying medieval chess puzzles, from knowledge of the…

In HF, concerned with the nature of poetry, Chaucer reflects fourteenth-century culture, reveals his debts to Dante and Boccaccio (Lollius), and deals with literature.

Chaucer's use of spatial commonplaces to describe landscapes reflects the symbolic nature of the medieval universe and lends philosophical depth to his stories.

An anthology of reprinted publications, addresses, and a memoir by R.W.V. Elliott, with topics including Chaucer, the "Gawain"-poet, runes, Thomas Hardy, and more. Two of the three pieces that pertain to Chaucer were published previously, and one is…

Compares the various landscape features in Chaucer's works with the walled garden of the Roman de la Rose. The merit of Chaucer's landscapes is that the poet tailored them to be part of an intimate, homey world.

Discursive description of Middle English, focusing on Chaucer's dialect and usage, divided into eight chapters: (1) Why Study Chaucer's Language?; (2) Writing in English; (3) What Was Middle English?; (4) Spelling and Pronunciation; (5) Vocabulary;…

After briefly placing Chaucer's language in the history of the development of English, Peters describes Chaucer's vocabulary, phonology, morphology, and syntax. The study is presented as a "one-text description of Chaucer's language for the student…

The medieval tyrant "topos," with its lexicon and its various transformations, provides the means of studying Chaucer's moral vocabulary. The tyrant figure embodies passion, cruelty, injustice, and the heartlessness. Its antitype is first that of…

Examines the varying degrees and uses of multilingualism among the Canterbury pilgrims and the characters in their tales, commenting on the facile "linguistic posing" of several speakers (Pardoner, Parson, Wife of Bath, Summoner and his characters)…

Exemplifies how Chaucer "frequently presents his characters as victims of a necessity that become meaningful not through its external operation as 'fortune,' but through its inner presence as an experience of 'emotional necessity'," illustrating this…

For six articles that pertain to aspects of Chaucer's language, search for Chaucer's Language: Cognitive Perspectives under Alternative Title.

Hoad challenges critical discussions of specific words and syntactical emphases in Chaucer on the grounds that modern linguistic intuition is unreliable, comparison of medieval uses is often flawed, and medieval commentary can be misleading.…

Outlines the basics of Middle English orthography and pronunciation, and Chaucer's vocabulary and literary models for students. Claims that learning to read Middle English, and understanding concepts of manuscript study, editing, and translation,…

LGWP may be viewed as the poet's last of four experiments in the dream-vision form and as a self-contained dream poem rather than a simple prologue. Chaucer affirms the visionary's initial views and attitudes but mocks the authority of its central…

Argues that parts 1-5 of CT represent a "wholesale revision that Chaucer was engaged in at the time of his death," while parts 6-10 "represent an earlier stage of composition." Suggests that Chaucer "introduced dramatic interplay between narrator,…

Scrutinizes Chaucer's use of Latin, demonstrating that his intratextual and extratextual Latin terms, phrases, and sentences are "formulas" and "quotations," not his own inventions. Twomey briefly surveys the development of Anglo-Latin and its…

Chaucer as a court poet adapts himself to the pattern of sentiments of the court audience. He views the bourgeois pragmatism from the aristocratic standpoint. However, in his fabliaux he could deliberately make fun of the attitude of the…

Audio recording (on CD) of a lecture about the "inextricability" of religious and secular law in Chaucer's age as reflected in PardT, ParsT, and especially MLT. Heinzelman contrasts material and spiritual wealth in PardT and ParsT and explores the…

Manuscript evidence shows that fifteenth-century female readers of LGW were urban and either household servants or daughters of the gentry, whereas the implied female audience of fourteenth-century manuscripts consisted of members of the nobility,…

Palmer argues that LGW is not merely a collection of tales retold from Ovid; it is also the story of the narrator's problematic relationship to the God of Love.