Browse Items (16334 total)

Contends that in SNT Cecilia's "sense of incongruity between inner self and social definition" is directed to a pious lay audience. Argues that the Second Nun's use of the word "bisynesse obfuscates" what the tale has to convey to her lay audience

Commerce in automatons, mechanical contrivances, and other marvels or mirabilia in late-medieval Europe diminished the wonder of such objects and encouraged scepticism. Chaucer's FranT and SqT rationalize the marvels they present in ways that…

Although the narrator's intention in LGW is to praise his heroines for their "trouthe in love," his naiveté leads to an ironic representation of feminine ideals and, ultimately, an underlying antifeminism.

Chaucer's "doubleness" in critical tradition results from combinations of self-deprecation and extravagant claims to poetic authority in his works. In 1592, Robert Greene depicted Chaucer as short, whereas the frontispiece of Speght's 1598 edition…

Suggests that Chaucer's self-characterization in Pr-ThL 7.695-97 derives from Dante's "Purgatorio" 19.52 and that the one follows the other in using the "dual first-person singular" and in separating Poet and Pilgrim as a narrative technique.

Re-examines the narrator's eight-year sickness in BD, surveying previous commentary, and arguing that, unlike in Chaucer's French sources, the illness is insomnia rather than love-sickness and that God rather than a paramour is his only physician. As…

Discusses the nuances of "sely" as it is applied recurrently to carpenter John in MilT and aids in characterization and comedy.

Surveys Chaucer's treatments of widows, which reveal an "awareness of their excluded social status and how it affects their assertions as individuals." Focuses on Dido and Cleopatra of LGW, the Wife of Bath, and, especially, Criseyde.

Contends that the source of the allusion to Semiramis in MLT (2.359) is ancient historians and perhaps Boccaccio's "De Claris Mulieribus," not Dante's "Inferno."

Chaucer's "open-endedness" and "lack of an ending" relate to the fact that he was writing in a "time of crisis" (the Black Death, the corruption of the church). He sought to confront conditions of his time through pluralism, and his lack of closure…

Discusses the many frustrated or incomplete endings in the tales of CT, and argues that "Chaucer's formal work with endings demonstrates all the many ways that things might remain unresolved." Traces endings from several different tales, including…

Challenges "dramatic" criticism of CT, arguing that "realistic illusion" is not sustained but rather "undermined" in ways that call attention to aesthetic concerns, limiting the kinds of psychological projections that some critics have imposed upon…

Chaucer frequently uses familiar words or phrases that at first seem insignificant or trivial; examined closely, however, they reflect unexpected humor. Chaucer excels at molding new science out of old books.

Examines details from GP (in particular the description of the Friar) and ParsT, arguing that Chaucer held the "orthodox view" that the poor should be protected because they were precious to God. Yet Chaucer also indicates that "there is nothing…

Explains why the phrase "In termes," in the description of the Man of Law in GP (1.323), means "in Year Books," i.e., in a collection of "medieval law reports."

In chapters on Adam, TC, LGW, MLT, WBT, ClT, and PardT, Dinshaw argues that Chaucer's writing constructs and engages a sexual poetics. She contends that "whoever exerts control of signification, of language and the literary act, is associated with…

Provides context for the Parson's image of a she-ape in the "fulle of the moon" (10.424), showing how the image deprecates the "purpose as well as appearance" of the "fashionably-dressed man."

Clarifies nuances of the title "shipman" and the seriousness of the Shipman's lack of conscience about his cargo (GP 1.396-98) in light of late-medieval English maritime law.

Examines books of medieval maritime law (e.g., the "Oakbook of Southhampton," the "Tavola Amalfitana," and the "Consulat de Mar") to argue that the Shipman of GP knew the law, "worked the system," probably engaged in smuggling, and exploited…

The proverb "to be as glad of something as 'fowel of day'," or variant, is used in KnT, CYT, TC, and ShT. The character associated with the fowl is deceived by appearances or by another character. In ShT Don John represents the fowler interpreted…

When seen in light of probable sources in Decameron 8.1-2 and contrasted with Chaucer's other fabliaux, ShT is an "elegantly sophisticated comedy of bourgeois values [written] by a socially and intellectually elevated vintner's son."

Lines 138-41 are authorial commentary and should be punctuated as such. The revised reading makes more immediate sense, adding parallelism and a touch of Chaucerian irony.

Studies the :speaking face" depicted in Chaucer's works (TC, Buk, BD, and ClT), discussing the trope as a subset of facial expression in the history of emotions. The first writer in English to do so, Chaucer has his characters and narrators translate…

Offers a "new description of Chaucer's interaction with Italian poetry," focusing on how he avoids borrowing several of its most innovative features: the "presence of a beatific lady," the tendency to elevate the poet's poetry to high authority, and…

Provides critical analysis of Chaucer's "ABC," examining in turn its genre, plot, two characters, style, and reception, and comparing it to its source.