Reiss, Edmund.
John P. Hermann and John J. Burke, eds. Signs and Symbols in Chaucer's Poetry (University: University of Alabama Press, 1981), pp. 27-42.
Symbolic details in Chaucer may also be thematic, e.g., the five etymologies of Saint Cecilia's name in SNT, and certain features of GP, MerT, FranT, others of the CT, and TC. Words and phrases also are often thematic.
Isenor, Neil,and Ken Woolner.
Physics Today 3 (1980): 114-16.
HF 782-834 displays an uncanny foreknowlege of details of the modern theory of sound and wave motion, especially in lines 809-13, where, in a great creative leap of scientific imagination, the motion of water waves is transferred to the propagation…
Scheps, Walter.
Leeds Studies in English 9 (1976-77): 19-34.
Although it is uncertain whether Chaucer knew Plutarch's "Life" of Theseus, in KnT the character is a mixture of the two traditions of the interpretation of Theseus: an Apollonian rationalist in Statius (the source in Anel) and a fickle lover in…
Clark, George.
Revue de l'Universite d'Ottawa 52 (1982): 257-65.
Whereas Chauntecleer was caught by the fox on the third of May,Arcite's escape from prison and Pandarus's first visit to Criseyde took place on the fourth. These differences in date have different meanings according to medieval "lunaria,"…
Steadman, John M.
Neophilologus 45 (1961): 224-30.
Suggests that the number of participants in Chaucer's CT pilgrimage--"Wel nyne and twenty" (GP 1.24) plus the narrator--can be seen to signify the "active life," consisting "essentially of penitence and good works." Offers evidence that thirty…
Donaldson, E. Talbot.
Michigan Quarterly Review 14 (1975): 282-301.
Pandarus, the Pardoner, and the Poet Chaucer are all three creative artists and experience the frustations of the unloved. The Poet created Pandarus and the Pardoner as representation of deep impulses within himself.
Peters, F. J. J.
Studia Neophilologica 60 (1988): 167-70.
Though the dating of NPT to thirty-two days "syn March bigan" is generally emended to bring the tale date to May 3, the unemended text makes literal sense if treated as a reference to "frame story time." The dating thus "should be read in two…
Pratt, Robert A.
Philological Quarterly 54 (1975): 19-25.
Manuscript evidence indicates that Chaucer intended the title of his longest work to be "The Tales of Caunterbury." During the fifteenth century, however, the work became known popularly as "The Canterbury Tales."
Reburial is always a political act. Richard II had started having his fatihful servants buried in Westminster Abbey, and Chaucer may have become an Abbey tenant in 1399 to be buried there.
Ebi, Hisato.
Eigo Seinen 146.8: 488-92 (in Japanese), 2000.
Spec. issue on the sexcentenary of Chaucer's death. Suggests a new date-June 2, 1400-for Chaucer's death, based on John Bale's Index Brittaniae Scriptorium (1902 ed.), and surveys the historical background of Chaucer's tomb(s).
Milosh, Joseph.
Wisconsin Studies in Literature 5 (1970): 1-11.
Contends that the characterizations of Arveragus, Dorigen, and Aurelius in FranT suffer from inconsistency or incompletion--touches of psychological realism unfulfilled--and suggests that these seemingly faulty characterizations can best be…
McNally, John J.
Studies in Medieval Culture 2 (1966): 104-10.
Reads TC as a "subtle reprobation of courtly love," suggesting that Chaucer's ironic treatment of love is signaled by the placement and timing of allusions to Dante's "Divine Comedy" and by parallels between the structures of the two works, with Book…
Ireland, Richard W.
Chaucer Review 29 (1994): 74-92.
Chaucer's use of poison in PardT and ParsT indicates more than a cursory knowledge of the law and lore associated with it. In PardT, poison--affiliated with Envy and Jealousy and with the devil--serves to darken both the characters and the plot line.…
Herold, Christine.
Dissertation Abstracts International 55 (1995): 2382A.
Discusses the differences and similarities between classical Greek ideas and late Roman and medieval Christian concepts of tragedy, focusing on Lucias Annaeus Seneca and his influence on the works of Chaucer, Jean de Meun, and Boccaccio.
The medieval conceptualization of tragedy has its roots in classical tradition, especially Seneca as mediated by Boethius. Herold surveys classical, patristic, and medieval ideas of tragedy and the tragic, exploring how Chaucer, among others,…
Gaylord, Alan.
Publications of the Medieval Association of the Midwest 11 (2004): 1-25.
An extended example of "prosodic criticism," which comments on several passages of TC (1.1-21, 53-56, 99-133, 981-87, 1016-29; 2.109-47, 190-217, 309-28, 407-28, 443-48; and 3.1198-1211). Gaylord explains how Chaucer's poetry invites readers to be…
Haas, Renate.
Joerg O. Fichte, Karl Heinz Goller, and Bernhard Schimmelpfennig, eds. Zusammenhange, Einflusse, Wirkungen (Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1986), pp. 451-65.
Shows Chaucer's congruences with early humanist conceptions of tragedy (including Petrarch's and Boccaccio's) and sketches the consequences for a new interpretation of MkT.
Oka, Saburo.
Thought Currents in English 63 (1990): 79-109.
The tale of Philomela involves a love triangle of one male and two females. Chaucer's narrative focuses on Philomene whereas Gower's analogue focuses on both Philomene and Progne. Chaucer achieves his most important transformation of the story by…
Ono, Mana.
Studies in Medieval Language and Literature (Tokyo) 1 (1986): 93-105.
Comparing the use of "gentil" and "gentilesse" in Bo 3, pt. 6, 9, with Latin and French texts shows that Boethius had a great influence on Chaucer through Jean de Meun and that Chaucer uses the words in his own skillful way, as seen in works such as…
Thompson, W. Meredith.
Norman Davis and C. L. Wrenn, eds. English and Medieval Studies Presented to J. R. R. Tolkien on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday (New York: Humanities; London: Allen and Unwin, 1962), pp. 183-99.
Surveys Chaucer's translations of passages from the Bible, commenting on his Biblical knowledge, his artistry in translating and using scripture, his mediating sources, his possible uses of the Vulgate and Wycliffite versions, and his "attitude" to…
Kallich, Paul Eugene.
Dissertation Abstracts International 44 (1984): 2143A.
In poetry (BD, ABC) and in prose (Bo, Mel), Chaucer as translator of French diverged early from his sources; his mature work (including MerT) shows him adapting verse and molding English prose, altering received texts.
Brown, Peter.
Suzanne Conklin Akbari and James Simpson, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Chaucer (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020), pp. 11-25.
Details the extant evidence for Chaucer's travel, both in England and abroad, noting that all known travel is for the court, if we define it as "the various royal households with which Geoffrey Chaucer was associated." Explores countries and places…
Shimonomoto, Keiko.
Keiko Shimonomoto. The Use of Ye and Thou in the Canterbury Tales, and Collected Articles (Tokyo: Waseda Univesity Enterprise, 2001), pp. 93-100.
Originally published in the Bulletin of the Institute of Language Teaching (Waseda University) 51 (1996). Challenges M. A. K. Halliday's 1988 description of the prose style of Astr, focusing on the use of second-person pronouns and calling for…
