An illustrated guide to raptors in English literature (fourteenth century to seventeenth century), which explains their symbolic value in terms of historical training and hunting practices and rituals. Recurrent references to Chaucer's works,…
Hieatt, Constance B.
R. Barton Palmer, ed. Chaucer's French Contemporaries: The Poetry/Poetics of Self and Tradition (New York: AMS Press, 1999), pp. 163-86
Assesses Machaut's knowledge of falconry and his depiction of the falconer/falcon relationship in "Dit de l'Alerion" as an extended metaphor of love. Also explores the influence of Machaut's metaphor, including its impact on Chaucer (TC, LGW, WBP,…
Edwards, Robert R.
Robert R. Edwards and Stephen Spector, eds. The Olde Daunce: Love, Friendship, Sex, and Marriage in the Medieval World (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991), pp. 138-53, 272-76 (notes).
LGWP reflects concern with poetic art, especially the notions of translation and transformation, "making" and "enditing." Cupid's accusations against Rom and TC privilege social over artistic meaning although Chaucer and Alceste subvert this "social…
Aers, David.
Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 28 (1998): 341-69.
Argues that Griselda of ClT is not a type of Christ, because not all depictions of human suffering imitate Christ's passion. Texts by authors from Aquinas to Wycliffe, Arundel,and William Thorpe indicate that passive suffering is one of many…
Explores faith, social and political action, and theology in late-medieval England, focusing on Chaucer, Gower, Langland, the Gawain poet, and Wyclif. Assesses how their ideas reflect Thomas Aquinas, Ockham, and John Ball and how they responded to…
Mroczkowski, Przemyslaw.
Piero Boitani and Anna Torti, eds. Religion in the Poetry and Drama of the Late Middle Ages in England (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1990), pp. 83-100.
In the context of medieval culture from the late eleventh century to Chaucer's time, the author examines Chaucer's faith and orthodoxy in ABC, ParsT, MLT, Mel, ClT, PrT, SNT, and Ret, as opposed to his critical spirit in his portrayals of various…
Wright argues that the conditional faith and reciprocal acceptance of narrative reception are intrinsic to human communication and that FranT explores similar principles and their relations to love. The love between Dorigen and Aurelius gives way to…
In PrT, as in much canonical medieval literature, Jews are largely voiceless and depicted as vile. The lamentations, or "kinot," of Hebrew liturgical poets who mourn the Jewish victims of the crusades record the voices of medieval Jews. The imagery…
Jordan, Tracey.
Studies in Short Fiction 21 (1984): 87-93.
Treats antifeminist reversal when Absolon must replace his romantic vision of Alisoun with his experience of her bestiality, but Chaucer ridicules antifeminist themes and celebrates Alisoun's desirable physicality.
Gallacher, Patrick J.
Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching 5:1 (1997): 55-62.
Considers relations among fairness, generosity, and justice as depicted in MilT, ClT, and PardT, discussing them as they might be presented to an audience of high school students.
Discusses fairies and elves within medieval romances and folklore. Analyzes Chaucer's use of "fayrye" in the MerT, "fairy mistresses" in Th, and the "fairy woman" in the WBT.
Similar concerns with fairies and male oppression encourage comparison of WBT and Jane Eyre; they reflect either Brontë's familiarity with Chaucer's work or a significant coincidence.
Comments on Chaucer's status as a member of the middle class, and explores his depiction of middle-class society in CT, with attention to how it reflects his contemporary world. Includes four b&w illustrations.
Olson, Mary C.
New York and London: Routledge, 2003
Proposes and applies several "reading strategies" for understanding the relationships between word and image in several Old English manuscripts and the Ellesmere manuscript of CT.
Miralles Pérez, Antonio J.
Juan Camilo Conde Silvestre and M. Nila Vázquez González, eds. Medieval English Literary and Cultural Studies (Murcia: Universidad de Muscia, 2004), pp. 205-22.
Conan Doyle's portrayals of knights from the Hundred Years' War in "The White Company" (1891) and "Sir Nigel" (1906) embody the same contradictions and ambiguities found in Chaucer's depiction of a fourteenth-century knight in CT.
Knapp, Ethan.
Andrew James Johnston, Ethan Knapp, and Margitta Rouse, eds. The Art of Vision: Ekphrasis in Medieval Literature and Culture (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2015), pp. 209-23.
Explores the "function of faciality" in medieval poetry of Chaucer, Gower, and Hoccleve. Examines Chaucer's portraits of faces in GP, MLT, and TC.
Doyle, Kara.
Seeta Chaganti, ed. Medieval Poetics and Social Practice: Responding to the Work of Penn R. Szittya (New York: Fordham University Press, 2012), pp. 124-42.
Reads the figure of Alceste in LGW as a "fable" of female patronage, and argues that texts such as John Metham's "Amoryus and Cleopes" and an anonymous English translation of a portion of Boccaccio's "De Mulieribus Claris" do not follow Chaucer's (or…
Cosman, Madeleine Pelner.
New York: George Braziller, 1976.
Describes medieval food preparation and presentation, providing over 100 recipes as an appendix. Chapter three, "A Chicken for Chaucer's Kitchen: Medieval London's Market Laws and Larcenies" (pp. 67-91) details the conditions of medieval London…
Manning, Stephen.
South Atlantic Review 52 (1987): 3-16.
With all its verbal activity or "jangling," NPT functions as a "metonymy for the nature of poetry itself." Chauntecleer and the Narrator struggle with rhetoric and meaning; the Poet "sees beyond the jangling," transforming apparent absurdity into "a…
DuVal, John, trans. Intro. and notes by Raymond Eichmann.
Binghamton, N.Y.: Medieval and Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1992.
An anthology of twenty French fabliaux, translated into English verse. Includes historical introduction, brief headnotes to each tale, and a selective bibliography of fabliau materials.
Blake, N. F.
Hans-Jürgen Diller and Manfred Gorlach, eds. Towards a History of English as a History of Genres. Anglistiche Forschungen, no. 298. (Heidelberg: Winter, 2001), pp. 145-57.
The realism of fabliaux (and some drama) makes them valuable in studying the history of colloquial language, especially sexual colloquialisms. Blake draws examples from "Dame Sirith," MilT, RvT, WBP, and MerT, remarking on Chaucer's…
Pearcy's structural approach enables us to recognize the generic markers of fabliau in nonfabliau tales by identifying dupers, dupes, and misinterpretations of signs. Two episodes in KnT reflect fabliau structures: Arcite's reading of Palamon's…
Kordecki, Lesley.
Robert Graybill, John Hallwas, Judy Hample, Robert Kindrick, and Robert Lovell, eds. Teaching the Middle Ages II. (Warrensburg: Central Missouri State University, 1985): pp. 121-30.
Works by Henryson and Chaucer's NPT can be used to teach the nature of fable literature. NPT develops contrasting meanings in both explicit and implicit morals.
