Browse Items (15542 total)

Combining cognitive and ethnographic approaches to proverb study, Bradbury examines proverb use in Fragment 1 of CT. She explores the limitations of the cognitive theories of Richard Honeck, on the one hand, and George Lakoff and Mark Turner, on the…

Historical-pragmatic analysis of the formal features of texts in manuscript and in print (e.g., punctuation, spelling, capitalization, script, font, etc.) in relation to the texts’ “socio-cultural” functions—linguistic, aesthetic, ethical, practical,…

Shakespeare's alterations of KnT in A Midsummer Night's Dream and (with John Fletcher) in Two Noble Kinsman resulted from the exigencies of the stage and produced works of a new tenor and thematic emphasis.

Contemplates the personification of Imagination (as in the cases of personified Nature and Reason) from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, with attention to the particulars inherent in the process of characterization. Focuses on "uncertainty of…

Surveys evidence of the likelihood that Chaucer learned Italian from "Lombards" (especially members of the Bardi family) who were living in London and involved in affairs of trade and banking. Demonstrates how Chaucer adapted his Italian literary…

Focuses on Gower's Tale of Florent as a poem with its own logic and beauty, using Chaucer's WBT to clarify Gower's purpose.

The WBT and its analogues have in common the archetype of transformation from ugly age to beautiful and fertile youthfulness. The psychic transformation of unconsciousness to consciousness, a phenomenon central to human individual and collective…

Furnivall's printed transcriptions of TC manuscripts have created a legacy of errors, especially in editions based on Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 61 (Cp). Hewett-Smith identifies errors in Robinson's edition and exemplifies the transmission…

Questions the precision of transcribing manuscripts in electronic editing as undertaken for The "Canterbury Tales" Project and the Middle English Grammar Project. Uses examples from MLT to demonstrate that even graphetic transcription does not…

In NPT, Chaucer combines a learned, polysyllabic vocabulary with Anglo-Saxon, monosyllabic words. Shifts in vocabulary create the tale's mock-heroic tone, as a "drop" from Latinate to English words at the end of a passage undercuts the preceding…

Applies notions of links between tale and teller to apocryphal tales, an approach suggested by the medieval notion of "auctoritee." Concludes that post-medieval editions of CT do not "accurately" reflect the medieval understanding of the work as "a…

Frame-tale science fiction novel with echoes of CT, e.g., quotation of GP 1.12 on the opening page, recurrent references to travelers as "pilgrims," a galactic ship named "Geoffrey," interpolated tales (although purportedly autobiographical), etc.…

Chaucer celebrates "man's simultaneous transcendence and absurdity": in MilT, Nicholas's psaltery playing may be onanistic; in MerT, January's praise of Damian as "discreet," "secree," and "manly" may suggest his willingness to allow May…

Wonders how the transgender experience allows a “trans textuality” and offers an example of this proposed theoretical approach to manuscripts via a consideration of the Ellesmere manuscript.

Richard II's reign produced political upheaval that redefined treason not only politically but also as reflected in literary depictions of love.

Chaucer presents Calchus as both a father in misery and a "sheer opportunist," enabling us to see Criseyde's decision as her own. Shakespeare's Calchus is a manipulator; his Cressida, the object of manipulation.

Compares acts of treachery in the tales of Constance by Trevet, Gower, and Chaucer, showing that MLT has a feminist point of view and a religious stance. The liveliness of the debate scenes in MLT may result from the occupation of the teller.

In LGW, Chaucer reflects on his role as poet, his relation to past and present, and his responsibility to his readers, comically exploring how literature must betray its sources through the accusation that the dreamer betrays courtly values. TC and…

Examines the tragic, comic, and ironic features of TC, comparing it with MkT in the genre of tragedy, and assessing its tragic, comic, tragicomic, and ironic aspects of theme, situation, characterization, and dialogue.

Argues that in MkT, the Monk proves himself to be not only a reader and interpreter of tragedy, but also a critic of the concept itself.

Explores words and nuances associated with tragedy in Chaucer's works, describing a pair of emphases in Bo that may indicate direct study of Boethius's original rather than glosses or commentaries. Considers the extent to which the Monk may have…

Dante and Chaucer in effect parody classical tragedy while adapting their Ovidian imitations to a medieval notion of tragic form. They preserve the notion of suffering into truth, but they focus on the truth to be gained by the reader from the…

Klassen deconstructs concepts of genre and romance and medieval definitions of tragedy as they pertain to TC. Analyzes Troilus's "double sorwe," references to romance within TC, and the significance of Chaucer's phrase "litel bok." The poem…

Considers tragedy from the perspective of analytical philosophy, arguing "that tragic literature seeks to offer moral and linguistic redress (compensation) for suffering'; it "involves the balancing of a protagonist's suffering with guilt (and vice…

Ten essays by the author, three of them published here for the first time. Topics include CT, "Pearl," "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," and Shakespeare's "Hamlet." For two new essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Traditions and Renewals under…