Browse Items (16108 total)

The only manuscript which reflects Chaucer's own spelling is that of "Equat." Because this text is short, it does not provide a complete model for editors; Hengwrt is probably the best choice for a complete model.

Compiles spelling variants of 'though' (thirteen manuscripts) and the verb 'work' (ten manuscripts) as they occur in CT, seeking to establish Chaucer's basic orthography and to explore scribal habits.

Doubtful of M. L. Samuels's argument that Equat is Chaucer's work, Benson examines dominate and recessive spelling forms to argue that it is not. Compares spelling in Equat with that of various manuscripts of TC and CT.

The idea of sex as hard work and the portrait of January as lover draws on Augustinian theories of pre- and postlapsarian sexuality, also important in WBT and MkT; nevertheless, bawdy treatments of Christian theories are "harmoniously absorbed by the…

Explores relations among details of the GP description of the Squire (CT 1.94-96), the "Roman de la Rose," and a passage from fragment B of the "Romaunt of the Rose," suggesting that Chaucer influenced the fragment and that the two passages derive…

Bloomfield considers natural law, an interest in distant geography, and the similarities between magic and technology in SqT as evidence of the "new spirit of the Renaissance" in Chaucer's works.

Various concepts of "otherness" in SqT--oriental setting, magic, non-human speech, female centrality--reflect Chaucer's "reshaping" of Ovidian "transformation" myth. His efforts to enter "into feminized animal subjectivity . . . intertwine with…

Argues that "gentilesse" is the main concern of SqT, linked to the sub-themes of integrity, mercy, education, truthful rhetoric, youthfulness, and social class.

Describes the backgrounds to Chaucer's reference to St. Valentine in PF (line 309) and explores its contemporaneous contexts in the poetry of Oton de Grandson and Charles d'Orléans. Rooted in Roman Lupercalia seasonal rites of purification and…

Explores Chaucer's meanings for "translation" and related terms, using them to examine Chaucer's use of source material. Conjointure, verbal play, etymologizing, and transfer of meaning typify Chaucerian translation, exemplified in Troilus's…

For both linguistic and political reasons, the town in RvT from which John and Aleyn hail may be identified as Westruther in Berwickshire, making Chaucer's rendition of their speech "the first imitation of Scots dialect in English literature."

Chaucer exploited the structural similarities of the "Teseida" and the "Filostrato," though he shortened the first and greatly expanded the second.

Though traditional at root, Chaucer's diction, syntax, and rhetoric are made fresh by the poet's careful combination and articulation of traditional features. Doubleness (as in mixed styles, ambiguity, and irony) is characteristic of his style and a…

Quotes, translates, and anatomizes the Latin "arguments" of the "books" found in Statius' "Thebaid" that underlie Cassandra's summary of the Statius' work in TC 5.1457-1533, with its twelve-line Latin summary interpolated in most TC manuscripts.…

Assesses "unsavory" details of the GP description of the Summoner, the "bad feeling" between the Friar and the Summoner (WBP 3.829ff. and FrP 1265ff.), and concerns that link the GP Summoner and the summoner of FrT, clarifying the Friar's "attack" on…

Maintains that the Summoner's fondness for "overheating foods" conveys lechery, adducing evidence from Reginald Pecock's fifteenth-century "The Reule of Crysten Religioun."

Reviews evidence in GP that Chaucer's Summoner suffers from venereal disease rather than leprosy, using it as an example of little-known or overlooked scholarship that might be lost or ignored. Cites other examples more briefly, including the record…

Traces several iconographical, etymological, and punning associations of cherubs with redness, commenting on confusion with seraphs, and suggesting that these associations underlie details of the Summoner's description in GP.

SumT is not a hidden allegory, but a narrative that exploits characteristics of the fabliau to explore larger issues of morality and ethics. By focusing almost solely on the distribution of the "gift," critics have ignored most of the story and…

In TC, PF, HF, and CT the narrator/author split permits a veiled and implicit expression of judgment at the beginning to be suspended until the end.

Argues that Chaucer's references to a swallow in Alison's song (MilT 1. 3257-58) and to a dove in the Pardoner's claim about preaching (PardP 6.397) are suggestive, and may well derive from his familiarity with the two birds.

Argues that scribes altered Chaucer's modal auxiliaries, dative verb constructions, infinitives, and negations, simplifying Chaucer's syntax and making his stylistic compactness apparent by contrast.

Item not seen; WorldCat records indicate that this audiovisual movie "Depicts the various institutions, traditions, and forces which shaped Chaucer's life and writings. Includes medieval paintings, tapestries, and music, and portions of Chaucer's…

Argues that Chaucer produced Mel to demonstrate his allegiance to Richard II and to challenge the Appellants. Mel deconstructs the advice of Prudence, whose "advisory coup" echoes the Appellants' takeover.

Challenges the notion that Mel asserts orthodox Christian sensibility. By privileging prudence over the theological virtues and by omitting "Christ, the Church [. . .], the Trinity" and sacramental forgiveness, Mel suggests heterodox views.