Johnston, Everett C.
Language Quarterly 1 (1962): 17-20.
Discusses the uses of “familiar ‘thou’ and polite ‘ye’” by the major characters in TC, demonstrating that, in general, Chaucer “observed the mode of his day in the use of the pronoun of address,” and offering hypotheses about…
Argues that FranT is one of Chaucer "satiric masterpieces" and that it reveals "how ludicrously and inadequately the Franklin grasps the essence of gentle behavior." The Franklin is well intended, but the morality and reasoning of his Tale are…
Parodies GP, featuring twenty-nine character sketches of people who intend to travel together to Pokerbury, a site for gambling, planning to tell tales along the way. Modern professions include the Broker, the Dentist, the Scientist, etc.
Alexander, Michael, and Mary Alexander.
Harlow: Longman; London: York, 2005.
Study guide to GP that includes a synopsis, commentary, and glosses (text not included, except for three passages in Middle English for closer analysis--lines 1-18, 118-62 [Prioress], and 331-60 [Franklin]). Also includes descriptions of Chaucer's…
Cunningham, John E., ed.
Middlesex: Penguin, 1985.
Classroom text of GP in Middle English with facing-page notes, study-guide Introduction, a brief glossary, and brief bibliography. The Introduction includes commentary on Chaucer's life, the "Framework" of CT, "how to read" Chaucer, and "Further…
Limited edition (210 copies), photo-litho facsimile of GP from British Library copy of William Caxton's 1476 first edition, with facing-page modern translation by Nevill Coghill, two original wood engravings (a portrait of Chaucer and the Knight…
Spraycar, Rudy S.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 81 (1980): 142-49.
The spring opening of GP may reflect Alain de Lille's concepts in "De Planctu Naturae," indicating the connection between nature's amorous regeneration and man's need for spiritual renewal.
Blake, N. F.
Norman Blake and Peter Robinson, eds. The Canterbury Tales Project Occasional Papers, Volume II (London: King's College, Office of Humanities Communications, 1997), pp. 5-14.
Describes a system of lineation for consistent citation of all materials relating to the textual history of CT, not only lines generally accepted as genuine but also all spurious and contested lines, including spurious tales. Explains the need for…
Paige, Linda Rohrer.
Tennessee Philological Bulletin 23 (1986): 22 (abstract).
The progress of the Wife in the battle of the sexes illustrates progressive development of selfhood. Older and wiser, she sees that sovereignty mishandled has negative results. WBT shows that a woman must make concessions to make a marriage…
Singh, Devani.
Digital Philology 9.2 (2020): 177–98; 4 color illus.
Explains the important place in the tradition of Chaucer portraiture of John Speed's engraving made for Thomas Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's "Workes". Comments on relations with the manuscript portrait of Chaucer that accompanies Thomas…
Horobin, Simon.
Elaine Treharne and Greg Walker, with the assistance of William Green, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Literature in English (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. 57-67.
Horobin surveys "complex and contradictory" evidence for the professionalization of writing in England in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, with comments on Chaucer's scribes (including Adam Pinkhurst), Thomas Hoccleve, and others.
Assesses Hoccleve's use of an "enfeebled persona" as a means to compete seriously with the "tasteful silences" of Chaucer and the "guilty fulminations" of Langland on the topic of vernacular poetic identity. Compares Hoccleve's "Male Regle" with…
Blake, Norman F.
Antonio R. Celada, Daniel Pastor García, and Pedro Javier Pardo García, eds. Actas del XXVII Congreso Internacional de AEDEAN = Proceedings of the 27th International AEDEAN Conference (Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca, 2004), n.p. CD-Rom.
Proposes that Chaucer probably started with a provisional notion of the overall order of CT, which he experimented with, adjusted, and had not completely sorted out before he died. The scribes copied the text in stints as the best way to adapt…
Doyle, A. I.,and M. B. Parkes.
M. B. Parkes and Andrew G. Watson, eds. Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts & Libraries: Essays Presented to N. R. Ker (London: Scolar, 1978), pp. 163-210.
The various works of the five scribes of Trinity College, Cambridge, MS. R.3.2, a Gower collection, suggest that the London book trade before the advent of printing relied on special orders rather than mass production. Scribes B and D produced the…
Gillespie, Alexandra, and Daniel Wakelin, eds.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
A collection of essays addressing the history of the book, manuscript studies, culture, and history of late medieval England. For two essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Production of Books in England under Alternative Title.
Murphy, Ann B.
The Centennial Review 28:3 (1984): 204-22.
The Wife's personality develops through five marriages from a materialistic, mercantile desire for power and wealth to "an earthly form of spiritual transformation through marital love." WBP traces how Allison learns to love and to stop equating…
Kang, Du-Hyoung.
Journal of English Language and Literature (Korea) 37 (1991): 825-41.
NPT subverts the idea of tragedy reflected in MkT, and KnT counterpoints its tragic view of fate. Diverse and comprehensive in his outlook, Chaucer is not content with a simple formula.
Crocker, Holly A.
Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies 16, no. 1 (2016): 146-52.
Reconsiders the periodizations that separate medieval and early modern studies, focusing on "'premodern humanism' as a critical problem" and the "anthropocentric fantasy" of the "nonhuman–human divide." Includes comments on the privileging of…
Whereas the GP portrait of the Prioress raises questions about the operation of performances in general, we see in PrPT the efficacy of performative utterances in particular. Details of the boy's murder and postmortem singing demonstrate that the…
Bloomfield Morton W.
Burns, Norman T., and Christopher J. Reagan, eds. Concepts of the Hero in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Papers of the Fourth and Fifth Annual Conferences of the Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton, 2-3 May 1970, 1-2 May 1971 (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1975), pp. 27-48.
Documents the "absence of a true charismatic hero who is valiant and noble" in the literature of medieval western Europe, commenting on a wide variety of works, including those by Chaucer, and attributing the late-medieval "retreat from heroism" to a…
