Browse Items (16035 total)

Two allusions to birds of mythology suggest the "conflicts of signification" in TC; their ambiguity makes the reader "an active participant in the poem."

Assesses Theseus of LGW as a "superlative of falseness," arguing that the figure, more so than the Theseus of KnT or its classical precedents, influenced Marlowe and Nash'’s "Dido, Queen of Carthage" and, subsequently, Shakespeare's "A Midsummer…

Analyzes the development of th- forms of pronouns (as opposed to h- forms), suggesting that they have less to do with Scandinavian influence than with linguistic generalization and assimilation.

The "illocutionary" system of the narration in CT is organized into six levels based on two criteria: direct communication between literary personae standing at the same illocutionary level and transferred communication between different levels.

Chaucer employed color adjectives more extensively than did his contemporaries. He preferred basic colors and used them most in connection with human beings. Chaucer's most "colorful" poem is KnT, followed by Rom and GP. Often, his colors are used…

Two tales in CT define Chaucer's role as an "implied author" and reflect his double vocation as a poet and diplomat. Th is a "brilliant example of his mastery as a poet"; Mel expresses his "ideological premises," anticipating the closing of the…

Surveys Chaucer's various metaphoric uses of animals, from "simple and conventional ideas about animals to throw light on man" to more elaborated or developed characterizations through more detailed comparisons.

Robertson encourages feminist critics to confront "the complexities of the relationship between women and religion" in Chaucer's religious tales, for "what appear in these tales to be extremes of female suffering and violence against women are…

Uses principles of Kenneth Burke's rhetoric of form to analyze NPT, commenting on aspects of its progressions (syllogistic, inverted, and repetitive), aspects of its genre conventions, and examples of its rhetorical ornamentation.

According to a theological tradition of the late Middle Ages, gluttony included swearing, blasphemy, sorcery, witchcraft, and devil worship, as well as excessive eating and drinking.

Interprets details of FrT in light of contemporaneous social commentaries to clarify nuances of irony, sarcasm, and criticism of the Summoner.

Studies the "York Memorandum Book" for examples of the ways Latin, French, and English "intertwined" in medieval England. Rothwell opens with commentary on the vocabulary of a passage from MLP in which Chaucer "Englishes" several French words and…

Reinforces studies of structural and thematic order in KnT, identifying a threefold pattern of ordering principles: a backdrop natural order of cycles, rituals, folk customs; the noble social ordering of chivalry and tournament; and the universal,…

Examines the semantics of approximately fifty words that signify "benevolence and malevolence within courtly contexts in the works of Chaucer," exploring them diachronically and attending to "extralinguistic" factors in order to pursue a "literary…

Subjectivity and a sense of the importance of the inner self and the individual developed gradually from the early Middle Ages to the seventeenth century. Nothing is altogether new in the stunning early-modernist sense of a vast, inner world of the…

The lack of a clearcut distinction between connotative and denotative associations of words, as well as the looseness of syntactical patterns in Middle English, forces us to focus on the rhetorical arrangement of ideas and words--repetition, balance,…

Chaucer's canon evolved alongside a substantial body of virtually contemporary apocryphal texts attributed to him. But before the end of the last century, judgment concerning a text's authenticity was often indebted to extratextual biases: the…

Twenty-eight essays by various authors. For six essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Aspects of the History of the English Language and Literature under Alternative Title.

Considers the influence of Boethius's "Consolatione," with its medieval glosses, on Old French and Middle English literature, especially Jean de Meun's "Roman de la Rose" and Chaucer's MkT (Croesus, Nero), Bo, KnT, and TC.

Concepts of time in nonliterate, oral traditions differ from those in literate, written traditions. Examines timing and logical linearity in ShT (pp. 234-39).

CT exhibits tension between the corporate nature of medieval society and the domestic impulses of an "inner-directed society," in which the emergence of the poet is an important aspect of assertion of the self. In GP, the narrator signals irony. …

Presents Chaucer's Wife of Bath and James Joyce's Molly Bloom as counter-cultural figures, from the perspective of their characters, their views of man-woman relationships, and their sexuality. Contrasts the different forms of expression of their…

Rejects psychological characterizations of Troilus and Criseyde, arguing that they are better seen in light of rhetorical and devotional traditions. Associates Troilus with the ethos of petition and devotion and Criseyde with the pathos.

Considers Astr and three other treatises on the astrolabe, exploring what they reflect about medieval notions of time.

Surveys Chaucer's works for evidence of his knowledge and acceptance of astronomy and astrology. Argues that he uses astrological allegory as a structural device in his poetry.