Browse Items (15544 total)

Argues that in his "mature work" and in "the service of greater realism," Chaucer used rhetoric "dramatically rather than ornamentally." Then gauges the degree of appropriateness of tales to tellers in light of the percentage of rhetoric in a given…

Reviews studies of Criseyde's character by G. L. Kittredge, George Mizener, and C. S. Lewis, and argues that she is "the finger pointing in accusation against the code of courtly love." She shows us that "we mortals are fools to think that by our…

A teaching edition that includes BD, HF, PF, TC, LGWP-F and the legend of Cleopatra, CT (without Mel or ParsT), and eight short lyrics (Ros, Adam, Gent, Truth, Sted, Scog, Buk, and Purse), with bottom-of-page notes and glosses, and a glossarial…

Observes a variety of astrological and sexual puns, allusions, and emphases in Troilus's address to Criseyde's house ("paraclausithyron"), distancing the reader from Troilus's grief and emphasizing sensual love.

Describes scholarly accomplishments and critical trends in Chaucer studies between 1940 and 1968—editions, source-and-analogue studies, and psychological, theological, and philosophical approaches. Explores the concept of the doubleness in love (two…

Assesses the functions of prologues in Middle English literature, commenting on nuances of "prohemye," "prefacyon," ”preamble," etc., and exploring how prefatory works "disorganiz[e] the categories of center and periphery, 'theoria' and 'praxis'."…

Provides a history of vernacular writing in English from ca. 1300-1500, reducing traditional emphasis on the importance of Chaucer and his works by adding complementary emphasis on religious writing--Lollard and anti-Lollard, "Piers Plowman," works…

Considers cities as a "mode of thought" for critical analysis, describing a walk-through pedestrian perspective and a from-on-high omniscient perspective in late-medieval English works that include "The Stores of the Cities," "St. Erkenwald," and HF,…

Explores Middle English nuances of a set of related concepts: class, estate, identity, calling, and "clayme," investigating them in light of Pauline distinctions between use and possession and between old and new, discussed by Giorgio Agamben.…

Describes sovereignty in CT (particularly ParsT) as "a legitimate means of exercising power, distributed hierarchically but founded on the idea of mutual responsibility and equality in the eyes of God." Explores how, in light of this concept,…

Considers the value and possible necessity of periodization in history and literary history, focusing on particular difficulties in dealing with the use of "middle" in "Middle Ages" and "Middle English," and arguing that treatments of Chaucer, Gower,…

Summarizes traditional historical arguments for the centrality of Chaucer in the formation of the canon of Middle English literature, identifying "identical aesthetic qualities between Chaucer and the modern" as fundamental to this perspective, and…

Assesses relations between the "idealizing tendencies" of formalist literary studies and the practicalities of studies in book history, reading PF as a "Chaucerian theory of the book" that is similar to the theory of Maurice Blanchot. Explores how a…

Outlines an "ethnography of reading" and describes "audienceship" as a field of study of "how people actually read (and heard) texts," including examples drawn from Chaucer's fiction and its reception. Closes with a brief survey of reading and…

Describes classical and medieval concerns with authorial intention and readerly control, commenting on Dante, the "Roman de la Rose," Hoccleve, and Lydgate in particular, and exploring how and where in HF Chaucer "puts in the spotlight the…

Describes "critical animal studies"; then examines human-animal relations in PrT and NPT, arguing that the Prioress's "selective sympathy for certain animals" in her GP description "forecasts her narrow sympathy for certain humans" in her Tale. NPT,…

Theorizes "public interiorities" in terms of literary voice, Augustinian self-awareness, and Jürgen Habermus's conceptualization of the "public sphere," discussing them as expressions or perceptions of stances or outlooks that are neither universal…

Argues that "Desire-as-impasse is the human condition" in KnT, exploring how readers' "reading backward" from the end of the tale—seeking to fulfill the "desire for signification"—parallels the efforts of Arcite and Palamon to articulate their own…

Twenty-six chapters by various authors, with an Introduction by the editor in which she emphasizes diverse theoretical approaches to Middle English studies and observes that Chaucer's texts "foreground the idea that readers construct texts" (3).…

Distinguishes between modern views of rocks as mere objects and medieval understanding of their "virtues," agency, and exemplary value, raising questions about objects in nature and in art. Assesses the tale of the cock and the rock in Robert…

A popular history of the George Inn, Southwark, located next to where the Tabard once stood. Includes various references to the Tabard Inn in history and in CT, and includes a chapter called "The Poet’s Tale, Or, How English Literature Was Born in a…

Describes aspects of Chaucer's life that indicate that he had training in law or familiarity with it, and explores the legal language and details of GP, arguing that the Host's "responsibility for the pilgrims reflects the law of innkeeper's…

Discusses inquisition and "examination in the ecclesiastical courts" for the ways that they, like confession, help to disclose the development of interiority as an aspect of medieval selfhood, discussing literary works such as "Dives and Pauper,"…

Includes lyrics from a portion of Ros (lines 1–7, 15), translated into Modern English by Forrest Hainline.

Surveys literary depictions of economic ideals and economic abuses among the aristocracy in ParsT; Form Age; Wynnere and Wastoure"; "Piers Plowman"; and works by Gower, Hoccleve, and Lydgate, focusing on the "portrayal of lords and rulers, both as…