Browse Items (16110 total)

Analyzes the text of BD found in the 1807 collected edition "The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer," showing "that it is fair to consider the work a new edition," based on John Urry's 1721 edition of BD and loosely following Thomas Tyrwhitt's…

Corrects a line number in the citation of CYT in the "OED" definition of "point," and comments on Chaucer's punning use of the term.

Maintains that Chaucer in TC and Shakespeare in "Troilus and Cressida" present love as detached from history or topicality, depicting it through irresolvable plural discourses--Platonic, Petrarchan, courtly love-sickness, and more--and thereby…

Defines "pronominatio" and traces its background in medieval rhetorical handbooks; then surveys instances in the works of Chaucer, Gower, and Skelton, analyzing individual uses that convey either praise or censure given to characters by associating…

Argues that Prov, although attributed to Chaucer in medieval manuscripts and in the Riverside Chaucer, contains verse forms not found elsewhere in Chaucer's oeuvre.

Reconsiders the toponym "Pullesdon" as a location in archival records that pertain to Chaucer, Philippa, and their patrons Lionel and Elizabeth, exploring possibilities for the location and implications concerning Philippa and Elizabeth.

Comments on the ambiguity of the phrase "a finch eek koude he pulle," a detail in the GP description of the Summoner (CT 1.652).

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…

Discusses briefly the Wife of Bath's use of mercantile language to help launch an assessment of such language in women's writing from Margery Kempe and the Paston women to Aphra Behn.

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…

Traces the known facts about Chaucer's life and career, thereby showing him to be a man of wide-ranging interests, immersed in the opening world of the early European Renaissance. Claims that Chaucer is a cosmopolite, far removed from the narrow,…