Browse Items (16472 total)

Argues that the version of the Clerk's Envoy (4.1177-1212) found in the Ellesmere manuscript is the original version, modified by a scribe to compensate for an eye-skip error. Reassesses earlier arguments that the Ellesmere version is itself the…

Assesses manuscript variants and stemmata, relations with source material, and "scribal characteristics" of PhyT to explain that they indicate scribal rather than authorial alteration. Argues that similar evidence, plus comparison with alterations…

A romance novel of the life of Katherine Swynford, rich in psychological and historical detail. Includes a wide variety of historical characters, including Geoffrey Chaucer, Katherine's future brother-in-law, who she instinctively recognizes at their…

Develops an allusion to Chaucer building a "house of Fame" in Gerard Legh's "Accedence of Armorie" (1562) and combines it with Chaucer's "connections with" the Inner Temple to suggest that the poet may have written HF "for one of ritualistic…

Categorizes ways in which Chaucer describes "sequences of events" or actions in his poetry, identifying types that include "summary," "contrasting summary," "close chronological narrative," and "loose chronological narrative." Describes the…

Suggests that the positions of the two initial half lines of BD 357058 be swapped to make better sense.

Describes a strong strain of morality in Chaucer's writing and emphasizes his "reticence" in expressing it. Then explores tragic dimensions of WBPT, focusing on Wife's early marriages (in comparison with May's and January's in MerT), her memory of…

Comments on previous criticism of the character of Criseyde, and explores the "infinite suggestiveness" of her more positive characteristics such as self-knowledge, charm, and desire to please others.

Suggests that Chaucer's description of the embodiment of human speech in HF (1068-81) was influenced by Dante's similar concern in "Paradiso" 4.37-48.

Suggests that Pierre Bersuire's account--"or one like it"--of a hunter-devil dressed in green may account for Chaucer's similar description in FrT 3.1382ff.

Describes and edits an anonymous lyric, here titled "An epistle to his mistress for remembrance," spuriously attributed to Chaucer in Trinity College Cambridge 599 (R. 3. 19).

Argues that details and source material make clear that the description of Tiberce's visit to Pope Urban in SNT 8.352-53 indicates Tiburce received the sacrament of Confirmation as well as the sacrament of Baptism.

Explores nuances of "tregetour" in FranT 5.1141 and 1143; HF 1260 and 1277, arguing that their magic would have been understood by Chaucer and his original audience to entail illusion rather than mechanical contrivance or sleight of hand.

Resists editorial glossing of "cherles rebelling" (KnT 1.2459) as "an allusion to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381," offering other possibilities from commentaries on Saturn's astrological influence.

Identifies several previously unnoticed references and allusions to Chaucer in Nathaniel Whiting's "I1 Insonio Insonadado" (1638), including two euphemisms for the sexual revenge in RvT.

Articulates a number of parallels and contrasts among the tellers and tales of KnT, MilT, RvT, and CkT, focusing on character, accident versus fate, intention, and paradox. Emphasizing the Knight's "chivalric idealism" and the "strong earthiness" of…

Argues that minstrelsy is the major target of Chaucer's burlesque in Tho--a "penetrating criticism of oral literary art" that is consistent with Chaucer's "position as a man of letters." Maintains that Tho and its juxtaposition with Mel indicate…

Suggests possible versions of "sorowe" for "soor" in KnT 1.1454.

Exploring multiple intertextualities between versions of the story of Troilus and Briseida in Benoit and Guido, mentions points of similarity in the exchange-of-prisoners scene where both Boccaccio (Filostrato) and Chaucer (TC) "adapted and modified"…

Explores the influence of Diomede's wooing in Benoit's "Roman" on Boccaccio's "Filostrato" and the "probable connection" between the lecture on gentility in the latter and in WBT, particularly 3.1113-24.

Identifies and assesses two previously unnoticed Chaucer allusions in William Penn's "Treatise of Oaths" (1675).

Identifies concerns with patience and marriage in sources and analogues of ClT, and explores the status of these concerns in medieval scriptural commentaries. Argues that ClT presents a clearly orthodox view of marriage which underlies the Clerk's…

Surveys critics' attention to Chaucer's word-play, and shows through multiple examples that such play is more common in his works than previously observed, especially his early works. Clarifies kinds of word-play in medieval rhetoric and…

Framed as justification for Sir Francis Kynaston's 1636 praise of TC as an epic poem, this essay analyzes themes, characterizations, and the ending of Chaucer's poem in light of Renaissance perspectives, especially on love.

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