Finlayson, J. Caitlin.
Philological Quarterly 79 : 225-47, 2000.
A major source of Keats's poem is the Middle English "La Belle Dame sans Mercy," mistakenly attributed to Chaucer in the 1782 edition of "The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer," which Keats owned.
Brockman, Bennett A.
Children's Literature 2 (1973): 40-49.
Discusses the "sentimental reverence for the child's innocence" in a variety of medieval texts, including the account of Hugolino in MkT, compared with the version in Dante's "Inferno" 33, In both versions, the children have "precocious knowledge"…
Pigg, Daniel F.
Tennessee Philological Bulletin 29 (1992): 15-23.
Placed in the context of medieval sign theory, SumT becomes a satire on reading and interpretation. The humor of the friar in the Tale depends upon seeing him as an interpreter who overlooks the literal sense of signs.
Arthur, Ross G.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987.
Educated English audiences of the fourteenth century would have been familiar with the "formal theory of signs" from sermons, poetry, and heraldic practice and would have appreciated the pentangle, green girdle, and wound in Gawain's neck. The…
Salisbury, Joyce E.
New York and London : Garland, 1990.
Interdisciplinary (covering religion, medicine, history, literature, and philosophy from early Christian times through the late Middle Ages), this annotated and indexed guide to medieval sexuality and attitudes toward sex and the body contains…
Nolan, Maura.
The Minnesota Review 80 (2013): 145-58.
Analyzes two medieval explorations of sensation--one by Thomas Aquinas, the other by Chaucer--and locates them within Theodor Adorno's account of aesthetics. Views Chaucer's poetry as a hinge between Aquinas' explanation of sensory perception and…
Kamath, Stephanie Gibbs, and Rita Copeland.
Rita Copeland and Peter T. Struck, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Allegory (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 136-47.
Kamath and Copeland survey the legacy of philosophical allegory and secular allegory--largely inspired by the "Roman de la Rose"--in late medieval France and, by extension, England. They focus on Machaut, Froissart, and Deschamps and their relative…
Cadden, Joan.
Medievalia et Humanistica 14 (1986): 157-71.
Medical and scientific authors discussed sexual matters with clinical frankness. Chaucer's Merchant sees Constantinus Africanus as "a pander, a peddler of love potions."
Kears, Carl, and James Paz, eds.
London: King's College London Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies, 2016.
Includes essays that seek to redefine science fiction as literature that combines interests in both science and literature. Also examines the use of the medieval in modern fantasy texts. For three essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Medieval…
Kears, Carl, and James Paz.
Carl Kears and James Paz, eds. Medieval Science Fiction (London: King's College London Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies, 2016), pp. 3-38.
Argues for a consideration of texts as "science fiction," even if they were produced before the Enlightenment, and further defines the genre to include any text that combines interests in science and fiction. Includes comparison of CYT to Shelley's…
Damico, Helen, ed.
New York and London: Garland, 1998.
Thirty-two essays by various authors, sketching the biographies and intellectual achievements of scholars who have helped shape medieval studies. Of greatest interest to Chaucerians are the essays on Frederick J. Furnivall (by Derek Pearsall),…
Stevens, John.
London: Hutchinson University Library, 1973
Describes the plots and concerns of medieval romances, especially those produced in France and England, seeking to characterize the genre and demonstrate its "pervasiveness" in medieval culture. Identifies a number of recurrent motifs, including…
Knapp, James F., and Peggy A. Knapp.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017.
Analyzes the aesthetics of medieval romance in light of the philosophies of G. W. Leibniz, Immanuel Kant, and Hans-Georg Gadamer, exploring and explaining the "pleasurable seriousness" (for modern and medieval audiences) of the "Lais" of Marie de…
Sylvester, Louise M.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Investigates how medieval romances have shaped heterosexual gender roles, studying the role of language in constructing sexuality. In close readings of TC, MilT, and MerT, Sylvester analyzes "transitivity" and maps dialogue between male and female…
Crane, Susan.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 12 (1990): 47-63.
While critics have recently emphasized classicizing influences, KnT's portrayal of courtship, its enigmatic heroine's resistance to courtship, and the marvels in Diana's temple should be understood in light of romance conventions. Chaucer's…
Troyan, Scott D. ed.
New York and London : Routledge, 2004.
Ten essays by various authors, addressing topics such as rhetorical tradition, accessus, and handbooks, especially their influence on Middle English literature. For six essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Medieval Rhetoric: A Casebook under…
Camargo, Martin.
New Medieval Literatures 9 (2007): 41-62.
Describes the role of performance, or delivery, in medieval rhetorical and grammatical treatises, and exemplifies the evidence of Chaucer's concern with rhetoric and performance in CT--in the Host's remarks to the Clerk, the role-playing of the…
Surveys rhetorical traditions in fourteenth-century England and assesses the impact of "artes poetriae," "grammaticae," and "praedicandi" on Chaucer's poetry generally and on NPT in particular. Includes appendixes of medieval rhetorical terms (with…
Tuggle, Thomas Terry.
Dissertation Abstracts International 35 (1975): 7882A-83A
Rhetorical devices in Chaucer's early poems aid description, lend emphasis, achieve amplification or brevity, and mark transitions. The figures iintensify the utterances of characters, and characterize persons, concepts, or objects.
Stevenson, Kay Gilliland.
Michel Bitot, ed., with Roberta Mullini and Peter Happe. Divers Toyes Mengled: Essays on Medieval and Renaissance Culture in Honour of Andre Lascombes (Tours: Universite Francois Rabelais, 1996), pp. 27-42.
Explores literary and historical contexts that complicate reception of ABC, including works by Jean de Meun, Guillaume de Deguileville, and John Lydgate. Chaucer's stand-alone translation initiates an immediacy with its audience that is not apparent…
Coleman, Janet.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1981.
Deals with verse and prose in Middle English, Latin, and Anglo-Norman as literary evidence of the rise of literacy and social mobility. Most literary works aimed at reform and edification in Christian ethical behavior rather than at entertainment. …
This review article assesses four recent books on how the Middle Ages responded to classical literature: Ralph Hexter's "Ovid and Medieval Schooling," the essay collection "Lectures medievales de Virgile," Jean-Charles Huchet's "Le Roman medieval"…
Fredell, Joel Willis.
Dissertation Abstracts International 47 (1986): 895A.
Both the portraits of GP and the representations of the Deadly Sins in "Piers Plowman" (B text of "Visio") achieve a new form, combining the traditional with "individualized details." Such a pattern is analogous to the development of late-Gothic…
Donaldson, E. Talbot.
Speaking of Chaucer (New York: Norton, 1970), pp.164-74.
Focuses on the single use of the word "sin" in MilT (1.3589), suggesting that the Tale and, more generally, the "best medieval literature" do not "necessarily have anything to do with sin," but offer "joy to the reader."
