"Alys" and its diminutive "Alisoun" have interesting reverberations. The rhyme "Alys"/"talys" may link the Wife with "tales" and have a pun indicating love of drink. "Alisoun" may be a covert pun on "eleison." The popularity of the name Alys is…
Bennett, J. A. W.
Edward Vasta and Zacharias P. Thundy, ed. Chaucerian Problems and Perspectives: Essays Presented to Paul E. Beichner, C. S. C. (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1979), pp. 132-46.
Reconsideration of passages not sufficiently considered in his 1957 edition of PF has led Mr. Bennett to comment on Chaucer's deep and searching study of the "Somnium Scipionis"; the structure of the main part of PF; the central sequence of the three…
Robinson, Ian, and Doreen M. Thomas.
Loren C. Gruber, ed. Essays on Old, Middle, Modern English and Old Icelandic in Honor of Raymond P. Tripp, Jr. (Lewiston, N.Y.: Mellen Press, 2000), pp. 447-66.
Examines the backgrounds and language of BD to uncover John of Gaunt's romantic entanglements and their ramifications for the poem. The article serves as an introduction to a larger forthcoming study.
Ando, Shinsuke.
Piero Boitani and Anna Torti, eds. Genres, Themes, and Images in English Literature from the Fourteenth to the Fifteenth Century (Tubingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 1988), pp. 31-39.
Examines words and phrases in Th to reveal "hidden elements of satire and parody," which are intensified by Chaucer's masterful and paradoxical handling of the author in the text. The language of satire and parody defies translation.
Tedeschi, Sveto.
Studia Romanica et Anglica Zagrabiensia 33-36 (1972-1973): 849-72.
Surveys critical commentary on the possibility of Chaucer's debt to Boccaccio's "Decameron" in CT, arguing that the evidence for influence is unpersuasive, especially when other analogues are closer. Considers various critical discussions of the…
Donaldson, E. Talbot.
J. B. Bessinger and R. Raymo, eds. Medieval Studies in Honor of Lillian Herlands Hornstein (New York: New York University Press, 1976), pp. 99-110.
A detailed commentary upon "armee" in the description of the Knight (1.60) in GP; upon the homeoteleuton in the description of the Friar (11. 252a-b); upon "fyue" in Prologue to WBT (11. 44a-f) as an omission in some mss due to the scribal "yielding…
Dwyer, R. A.
Notes and Queries 212 (1967): 291-92.
Identifies John of Trevisa's "Polychronicon" as the likely source for the Monk's use of "pileer" distinct from "boundes" (7.2126-27) in his account of Hercules, a distinction also made by John Lydgate in his "Troy Book." Comments on the uses of…
Exemplifies several difficulties in translating Chaucer's verse into modern verse or modern prose, commenting on concerns with "tonal register," rime riche, semantic change, taboo words, pronouns of address, the historical present, rhyming tags, and…
Blodgett, James E.
Library 6th ser. 1 (1979): 97-113.
Identifies through examination of printer's marks the printer's copy for Thynne's text of Rom, Bo, "The Assembly of Ladies," and the final six stanzas of "La Belle Dame sans Merci." Comments on Hunterian MS 5.3.7 and Longleat MS 258.
Benson, C. David.
Essays in Medieval Studies 24 (2007): 1-20.
Benson describes the very different views of London produced by Chaucer, Gower, Hoccleve, and Lydgate, as well as the depictions in William FitzStephen's "Description of London" (1174) and "London Lickpenny" (fifteenth-century). These representations…
Edwards, Robert R.
Robert R. Edwards and Vickie Ziegler, eds. Matrons and Marginal Women in Medieval Society (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 1995), pp. 111-27.
Examines the encomium on marriage in MerT and the speech on marital values in FranT. In their structural placements and their relations with their sources, the speeches do not so much critique or assert specific views on marriage as represent…
Madden, William A.
College English 20 (1959):193-94.
Challenges Paul Ruggiers' essay, "Some Philosophical Aspects of 'The Knight's Tale'" (1958), maintaining that the critic fails to distinguish between Chaucer's views and those of the Knight, and disagreeing with his interpretations of several points…
Ruggiers, Paul G.
College English 19 (1958): 296-302.
Assesses Chaucer's uses of Boccaccio and Boethius as source material in KnT, addressing the omission of Arcite's apotheosis and the subordination of the pagan gods to providential order. Focuses on Palamon's and Arcite's prayers and Theseus' final…
Kumamoto, Sadahiro.
Michio Kawai, ed. Language and Style in English Literature: Essays in Honour of Michio Masui. The English Association of Hiroshima (Tokyo: Eihosha, 1991), pp. 322-42.
Observes what kinds of words in the Roman de la Rose are likely to be borrowed by Chaucer as rhyme words, what alterations are made when they are transferred to Rom, and what sorts of words are added in the rhyme position in translation.
Wentersdorf, Karl P.
Chaucer Review 15 (1980): 101-26.
A clandestine "marriage" was not fornicatory but simply unlawful, since the church insisted on an eventual ceremony. Chaucer adds the troth plight to his source, thus raising the story above amorous intrigue and heightening the poignancy of…
Duffell, Martin J.
Language and Literature 17 (2008): 5-20.
Provides statistical analysis of 300-line samples from the verse of eight poets who wrote in English (Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Longfellow, and Browning), comparing percentages of inversion and "erosion" among iambic…
Sudo, Jun.
Michio Kawai, ed. Language and Style in English Literature: Essays in Honour of Michio Masui. The English Association of Hiroshima (Tokyo: Eihosha, 1991), pp. 361-73.
The proem of each book of TC summarizes the gist of the following story and establishes a suitable mood through invocation to appropriate gods.
Brewer, Derek.
Uwe Boker et al., eds. Of Remembraunce the Keye: Medieval Literature and Its Impact Through the Ages. Festschrift for Karl Heinz Goller on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday (Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 2004), pp. 47-59.
Traces the history of romance as a genre as it adumbrates the modern novel. Includes recurrent references to TC.
Kanno, Masahiko.
Bulletin of the Aichi University of Education (Humanities) 43 (1994): 1-13.
Friar John is guilty of the sin of gluttony, which he discusses. Diction relating to foodstuffs recurs throughout SumT, as does "in-and-out" imagery, culminating in scatological diction that reflects John's degraded state of mind.
Iwasaki, Haruo.
Key-Word Studies in Chaucer 1 (1984): 15-32.
Gives frequency of "gan" in each work by Chaucer, an exhaustive list of verbs in this construction, and rhythmical patterns according to frequency. Chaucer used the "gan" periphrasis in a conscious, stereotyped way.
Kumamoto, Sadahiro.
Kumamoto Journal of Culture and Humanities (Kumamoto University) 71: 109-29, 2001.
Focuses on the following: (1) the kind of governing verbs; (2) the ratio of bare infinitives and (for) to-infinitives; and (3) the structure of the infinitive clause, supplementing Kenyon (1909) in many respects.I
Jimura, Akiyuki.
Yoko Iyeiri and Jennifer Smith, eds. Studies in Middle and Modern English: Historical Change (Osaka: Osaka Books, 2014), pp. 115-32.
Examines the meaning of "meat and drink" in Chaucer's texts, referring to the "OED" and biblical uses. Discusses the "process of idiomatization" of this expression by looking into its uses through Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, and Dickens.
