Knapp, Daniel, and Niel K. Snortum.
Champaign, Ill.: National Council of the Teachers of English, 1967. (5778-5782)
Introduces Chaucer's language and its place in English language history, describing his vocabulary (including a list of misleading cognates and obsolete or difficult forms), morphology, grammar, and phonology--all exemplified in the booklet and in…
Schuerer, Hans Jurgen.
Andrew James Johnston, Ethan Knapp, and Margitta Rouse, eds. The Art of Vision: Ekphrasis in Medieval Literature and Culture (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2015), pp. 224-42.
Argues that ekphrasis in MerT is an "engagement with the union of language and the inner senses." In particular, examines "ekphrastic moments . . . between physical expression and the psyche" in Chaucer's treatment of marriage in MerT.
Stillinger, Thomas C.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992.
Stillinger addresses intertextual and formal strategies used by Dante, Boccaccio, and Chaucer "in search of new ways to make a book." The "Vita nuova" explores structures in relation to authority in prose and verse, and "Filostrato" mines the…
Allingham, Anthony.
Dissertation Abstracts International 37 (1977): 5840A.
The "Song of Songs" has received little attention for its influence on other literary works. In two of CT tales, Chaucer exploits the allegorical interpretations of the "Song." The ambiguity of the interpretations in the Christian era made the…
Jamison, Carol Parrish.
Dissertation Abstracts International 54 (1993): 2157A-58A.
In light of Hans Jauss's reception theory, the fabliau can be seen as an evolving genre of social satire with humor deriving from the discrepancy between the behavior of social climbers and society's expectations. Treats Chaucer's fabliaux and…
Coleman, Joyce, Mark Cruse, and Kathryn A. Smith, eds.
Turnhout: Brepols, 2013.
Interdisciplinary anthology focusing on interplay of social and political interactions and medieval French and English illuminated manuscripts produced between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. For one essay that pertains to Chaucer, search for…
Haas, Renate.
Uwe Boker, Manfred Markus, and Ranier Schowerling, eds. The Living Middle Ages: Studies in Mediaeval English Literature and its Tradition. A Festschrift for Karl Heinz Goller. (Stuttgart: Belser, 1989), pp. 319-32.
Considers Furnivall's use of Chaucer and Langland in his teaching at the Working Men's College and analyzes some of his early editions and the political effect of his "pet book" among the EETS English Gilds volumes. Furnivall's endeavors and…
Kempton, Daniel Robert.
Dissertation Abstracts International 39 (1978): 273A-74A.
The Manciple, Physician, and Clerk strain the notion of fictive propriety with their stories. They exploit the storytelling occasion by attempting to come to terms with their estates and the often oppressive audience through replicating conditions…
Brewer, Derek.
Boris Ford, ed. The New Pelican Guide to English Literature, Volume 1, Part 1: Medieval Literature: Chaucer and the Alliterative Tradition (New York and Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1982), pp. 15-39.
Describes the major social institutions and social practices of late-medieval England, identifying their roots, indicating their later developments, and illustrating their features from Middle English literary sources, especially the works of…
Schwartz, Robert B.
Zeitschrift fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik 27 (1979): 43-51.
Damyan is seen as a type of fourteenth-century Robin Hood, who presided over May revels and mated with the May queen, and who was prosecuted under vagrancy laws which Chaucer may have enforced.
In his conduct and dress, the social-climbing Reeve associates himself with the clergy--an association that the Miller recognizes and ridicules unmercifully.
Strohm, Paul.
Piero Boitani and Jill Mann, eds. The Cambridge Chaucer Companion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), pp. 1-18.
Discusses the hierarchical but interdependent social structure of fourteenth-century England, Chaucer's social position and civil career, fourteenth-century literacy, and the "immediate circle" to whom Chaucer's works may be addressed.
Argues that the Frontispiece of the 1420 manuscript of TC (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 61) demonstrates a medieval tradition of textuality that is not only oral and aural but social, and an example of group textuality in which words and…
Bennett, Jim, and Giorgio Strano.
Nuncius: Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science 29 (2014): 179-29; 9 color and b&w figs.
Describes the ownership history and details the physical features of a fourteenth-century English astrolabe in the Koelliker Collection, Milan, assessing its status as the "Chaucer Astrolabe" (here called the "Tomba-Koelliker astrolabe") by gauging…
Rex, Richard.
London: University of Delaware Press; Newark, N.J.: Associated University Presses, 1995.
An anthology of nine essays by Rex, four of which pertain to PrT, revised from previous publications. For five essays that pertain to Chaucer, first printed here, search for Sins of Madame Eglentyne under Alternative Title.
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."
