Hyder, Clyde Kenneth.
Lawrence: University of Kansas, 1962.
Describes the life and professional career of George Lyman Kittredge, prominent critic of Chaucer, editor of Shakespeare's plays, and scholar of ballads, folklore, and more. Quotes from a number of personal and professional letters as well as…
Low, Anthony.
Chapter 5 in Anthony Low, The Georgic Revolution (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1985), pp. 155-220.
Two subsections of chapter 5 examine political and philosophical attitudes toward work in the Middle Ages and later eras, specifically the relationships among the revolution in agricultural technology, "the Protestant work ethic," and "modern…
Johnston, Andrew James.
Ingrid Kasten, ed. Machtvolle Gefühle. Trends in Medieval Philology, no. 24 (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2010), pp. 246-59.
Assesses the "relationship between reading, space and emotions" in TC, focusing on the two scenes of book reading in the poem. Criseyde's reading in the paved parlor links her with "hermeneutical openness," while Pandarus's feigned reading of an old…
Hermann, John P.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 7 (1985): 107-35. Reprinted in R. A. Shoaf, ed. Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde: "Subgit to alle Poesy: Essays in Criticism. MRTS, no. 104 (Binghamton, N. Y.: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1994), pp. 138-60.
In Pandarus's seduction of Criseyde in book 2 of TC and in Diomede's seduction of her in book 5, the gestures invite plural interpretations.
Windeatt, Barry
Medievalia et Humanistica 9 (1979): 143-61.
Chaucer frequently gives his characters gestures which are not in his sources in order more fully to reflect the inner lives of the actors. His most frequent gestures center on eyes and faces.
Considers the uses of gestures in Chaucer's poetry: "simplistic" uses in HF and PF, broad variety in CT, and the complex characterization of Pandarus in TC. Focuses on expressive movements and postures of body and face, along with laughing, moaning,…
Burrow, J. A. .
Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Explores the functions and significances of "non-verbal signs" (glancing, pointing, winking, hand-clasping, kissing, bowing, etc.) in medieval literature, concentrating on Dante's Commedia, the romances of Chrtien de Troyes, Froissart's Chronicles,…
Reads NPT as a political commentary, with Chauntecleer and Pertelote as Richard and Anne and the fox as Henry Derby (later Henry IV), one of the appellants. Lindeboom comments on May 3, the dreams as Richard's anxieties, dating and astrological…
Evans, Ruth.
Valerie Allen and Ruth Evans, eds. Roadworks: Medieval Britain, Medieval Roads (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016), pp. 127-56.
Uses the methodologies of urban studies and space studies to investigate the "cultural and cognitive aspects of medieval wayfinding," and comments on CT and the illustrations of the Ellesmere manuscript as evidence of how medieval travelers used and…
Doherty, P. C.
New York: St. Martin's; London: Headline, 1997.
Historical gothic detective fiction set in the frame of the CT, in which a priest, modeled on Chaucer's Parson, tells a story to the rest of the pilgrims about a series of mysterious hauntings and deaths involving Knights Templar.
Derived from St. Bonaventure, the Franciscan model of meditation afforded the laity of the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries a "means of participating in an eternal present," as demonstrated in "Piers Plowman," "Pearl," and "The Book of…
Chaucer's visit to Florence (December-May 1373) would have brought him into contact with Giotto's frescos. These, along with his exposure to Dante's works, led him to explore the implications and limitations of "individual perspective" in HF.
Smarr, Janet Levarie, trans.
New York: Garland, 1987.
Verse translations of Boccaccio's sixteen Latin "Eclogues," with facing texts reprinted from the edition of Massera (1928); also a substantial critical introduction and extensive notes on allegory and mythological references in each poem.
Besserman, Lawrence [L.]
Papers on Language and Literature 22 (1986): 322-25.
Several of Chaucer's worldly pilgrims (the Yeoman, the Man of Law, the Franklin, and the guildsmen) wear girdles, belts, or cords as symbols of wealth and opulence. None of the religious figures, however, is portrayed with a girdle. Since…
Tobin, Ann Lee.
Studia Mystica 14:2-3 (1991): 48-60.
Chaucer's Saint Cecilia and Greene's Sarah Miles are both perceived as rude, disrespectful, and unbelievable. Their behavior and narratives can be appreciated only in the context of the hagiographical tradition.
Ward, Renée.
Studies in Medievalism 26 (2017): 87-116..
Examines two poems on the figure of Griselda by Eleanora Louisa Hervey (1811–1903). The first, published in 1850, and apparently intended for children as well as adults, emphasizes the cruelty of the system that enables husbands to exercise total…
