Condren, Edward Ignatius.
DAI 31.05 (1970): 2338-39A.
Assesses the history and criticism of the concept of courtly love, contending that it is a "complicated metaphor for the poet's commitment to the craft of poetry." Then considers the occasions and philosophical implications of BD, PF, and HF, arguing…
Twelve chapters assess why so many poets have been drawn to Ovid's Metamorphoses as a source of inspiration. Although its intrinsic richness and complexity provided the original impetus for its popularity, its permeation of so much English literature…
The "byjaped fol," to whom Chaucer refers in TC 1.526-32, is not a specific person but rather a mistranslation of Boccaccio's word "musorno," which Chaucer took to refer to a well-known person--a particular "fool"--rather than to the foolish quality…
Wright, Constance S.
Constance S. Wright and Julia Bolton Holloway, eds. Tales Within Tales: Apuleius Through Time: Essays in Honor of Professor Emeritus Richard J. Schoeck (New York: AMS Press, 2000), pp. 55-72.
Compares depictions of Cupid and Psyche in Plato's Phaedrus, Apuleius's Metamorphoses, Origen's Commentary on the Song of Songs, and ClT (Walter and Griselda), noting their different constructions of gender and viewing them as reflections of…
Palmer, R. Barton.
Studies in the Literary Imagination 20 (1987): 23-39.
Palmer reviews modern critical methods (including Robertsonianism) designed to close "the gap between the pastness of ancient texts and the modern context of their reading and analysis."
Huws, Daniel.
National Library of Wales Journal 25:1 (1987): 114-18.
Now renamed NLW MS 21972D, the early-fifteenth-century Merthyr Fragment, containing NPT, is described and compared to other manuscripts. The Merthyr Fragment is about 200 lines of text now visible, in whole or in part, about 20 more than previously…
Friedman, John B.
Marlene Villalobos Hennessy, ed. Tributes to Kathleen L. Scott. English Medieval Manuscripts: Readers, Makers and Illuminators (London: Harvey Miller), pp. 83-100.
CYPT shares details and concerns found in other late medieval and early modern English alchemical treatises, part of the genre of "alchemical autobiography." Like CYPT in considering the function of organic material (especially excrement) in…
An intertextual study of Margery Kempe and May in MerT reveals how language, sex, and money, considered as "media of exchange," affect medieval discourse concerning women and merchants, and especially merchants' wives. All three media are recognized…
Limited art edition (200 copies printed) of MerPT, translated by Nevill Coghill (1960), illustrated by Derek Cousins, and designed by Thomas Simmonds. Coghill's translation is interleaved for comparison with the text from the Ellesmere manuscript,…
Modernizes MerPT in iambic pentameter couplets, with brief notes and facing-page text in Middle English. The introduction (pp. vii-xv) emphasizes the bitter tone of the tale and its satire
Pittock, Malcolm.
Essays in Criticism 17 (1967): 26-40.
Reads MerT as a "striking example" of the "tension between the tale and its teller" insofar as the Merchant fails to understand the "true significance" of the Tale. His "moral perception has been disturbed by anger and by a ludicrous…
The combination of genres in MerT (fabliau, encomium, moral allegory, mock-heroic, and parody) satirizes the social institutions and literary genres within which sex and love are contained and represented. The encomium fuses reality and idealization;…
Irvin, Matthew W.
Studies in the Age Chaucer 40 (2018): 113-53.
Connects "The Prologue and Tale of Beryn" (PTB) with the London Company of Mercers that met at St. Thomas Acon, suggesting that PTB was composed on the occasion of their feast in 1428 or 1430, exploring connections of the poem with John Carpenter,…
Adaptation for the stage of MerT and ShT, framed by introduction by "Chaucer" of the two narrators, who then stand aside and comment on the characters while the action proceeds as drama. In Modern English pentameter couplets; intended "for use in…
Blanch, Robert J., ed.
Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill, 1970.
Textbook edition of MerT, with brief introduction and notes, accompanied by ten selections from previously published criticism of the Tale by various authors, all from the twentieth century. Includes suggestions for student essay topics and "General…
Innes, Sheila, ed.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,2001.
Middle English text of MerPT and the GP description of the Merchant,with notes, glossary, and discussion questions on facing pages. Includes contextual information concerning Chaucer's life, courtly love, and the rest of CT, particularly the…
Hussey, Maurice, ed.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966.
Presents MerPT in Middle English (following Robinson's 1957 edition), with notes and glossary at the end of the text. The Introduction (pp. 1-34) comments on the GP description of the Merchant, the relations between MerT and ClT and between MerT and…
Swan, Richard.
Deddington, Oxfordshire: Philip Allan Updates, 2005.
Student guide to MerPT and the GP description of the Merchant (text included for GP selection only), with general information about CT and reading Chaucer, and more specific discussion of plot, characters, themes, genre, and techniques of MerT.…
King, Pamela M.
Harlow: Longman; London: York Press, 2003.
Study guide to MerPT that includes a plot synopsis, running commentary, and glosses (text not included, except for three passages for closer analysis). Also includes descriptions of the Merchant's character and the characters in his tale, various…
Olson, Paul A.
Texas Studies in Literature and Language 3 (1961): 259-63.
Explores the Merchant's "animus toward Italians or, at least, toward Lombards from Pavia" in his characterization of January. Responding to the Clerk's view of Lombards, the Merchant reflects late-medieval English malice against Italian commercial…
Brown, Emerson, Jr.
Chaucer Newsletter 13:1 (1991): 5.
The name "Damyan" in MerT alludes to St. Damian, whose healing talents support a pun on "lechour." Explores Chaucer's sources of knowledge of the saint.
