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Patristic Exegesis in the Criticism of Medieval Literature: The Opposition.
Donaldson, E. Talbot.
Dorothy Bethurum, ed. Critical Approaches to Medieval Literature: Selected Papers from the English Institute, 1958-59 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960), pp. 1-26.
Challenges patristic criticism for its claim that medieval literature is univocally concerned with asserting Christian "caritas" allegorically, arguing instead that poetry has a right to "say what it means and mean what it says." Illustrates the…
Patristic Exegesis in the Criticism of Medieval Literature: The Defense.
Kaske, R. E.
In Dorothy Bethurum, ed. Critical Approaches to Medieval Literature: Selected Papers from the English Institute, 1958-59 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960), pp. 27-60.
Exemplifies the wide-ranging importance of "exegetical tradition" in explicating images and allusions in medieval literature, drawing examples from "Piers Plowman," from the Summoner's taste for garlic, onions, and leeks (GP 1.634), and from various…
Folklore, Myth, and Ritual.
Utley, Francis Lee.
Dorothy Bethurum, ed. Critical Approaches to Medieval Literature: Selected Papers from the English Institute, 1958-59 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960), pp. 83-109.
Examines critical opinions about the presence of mythic, folkloric, and ritualistic images and allusions in medieval English literature, commenting on various works and critical views of them: "Beowulf," "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," accounts of…
Classical Fable and English Poetry in the Fourteenth Century.
Green, Richard Hamilton.
Dorothy Bethurum, ed. Critical Approaches to Medieval Literature: Selected Papers from the English Institute, 1958-59 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960), pp. 110-33.
Summarizes theories and meanings of conventional mythographic images and allusions in medieval literature, derived from classical fables and allegorized in late-classical and medieval commentaries on such fables. Includes comments on the allusion to…
Chaucer and Dante.
Schless, Howard.
Dorothy Bethurum, ed. Critical Approaches to Medieval Literature: Selected Papers from the English Institute, 1958-59 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960), pp. 132-54.
Advocates a "contextual" approach to source study, arguing that several discussions of Dante's influence on Chaucer depend upon weak correspondences, better treated as shared tradition than direct influence. Discusses the lists of lovers in PF and…
On Translating Ovid in Chaucer's "House of Fame."
Bevington, David M.
Notes and Queries 205 (1960): 129-30.
Addresses Chaucer's translation of Ovid's "portis" ("Metamorphoses" 12.45) as "porters" rather than "portals" in his House of Rumor (HF 1954).
Chaucer's General Prologue, A 497.
Biggins, D.
Notes and Queries 205 (1960): 129-30.
Explores the denotative, connotative, figurative, and ironic implications of the GP description of the Wife of Bath as one who knows "muchel of wandrynge by the weye" (1.497).
Chaucer's General Prologue, A 696-698.
Biggins, D.
Notes and Queries 205 (1960): 93-95.
Clarifies the reference to Christ catching Peter as he sailed in GP 1.696-98, focusing on the figurative meaning of "hente" and its implications regarding the Pardoner's faux relic, Peter's sail-cloth.
Chaucer's "Gentil" Manciple and His "Gentil" Tale.
Birney, Earle.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 61 (1960): 257-67.
Explores details, emphases, ironies, and double ironies in the GP description of the Manciple and in ManPT, characterizing him as "shrewd," "smug," and "indiscrete"--a "successful rascal" who aspires to "gentil" status, is "insecure," and overly…
The Inhibited and Uninhibited: Ironic Structure in the "Miller's Tale."
Birney, Earle.
Neophilologus 44 (1960): 333-38.
Explores the diction and imagery of MilT, focusing on oral and olfactory instances for the ways that they ironically anticipate details of the plot, particularly the misdirected kiss received by Absolon and colter-burn he directs at Nicholas.
The Squire's Yeoman.
Birney, Earle.
Review of English Literature 1.3 (1960): 9-18.
Explores the GP description of the Yeoman, affiliating him with the Squire rather than with the Knight, and concentrating on details of his dress and equipage that contribute to a "sense of gay holiday panoply" associated with the Squire.
