Browse Items (15544 total)

Interprets red-ink underlining of lovers' and birds' names in the text of PF in Bodley 638 and Fairfax 16 as a "visual appeal to memory" that activates pedagogical frameworks of language acquisition from medieval grammar school curricula. Viewing…

Considers the counting-house in ShT in light of the late medieval concern with "architectural privacy" and "new formations of sociability" in the bourgeois household. Contextualizes gendered space in ShT in relation to mercantile labor, developments…

Argues that "two medieval methods of memorializing" are in tension in KnT: "celebration" of chivalric loss, and Boethian remembrance. Theseus's admonitions to remember Arcite "leave little room" for "healthy" mourning and reveal the limits of…

Although the Reeve claims a moral high ground by telling a story that deals out justice to its dishonest miller, this revenge does not accord with the moral virtue of justice nor with the amoral fabliau genre, undermining the Reeve's sanctimony and…

Explores the functions and implications of the black rocks in FranT both as a symbol of universal evil and as a narrative device, arguing that the rocks have particularly rich and pervasive significations, anticipating the postmodern device of a…

Establishes how WBT's treatment of sovereignty and of civic and domestic institutions "redefine[s] English nobility as a national form of identity" that crosses class and gender boundaries. Further argues that Chaucer's anachronistic use of Dante in…

Argues that a possible source for the references to "Sampsoun" in PardT 6.549-61 and for aspects of the account of Samson in MkT 7.2914-94 is "Livre du Chevalier de la Tour-Landry."

Reflects on "the process and outcome of an Afrikaans translation" of CT and includes a complete translation in an appendix, matching Chaucer's verse and prose, completed over the course of sixty years. The study explores translation theory and…

Suggests that Robert Holcot’s commentary on the Book of Wisdom is the immediate source of HF, 991–1017 and 1259–70, and ParsT, 603–7, describing the authors' shared skepticism about the "limits of human knowledge” and discussing specific echoes…

Explores the orthography and meter of "seint(e)" in GP, 120, and elsewhere in Chaucer’s poetry, claiming that "the line is a metrical non-problem," despite the tradition of reading it as irregular, in need of emendation, or troubling because of the…

Focuses on the legend of Dido in LGW and compares its representation of Dido in Virgil's "Aeneid," Ovid's "Heroides," and HF. Argues that Dido in LGW desires Aeneas more actively than in other versions and that LGW presents her positively as…

Explores the uses of the Seven Deadly Sins in David Fincher's movie, "Seven" (1995), comparing his treatment of the sins with that of Thomas Aquinas; includes discussion of how, in the film, attrition rather than contrition is involved, exemplifying…

Focuses on the forms and role of antitheses in MLT.

Examines the depiction of the Pardoner in PardT as a reflection of Chaucer's own ideas about spirituality. Contends that Chaucer's portraits of the religious pilgrims in GP showcase several types of spirituality and argues that the poet seems to…

Shows that the humor of applying the phrase" flower of chivalry" to Sir Thopas (Tho 7.901-2) results from Chaucer's change of a "traditionally metaphoric phrase into a literal one."

Contends that Th is an entertaining, nonpedagogical story written for children, the earliest example in English literature. Explores how details of the tale might appeal to a young audience and posits that its manuscript layout was "calculated to…

Considers intertextual relations between Petrarch's "Africa" and Cicero's "Somnium Scipionis" as dream visions, focusing on the medieval poet's developments of the ancient poet's concern with fame and contempt for the world. Closes with comments on…

Proposes connections between the CT--especially Chaucer's Plowman, the apocryphal Plowman's Tale, and RvT--and ideas about food supply. Provides an overarching argument that anxieties about farming and the politics of how food was distributed in late…

Assesses Hyapatia Lee's "Ribald Tales of Canterbury" as "quasi-medieval erotica" and a conventional example of pornography from the "golden age" of porn films (1970s and early 1980s). Then discusses evidence from the film and from an autobiography…

Unlike Constance in Trevet and Gower, Custance in MLT does not speak with her would-be rapist; further, she immediately struggles with him and receives divine aid in overcoming him. Asserts that Chaucer's treatment of this scene demonstrates…

Explores Chaucer's idea of "gossip" in TC (and elsewhere), especially as it relates to literature and Criseyde's reputation, examining more extensively Henryson's emphasis on malice rather than idle speech and its relationship with "literary…

Translates into modern English verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) the initial tale of Farid Al-Din Attar's story collection "Elahi-Nameh" (Persian, twelfth century), an analogue to MLT.

Suggests that in TC 1.531-32 Troilus is referring to Tristan as a much-rhymed-about fool in love, adducing evidence of general familiarity with Tristan's foolishness in John Gower, Robert Mannyng, and PF.

Argues that while quotations of Austen in the revised OED have increased in number overall, those of female authors are still extraordinarily low when compared to the canonical literary male authors: Shakespeare (c. 33,000), Walter Scott (c. 15,000),…

Examines Chaucer's use of dream visions and the "Somniale" tradition as contrasted with that of the Harley scribe. While Chaucer is suspicious, the Harley scribe uses the tradition as a source of knowledge. Includes an edition and translation of…