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A pendant is usually conjectured to be a "penner," a pencase, emblematic of the poet's profession. It is, however, more likely to be an ampulla, a lead vial supposedly containing blood from the martyr of Saint Thomas of Canterbury.

The pendant in the Ellesmere and Hoccleve portraits of Chaucer is a "penner" (not an ampulla, as previously argued), referring specifically to Chaucer as a writer. The penner, coupled with the rosary held by the poet in a number of portraits,…

It is not likely that Chaucer links the topaz primarily with chastity in naming his knight Thopas. Rather, the poet uses the superlative reputation of the topaz as brightest of gems in a general chivalric context.

Both NPT and Gower's "Vox clamantis" merge the figure of the crowing cock with the figures of the preacher and the poet, a response by each poet to the social challenges of the so-called Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Chaucer's ironic identification of…

The poet juxtaposes the narrator's dream to a summary of the "Somnium Scipionis," reconciling Venus and Nature, and resolving the strain of living in a world of abstract thought and human experience.

Both ClT and Marie de France's "Fresne" examine the themes of patience and obedience. Although the descriptions of Griselda and Fresne are strikingly similar, the style and perspective of the tales differ. In Chaucer's "lavish and masterful" style,…

A series of literary portraits, each combining biography and appreciative criticism. The section on Chaucer, entitled "Founder of English Literature" (pp. 17-31), emphasizes his careers in business and diplomacy, his poetic "borrowings," and his…

Argues that "late medieval dream poets viewed writing as a serious means of therapy, capable of healing both psychological and physiological ailments." Includes discussion of HF where Chaucer combines "performative humor" and "strong sensory imagery"…

Authorial development from pastoral toward epic provides a universal creative basis, analogous to the human life span and close to nature. Assesses works by Plato, Virgil, Chaucer (BD), Milton, and Vladimir Nabokov (as lepidopterist).

Argues that evidence of female readership drawn from the Paston letters indicates familiarity with works by Chaucer and by Lydgate, as well as popular spiritual writings, devotional works, hagiographies, and chivalric treatises. Emphasizes the…

Compares usage of the different past forms of "see" in the Hengwrt and Ellesmere manuscripts to identify Chaucer's original forms as distinguished from the scribes' later alternations. In Japanese.

Uses Chaucer (selections from CT) and Langland to contextualize "patient heroism" in medieval romances, especially "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."

Offers six essays that treat medieval texts "as transit systems in which we can glimpse the mobility of objects, figures, mentalities, tropes and other 'matter' in vibrant intermediate networks." For three essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for…

Stockwell and Minkova argue that Chaucer's prosodic innovation is rooted in his familiarity with the "Romance decasyllabic model." The article focuses on duple and triple rhythmic units, suggesting that Chaucer imposed native iambic rhythm on romance…

Discusses the Virtues and Vices miniatures that accompany ParsT in Cambridge University Library, MS Gg.4.27, as they relate to Chaucer's text, in the "context ofmtheir wider medieval iconographic tradition" and the "imagery of affective meditation."…

Surveys scholarship pertaining to ParsT, describing the recent emphasis on interpretation rather than on philology. Identifies a "perspectivist" approach that regards ParsT as equivalent to the other Tales and a "teleological" approach that sees it…

Assesses ParsT in its genre of vernacular penitential manual, demonstrating that in structure and detail it is closely affiliated with Heinrich von Langenstein's "Erchantnuzz der Sund." Similarities between these two contemporary works raise…

An entry on a "boke of schrift" found in a commonplace book compiled by Cheshire gentleman Humphrey Newton (1466-1536) contains the section against swearers and flatterers from ParsT (600-21, 626-27). Humphrey perhaps chose this passage for its…

The indictment of fashionable male clothing in ParsT (10.422-30, "Superbia") is a "homoerotic moment" reflecting the Parson's own "scopophilic" pleasure, although the "turn to the fashionable female neutralizes any homoerotic tendency."

Though often viewed as the most unloved of the CT, ParsT is a fitting climax to the pilgrimage; it is a handbook for the play of the ultimate "sport," the race to salvation.

The Parson offers religious and philosophical consolation by showing how sundered thought, word, and deed are conjoined in the salvific acts of contrition, confession, and satisfaction.

Provides historical background about the English Church in the late fourteenth century, and on several religious controversies, including the "culture of anticlerical complaint and the challenge of Wyclif and the Lollards," that contributed to…

Shows that Friar John of SumT is an "exemplar" of "reversals of apostolic qualities," essential to the anti-fraternalism of the Tale, rooted in the "Roman de la Rose." The description of the division of the fart that concludes the Tale adds to this…

Describes the "pervasive tone" of MilT as "comic irony" and explores how musical imagery contributes to this tone, especially through incongruous juxtapositions of profundity and profanity. Includes discussion of Nicholas's Annunciation song…

Chaucer's uses of parliamentary terminology throughout KnT, but especially in Saturn's counsel to Venus and in Theseus's "First Mover" speech, establish a parallel between divine and human realms, revealing "the abuse of power and authority" in…