Chaucer's "Troilus" as an Elizabethan "Wanton Book."
Bowers, R. H.
Notes and Queries 205 (1960): 370-71.
Identifies several sixteenth-century statements of censorship of romances (one that mentions TC) and describes several early modern "justifications" for the "perennial itch to censor."
Fals Eneas and Sely Dido.
Bradley, D. R.
Philological Quarterly 39 (1960): 122-25.
Adduces details and emphases in Virgil's "Aeneid" to suggest that Chaucer used it directly in composing his Dido legend in LGW, though perhaps in combination with parallel sources.
The Parlement of Foulys.
Brewer, D. R., ed.
London and Edinburgh: Nelson, 1960.
An edition of PF based on University of Cambridge Library MS Gg.4.27, with end-of-text textual and explanatory notes, modern punctuation, and original spelling. The Introduction (pp. 1-68) presents the poem as the "best of Chaucer's shorter poems,"…
In Search of Chaucer.
Bronson, Bertrand H.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1960.
Engages several critical approaches to Chaucer works and incorporates them into appreciative commentaries, with particular attention to the poet's "habit of working" or process of composition, his narrative techniques (not inorganic, but…
The Shorter Poems of Geoffrey Chaucer.
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,…
Chaucer and the Mediaeval Sciences.
Curry, Walter Clyde.
New York: Barnes & Noble, 1960.
Revises slightly the author's 1926 study of the same title (Oxford University Press), here adding two essays, also previously published: "Destiny in Troilus and Criseyde" (1930) and "Arcite's Intellect" (1930). The enlarged edition also updates the…
A Critical History of English Literature.
Daiches, David.
New York: Ronald; London: Secker & Warburg 1960.
Describes Chaucer as the "brilliant culmination of Middle English literature," commending his "metrical craftsmanship" in English, his "European consciousness," and his "relaxed, quizzical attitude that let him contemplate the varieties of human…
Eighteen Lines of Chaucer's "Prologue."
Danby, John F.
Critical Quarterly 2 (1960): 28-32.
Comments on stylistic and tonal aspects of GP 1.1-18, focusing on their harmonious energy and "generalized vocabulary." Also comments Chaucer's sympathetic irony elsewhere in GP.
Structural Irony within the "Summoner's Tale."
Birney, Earle.
Anglia 78 (1960): 204-18.
Examines "ironic foreshadowings, ambiguities and reversals" in SumT, arguing that they give it "a subtle and satisfying unity." Focuses on overturned expectations, dramatic ironies, and poetic justice in the plot, in the friar's lecture to Thomas,…
Young Hugh of Lincoln and Chaucer's "The Prioress's Tale."
Boyd, Beverly
Radford Review 14 (1960): 1-5.
Discusses unity in PrP, PrT, and the GP description of the Prioress, focusing on their liturgical references and allusions: the canonical hours, the Prioress's "service dyvyne" (1.122), and the plea for aid from Hugh of Lincoln at the end of the tale…
Literary Satire in the "House of Fame."
David, Alfred.
PMLA 75 (1960): 333-39.
Examines HF as a literary satire, a comic send-up of the love vision genre, evident in the naiveté of the narrator and his failure to attain love or information about it. The poem's "central structural idea" is "comic disillusionment," underscored by…
The Comic in Theory and Practice.
Enck, John J., Elizabeth T. Forter, and Alvin Whitley, eds.
New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1960.
Textbook anthology of "theories and examples of the comic" that includes John Dryden's adaptation of NPT under the title "The Cock and the Fox or, The Tale of the Nun's Priest," attributing it to Chaucer.
Horse or Horses: A Chaucerian Textual Problem.
Ethel, Garland.
Modern Language Notes 75.2 (1960): 97-101.
Considering grammar, context, and manuscript evidence, argues that "hors" is singular in the GP description of the Knight (GP 1.74).
The Philosophre of Chaucer's Parson.
Fox, Robert C.
Modern Language Notes 75.2 (1960): 101-02.
Suggests that "Philosophre" at ParsT 10.536 refers to Seneca and his "De Ira."