Medieval and classical notions of space and time cause "pryvetee" to be related to "oiseuse" and "otium." Spatial relationships emphasize that major events, like the little fall which occurs in the carpenter's house in MilT, are arranged around a…
Explores in CT the dynamic between with expansive spaces and narrow ones, especially as they correlate with views of the world that are variously serious or playful. Considers the intertextuality of KnT and the fabliaux of Part 1 of CT as a paradigm…
Argues that CT reflects "astrological schema" and traces the evidence of a single cycle of the twelve signs in GP (Aries and Taurus), KnT (Gemini), MilT (Cancer), RvT (Leo), CkT (Virgo), MLT (Libra), WBPT (Scorpio), FrT (Sagittarius), SumT…
Chance, Jane.
Jane Chance, ed. The Mythographic Art: Classical Fable and the Rise of the Vernacular in Early France and England (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1990), pp. 177-98.
Examines several mythological winds and traces the use of Zephirus as a "revivifying wind" in Isidore, Bersuire, and Boethius. Chaucer uses the myth of Zephirus and Flora in BD to suggest psychological healing; in TC 5.10, for ironic effect; in…
Fry, Donald K.
English Language Notes 9 (1971): 81-85.
Proposes that Cicero's "De Inventione" is the source of TC 4.407-13; the subsequent reference (4.414-15) to "Zanzis" is Chaucer's corruption of "Zeuxis."
McColly, William B.
Chaucer Review 20 (1985): 14-27.
The presence and function of the Knight's Yeoman have been neglected: to a contemporary audience he would represent a retainer of great authority and responsibility; hence the Knight's status is high indeed.
Thompson, Kenneth J.
Chaucer Review 56.3 (2021): 280-95.
Focuses on the Yeoman of GP, suggesting that the figure may have been based on Richard II's archers of the crown. Examines the life of Thomas Forster of Drybek, one of these archers, catalogues biographical information about him, and suggests he is a…
Malarkey, Stoddard.
College English 24 (1963): 289-90, 95.
Argues that the Yeoman attends the Knight rather than the Squire in GP, considering evidence of dress and character, and adducing William Caxton's "The Book of the Ordre of Chyvalry."
Reads WBPT (with attention to the GP description of the Wife) as a "crucial example" of the way Chaucer "sees the relation between deception and self-deception" and a "median" among the Canterbury pilgrims as a gauge of hypocrisy. Balanced between…
Sugito, Hisashi.
Sophia English Studies 32 (2007): 17-31.
Chaucer uses Wycliffite discourse sympathetically in order to "satirize church corruption which the Pardoner represents," particularly the literal understanding of Scripture and allegories. The Pardoner's treatment of Scripture aligns with the views…
Wentersdorf, Karl P.
English Language Notes 14 (1977): 167-72.
In Chaucer's age, the image of the butterfly primarily suggested the self-destructive nature of human sinfulness. This aspect of butterfly symbolism occurs in MkT (B2.3978-81), MerT (E.303-04), and possibly ShT (B2.1360-61).
Hanna, Natalie.
Roman Bleier, Brian Coleman, and Clare Fletcher, eds. Memory and Identity in the Medieval and Early Modern World (New York: Peter Lang, 2022), pp. 229-49.
Questions how and to what extent recurrent mention of Hector in TC helps to characterize Troilus as a knight. Instances and collocations of "knight," "worthy," related terms, and references to Hector, generally not found in Chaucer's source text,…
Ethel, Garland.
Modern Language Quarterly 20 (1959): 211-27.
Examines the characterization of the Pardoner as the "wretchedest and vilest of the ecclesiastical sinners" among Chaucer's pilgrims in CT, arguing that "not covetousness, but wrath against the Divine was the Pardoner's prime motivation." Tallies a…
Distinguishes between the "clerical" and "non-clerical" traditions of "de casibus" tragedy in medieval tradition, observing the emphasis on the goddess Fortuna in the latter, and claiming that MkT "belongs to the non-clerical tradition." In ignoring…
Hussey, Maurice.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967.
Compiles more than 100 maps and images that illustrate the Chaucer's world and the imagery therein, arranged loosely around the GP descriptions of Chaucer's pilgrims, with additional topics. The accompanying text includes appreciation of Chaucer's…
Rowland, Beryl.
Julian N. Wasserman and Robert J. Blanch, eds. Chaucer in the Eighties (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1986), pp. 137-49.
Interpretations of the Wife of Bath through socioeconomic readings work less well than symbolic-aesthetic readings. The Wife's weaving reveals her less a businesswoman than an archetypal woman such as Eve or Mary, both portrayed as weavers of life.
Argues that Chaucerian biographers and critics have both been horrified by the rape of Cecily Chaumpaigne and depicted it to reenforce Chaucer's masculinity. Traces how these critics and authors have fashioned Chaumpaigne into a courtly lady, whose…
Argues that "in Chaucer's poetry women are consistently portrayed as seeking out a niche in the social (or religious) hierarchy which will permit them to serve in the subordinate position St. Paul insists they were intended to fill." Discusses all of…
Diamond, Arlyn.
Arlyn Diamond and Lee R. Edwards, eds. The Authority of Experience: Essays in Feminist Criticism (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1977), pp. 60-83.
A feminist analysis of the "Marriage Group" reveals that Chaucer draws his characterization of women largely from medieval stereotypes. He is unable to go beyond a Griselda (Virgin Mary) or a Dame Alisoun (Eve) to create a female "both virtuous and…
Examines allegorical, typological, eschatological, and pathetic registers and word play in PhyT, showing how Chaucer thematizes violence and cultural forms that would valorize it. Pitcher compares Chaucer-s rendering with that in the "Roman de la…
