Investigates what makes TC "so alive for us today," assessing the poem's psychologically rich depictions of the characters' (including the narrator's) engagements with their own experiences and their detachments from them. Tinged with…
Edwards, A. S. G.
Studies in Bibliography 41 (1988): 177-88.
Examination of the twelve manuscripts of Anel suggests that the work is not incomplete but rather two separate poems. Only the Complaint (lines 211-350 in modern texts) is Chaucerian; the narrative (which follows the Complaint in some manuscripts)…
Baltzer, Rebecca A., Thomas Cable, and James I Wimsatt, eds.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991.
Five essays, and introduction, and a commentary on accompanying musical selections survey the interdependence of music and poetry in Provencal and medieval French and English: in the troubadour tradition, Old English poetry, French "formes fixes,"…
Grossi, Joseph L., Jr.
Chaucer Review 36 (2002): 298-309.
Grossi compares details of SNT with Jacob of Voragine's version in the "Golden Legend" and the Franciscan "abridgement" of the life of Saint Cecilia, arguing that Chaucer "sought to widen the intellectual divide between Roman paganism and primitive…
Harrington, David V.
Discourse: A Review of the Liberal Arts 8 (1965): 80-89.
Argues that the satire in NPT is "better interpreted as general satire of Chaucer's age" than attributed to the character of the Nun's Priest. So-called "dramatic" readings of the tale falter because, for example, its "gentle satire of courtliness is…
Kerr, John.
Stephen Gersh and Bert Roest, eds. Medieval and Renaissance Humanism: Rhetoric, Representation, and Reform (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2003), 185-202.
In HF, Chaucer poses "epistemological instability" as a condition of the sublunar realm, which he characterizes as hellish through associations with Proserpina in her triple manifestation, references to Claudian, and allusions to Virgil and Dante.
Taylor, Paul Beekman.
English Studies 72 (1991): 209-18.
Chaucer's knights reflect three errors in their service of love: (1) the subjection of women's bodies to male wills for the sake of public order and honor (KnT, FranT, PhyT); (2) the rapine pursuit of women's bodies for pride or lust (MLT, WBT,…
Gaylord, Alan T.
Papers of the Michigan Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters 47 (1962): 613-36.
Surveys readings of PrT as a reflection of the Prioress's GP character, and explores the relations of these readings to dramatic approaches to the CT. Argues that there is "devastating satire" of the Prioress in GP and in PrT: the Tale fits the…
Compares and contrasts Pandarus's wooing of Criseyde (for Troilus) with Diomede's, assessing their patterns and details for the ways they reflect the design of the poem, its concern with time, and the "unchanged character" of Criseyde.
Evaluates the evidence for the proposition that Sercambi wrote two versions of his tales--the "Novelliero" and the "Novelle," arguing that that this evidence is ambiguous and that it offers no concrete support for the notion that Sercambi may have…
Economou, George D.
Ferrante, Joan M., and George D. Economou, eds. In Pursuit of Perfection: Courtly Love in Medieval Literature (Port Washington, NY, Kennikat, 1975), pp. 17-50.
Distinguishes two kinds of love associated with Venus in the Middle Ages, both of them subsets of earthly love: one "legitimate, sacramental, natural, and in harmony with natural law; the other, illegitimate, perverted, selfish, and sinful." Traces…
Elliott, John R., Jr.
Tennessee Studies in Literature 9 (1964): 11-17.
Argues that MerT "characterizes the Merchant" consistently, attributing several "awkward" passages in the Tale to the Merchant's engagement with an ongoing "debate" about marriage and considering his "pretensions" and "intense personal involvement"…
Mosser, Daniel W.
Studies in Bibliography 39 (1986): 112-25.
The description of the manuscript in Manly-Rickert is not wholly dependable; there were two scribes, not three; it was produced by independent craftsmen, not in a shop. The originally intended order of CT is uncertain.
Arrathoon, Leigh A.
Ball State University Forum 25 (1984): 18-40.
The Sara mentioned in MerT may not refer to Sara the wife of Abraham, as is commonly thought, but to Sara of Rages from the book of Tobit--a symbol of ideal marriage and a strong thematic contrast to January and May. The Merchant's late reference…
Gardner, John
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 67 (1968): 594-611.
Surveys theories of why Chaucer altered LGWP from the F-version to the G-version, and seeks to explain "every single change" he made in creating anew a complete, "organic" poem. The revised version better accords with the poet's treatment of love in…
Stock, Lorraine Kochanske.
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 85 (1986): 206-21.
Chaucer creates structural, linguistic, and thematic affinities between the Mayings of Emelye and Arcite. Emelye's Maying implicitly presents her as a flower; her wearing of green clothes suggests both carnal Flora and chaste Diana. Arcite's song…
Slefinger, John.
Essays in Medieval Studies 30 (2014): 155–64.
Explores how the Miller might be interacting with the Wife of Bath when he presents Alisoun, whose description "represents an attempt to control and win the Wife of Bath's sexual attention while undercutting any agency or interiority she may have."
Owen, Charles A.
Modern Language Notes 76 (1961): 392-97.
Offers surmises and suggestions about the number of GP pilgrims, professional groupings of them, and a two-stage "development" of GP--an early set of fourteen descriptions written ca. 1387-88 and a later revision, ca. 1396, that reflects plans for…
Farina, Peter M.
USF Language Quarterly 9.3-4 (1971): 29-32.
Critiques prior attempts to resolve the discrepancy between Chaucer's reference to twenty-nine pilgrims (GP 1.24) and the headcount of those actually mentioned. Focusing on the Prioress's entourage (GP 1.163-64), offers a new resolution that depends…
Iersel, Geert van.
Thea Summerfield and Keith Busby, eds. People and Texts: Relationships in Medieval Literature. Studies Presented to Erik Kooper (Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2007), pp. 111-22.
Examines concern with land ownership in the Tale of Gamelyn in light of contemporary land values and incomes. The audience of the poem may have considered Sir John's division of his property in the poem both legal and morally justified.
