Quinn, Esther Casier.
Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2008.
Identifies how and where Chaucer's poetry engages contemporary society and politics, as well as how it adjusts to changes in these arenas. As a court poet, Chaucer was knowledgeable about worldly affairs but unwilling to comment or criticize openly.…
Dor, Juliette.
Bruno Meniel, ed. Ecrivains juristes etjuristes ecrivains, du Moyen Age au siecle des Lumieres. Esprits des lois, Esprit des lettres, no. 8 (Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2015), pp. 522-26.
Reviews issues of justice in Sted and explores how Chaucer's irony reveals his bias against medieval judicial practices in ABC. Also, questions the relationship among Church/Rome/nation, political vs. religious law(s), and ascending vs. descending…
Explores Chaucer’s uses of "fama," perhaps reflecting his ambiguous relationship with the concept. At times, he seems to switch from desire of acknowledgment to a more bitter view.
Chute, Marchette.
William Targ, ed. Bibliophile in the Nursery: A Bookman's Treasury of Collectors' Lore on Old and Rare Children's Books (Cleveland: OH: World, 1957), pp. 106-12.
Excerpts and re-titles a portion of chapter two of Chute's 1946 "Geoffrey Chaucer on England," describing the nature of Chaucer's education and the books he likely encountered in his early studies.
Bryant, Brantley L.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
An eclectic collection of materials related to new-media play that focuses on Chaucer, including the following: a faux poem by "John Gower"; an introduction, by Bonnie Wheeler, to play and parody among medievalists at the conferences of the Medieval…
Johnson, Ian, ed.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Includes fifty brief essays that offer "historical and conceptual information and perspectives" to aid in understanding Chaucer's works: J. A. Burrow, "What Was Chaucer Like?"; Andrew Galloway, "Chaucer's Life and Literary 'Profession'"; Jeremy J.…
Silvia, D. S.
Revue des Langues Vivantes 33 (1967): 228-36.
Considers "gentilesse" (the "quality that makes human relationships most proper and ennobling") to be the main theme of the "Marriage Group" in CT, commenting on the virtue as it is presented in Mel, NPT, WBPT, ClT, MerT, and FranT, and exploring its…
A series of interlinked webpages that provides a variety of texts, translations, glossaries, selected essays and graphics, instructional aids, and supporting information about language, analogues, social conditions, and other backgrounds to Chaucer's…
Hernández Pérez, Ma Beatriz.
Liminar: Estudios sociales y humanisticos 6.2 (2008): 15-30
Examines Chaucer's works, particularly BD and LGW, in connection to female patronage networks in the late fourteenth century in England, France, and the Iberian Peninsula. Argues that the new cultural and political role of many aristocratic women had…
Lehnert, Martin.
Zeitschrift fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik 32:1 (1984): 5-18.
Chaucer explores complex psychology of love in TC and CT, juxtaposing carnal with spiritual, crude with refined, translating the ideal into the everyday, synthesizing French and Italian traditions.
Truter, Wolfgang.
Dissertation Abstracts International 38 (1979): 4698C.
A line-by-line commentary on NPT reveals that the primary difficulties of the poem are not linguistic, but lie rather in the tremendous range of subjects from which Chaucer draws in the work: medicine, theology, astrology, and music, among others.
Fruoco, Jonathan.
Iris 39 (2019): n.p.
Available at http://ouvroir-litt-arts.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/revues/actalittarts/553-geoffrey-chaucer-the-merchant-s-tale-et-la-dialectique-de-l-elevation. Accessed January 12, 2021.
Explores the implications of ascent and descent in MerT, focusing on the significance of the tale's vacillations between courtliness and the fabliau genre in comparison with several analogous narratives that include fruit-tree episodes. In French,…
Weise, Judith.
Walton Beacham, ed. Research Guide to Biography and Criticism, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: Research Publishing, 1985): pp. 218-223.
Brief synopsis of Chaucer's life, listing of his works, and selective review of biographical sources, critical approaches, criticism, dictionaries, and encyclopedias.
Harley, Marta Powell.
Chaucer Review 28 (1993): 78-82.
Challenges Haldeen Braddy's assertion that Cecilia Chaumpaigne was the stepdaughter of Alice Perrers, since, in fact, Chaumpaigne was not one of Alice's surnames. Elsewhere, Braddy's reading and citing of sources on this issue are suspect.
Roger, Euan, and Sebastian Sobecki.
Chaucer Review 57 (2022): 407-37.
Examines newly discovered documents to argue that Chaucer and Cecily Chaumpaigne were both party to Staundon's legal maneuvers, and that, because of the Statute of Laborers, Chaumpaigne's quit claim offered a resolution. Presents a reappraisal of…
Though he probably knew nothing of the theatre, Chaucer displays the essence of dramatic technique--the ability to create the persons of his characters objectively in CT.
Explores the factors involved in assessing Chaucer's rank among literary greats, summarizing parts of CT, describing difficulties of teaching the poem, suggesting the use of Nevill Coghill's translation, and offering other pedagogical comments.
Study guide to ClT that includes a plot summary and glosses (text not included), and commentary on various subjects: the patient wife as a literary motif, characterization in ClT, medieval clerks, linguistic and stylistic features of ClT (including…
Brewer, Elisabeth
Harlow: Longman; Beirut: York Press, 1982.
Study guide to MilT that includes a plot synopsis, running commentary, and glosses (text not included). Also includes descriptions of characters and characterization, various themes and devices, stylistic features, and suggestions for further study;…
Rabil, Albert, Jr.
Karen Nelson, ed. Attending to Early Modern Women (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2013), pp. 189-206.
Suggests that Chaucer and Pizan may have created "female voices to speak in opposition to male misogyny" at about the same time because they shared similar educations and the same "cultural and intellectual universe," most evident in their…
Crépin, André, and others, trans., in collaboration with Ann Wéry.
Paris: Laffont, 2010.
Bilingual edition of the works of Chaucer, based on The Riverside Chaucer. Includes CT, Rom, BD, HF, Anel, PF, Bo, TC, LGW, short poems, Astr, Equat, and French poems attributed to Chaucer. Translators include André Crépin, Jean-Jacques Blanchot,…
Verse translation of CT with several tales abridged or excerpted (KnT, MLT, ClT, SqT, FranT, MkT) and several summarized (Mel, CYT, ManT, ParsT), based on the Riverside edition. Converts Chaucer's pentameter couplets into octosyllabic couplets to…
