Rex, Richard.
Richard Rex. "The Sins of Madame Eglentyne" and Other Essays on Chaucer (Newark, N.J.: University of Delaware Press; London: Associated University Presses, 1995), pp. 95-129
Examines historical and literary backgrounds of details in the GP sketch of the Prioress to argue that Chaucer leads us to judge her harshly. In her dress, mannerisms,and actions, the Prioress "is characterized by false piety and hypocrisy,and she…
Kamowski, William.
Religion and Literature 25 (1993): 1-18.
Argues that fragment III of CT is a coherent, extended critique of corruption of the sacrament of penance. WBT provides a "model for how penance should be practiced," while FrT and SumT reflect abuse of the sacrament through economic and…
Amtower, Laurel, and Dorothea Kehler, eds.
Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2003.
Eleven essays by various authors on topics ranging from Anglo-Norman literature to early modern portraiture and drama. For two essays that pertain to Chaucer, of this volume.
Examines four Middle English romances against a backdrop of late-medieval penitential doctrine and practice, and assesses the presence of penitential motifs in several more. The major penitential romances--Guy of Warwick, Sir Ysumbras, Sir Gowther,…
Escobedo treats Chaucer as a link between Spenser and Plato and considers choice a crucial value in PF. Also notes that MerT shows that "mastery cannot compel love" (196).
Flavin argues that Milton may have been influenced by Chaucer: like Chauntecleer in NPT, Milton's Eve ignores her prophetic dream and falls victim to flattery. Milton's Adam is also similar to Chauntecleer in passionate submission to beauty.
Hilberry, Jane Elizabeth.
Dissertation Abstracts International 50 (1989): 935A.
By giving a voice to the shrewish Wife of Bath and to Katherine of Padua, Chaucer and Shakespeare demonstrate their grasp (if not their personal views) of the proper role of gender in the ancient debate. Treats "Othello," "King Lear," "Measure for…
The warning concerning silence in ManT derives from its penultimate position in CT and from the concept that real pilgrims are struck dumb on approaching the Holy Land (a theme echoed in Dante and de Lille). The Parson refuses to tell a tale, not…
McKinley, Kathryn L.
Chaucer Review 30 (1996): 359-78.
The old hag's curtain lecture, which changes the knight from selfish to selfless, is made possible through the romance genre. The silence of the knight signifies "radical freedom," not the end of an "authentic personality."
Kurtz, Diane Gray.
Dissertation Abstracts International 36 (1976): 6116A.
In TC idolatrous love is rationalized by being conceived as one of the workings of nature. By Chaucer's time the Augustinian view of the valuelessness of temporal activities had been modified so that St. Thomas Aquinas could attach positive value to…
Caie, Graham D.
Stig Johansson and Bjorn Tysdahl, eds. Papers from the First Nordic Conference for English Studies. Oslo, 17-19 September, 1980 (Oslo: University of Oslo, Institute of English Studies, 1981), pp. 25-34.
CT glosses often act as commentary and provide source of quotation; they are not mere insertions by scribes or mere source reference.
Glosses to the early manuscripts of CT may be read as important commentaries on the text. In particular glosses to WBT point out the wife's misquotations and, ultimately, her spiritual deafness to the New Law and the deeper meaning of marriage.
Morgan, Gerald.
Yearbook of English Studies 9 (1979): 221-35.
The ironic treatment of the lovers in Book III may be clarified by examining representations of "charitas" and "cupiditas." Chaucer juxtaposes them throughout the poem and with special effect in the proem and aubades of Book III. His use and…
Da Rold, Orietta.
Chaucer Review 41 (2007): 393-438.
Systematic analysis of corrections disproves the notion that the Dd scribe was either careless or meddling, suggesting instead that his corrections were executed in the course of checking his copying against his exemplar. The remaining corrections…
Caie, Graham D.
David Lyle Jeffrey, ed. Chaucer and Scriptural Tradition (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1984), pp. 75-88.
Puzzling marginal glosses in Ellesmere, Hengwrt, and Cambridge Dd.4.24 may be intended to guide interpretation, as was customary even in vernacular texts. Accepted as integral to the text for a century, glosses serve various purposes in MLT, glossed…
Wood, Chauncey.
English Studies 52 (1971): 116-18.
Considers Chaucer's alterations to the source passage in "Roman de la Rose" for the GP description of the Squire, apparently modified by a sequence of details found in Henry of Lancaster's "Livre de Seyntz Medicines."
Owen, Charles A., Jr.
Modern Philology 55.1 (1957): 1-5.
Explores how several of Chaucer's putative additions to or revisions of TC (posited by R. K. Root) strengthen the poem's structural and thematic symmetry.
Edwards, Robert R., ed.
Middle English Texts. Kalamazoo, Mich. : Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, 2001.
A teaching edition of "The Siege of Thebes," with introduction, marginal glosses, textual and explanatory notes, select bibliography, and glossary. The introduction and notes clarify Lydgate's engagement with KnT, the frame of CT, and TC and discuss…
Stocker, David.
T. A. Heslop and V. A. Sekules, eds. Medieval Art and Architecture at Lincoln Cathedral (London: British Archaeological Association, 1986 (for 1982)).
Stocker's is the first full publication on and attempted reconstruction of the shrine of the child invoked at the end of PrT. The shrine is associated with Edward I's royal propaganda.
Carter, Thomas H.
Shenandoah: The Washington & Lee University Review 11.3 (1960): 48-60.
Offers impressionistic appreciation of ways that Chaucer "naturalized and made his own the continental traditions," with particular attention to the conventions of courtly love. Comments on a range of short poems: ABC, Mars, Ros, FormAge, Scog, Buk,…
Surveys English literature from the Old English period to "Post-War and Post-Modern Literature," including a chronology and a comprehensive index. The section on Chaucer (pp. 55-63) emphasizes his "delight in the concept of cosmic, natural, and human…
Figg, Kristen Mossler.
New York and London: Garland, 1994.
Assesses the nature and quality of Froissart's short poems: lays, chansons royales, pastourelles, ballades, virelays, and rondeaux, providing texts and commentary. The Introduction includes a survey of scholarship about Froissart's influence on…
Ibrahim, Yasmin.
Notes and Queries 264 (2019): 510-12.
Confronts as an "orthographic paradox" Scribe B’s uses of "Þt," arguing that the "short form is not specific to the orthography of the exemplar but generic to all variants" of the word "that."
