Rogers, Franklin R.
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 58 (1959): 49-59.
Analyzes the dialect forms and textual variants of the "Tale of Gamelyn" in four of the twenty-five CT manuscripts that contain it (Ha4 Cp La Pw), arguing that, in "Gamelyn," these manuscripts evince a textual tradition and editorial practice which…
Severs, J. Burke.
Modern Language Notes 74 (1959): 193-98.
Compares Chaucer's version of Hermengyld's miracle in MLT 2.554-74 with analogous passages in Trevet's and Gower's versions of the Constance story, suggesting that one stanza is missing from Chaucer's account, perhaps due to scribal error.
Silverstein, Theodore.
Modern Philology 56 (1959): 270-76.
Reviews J. A. W. Bennett's 1957 book "The Parlement of Foules: An Interpretation," exploring the weaknesses and strengths of his critical methodology and application.
Identifies a series of analogues to the book-burning episode in WBP 3.816 in eastern versions of the "Seven Sages" (or "Books of Sindibad"), identifying similarities and differences between them and Chaucer's account, and suggesting that oral…
Exemplifies how several features of the characterization of Chaunticleer in NPT are "firmly grounded in medieval natural history," particularly his "uxoriousness, regal pride, and choleric temperament," as well as his connections with preaching, all…
Observes that NPT differs from most of its cock-and-fox analogues "in its explicit, reiterated warning against flattery," a traditional feature of, instead, "fox-and-crow" tales. Also, the explicitness of the moral in NPT is a "convention…
Explores resonances between the characterization of Chaucer's Prioress in GP and the life and legend of St. Eligius, clarifying how the Prioress's swearing by "Seint Loy" (i.e., Eligius; GP 1.120) is both appropriate and highly ironic.
Argues that the "citole" held in Venus's right hand in KnT 1.1959 evinces the influence of "the 'Ovidius moralizatus' of Petrus Berchorius (Pierre Bersuire)," and explores the possibilities of other influences on the depictions of Venus in KnT and in…
Provides textual evidence to confirm that the three portions of the Middle English Rom--A, B, and C--derive from different manuscript groupings of their French source, the "Roman de la Rose," corroborating arguments that the three portions were…
Thomson, Patricia.
Comparative Literature 11 (1959): 313-28.
Explores unanswered questions about Chaucer's knowledge of Petrarch and use of Petrarchan material in TC 1.400-420 and in ClT, focusing on close reading of Chaucer's "deviations" from Petrarch's Sonnet 132 in his translation of it in TC, with…
Explores paradoxes of thematic and structural order in KnT--the "mechanical" ups and downs of Fortune, the narrator's control, the human order of design and progression, accumulative resonances of Boethian material, and the "logic, justice, and order…
Untermeyer, Louis.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1959.
Surveys major British and American writers from Chaucer to Dylan Thomas. Praises Chaucer for his lively characterizations and his "variety and vitality" of narration, with particular attention to CT, but including commentary on the poet's life and…
Weber, J. Sherwood, Jules Alan Wein, Arthur Waldhorn, and Arthur Zeiger.
New York: Holt, 1959.
Chapter 12 opens with an introduction to Chaucer's life and works, followed by appreciative commentary on CT as a comedy that is "social, not divine." Includes "Questions for Study and Discussion" on CT generally, and focused questions on KnT, MilT,…
Cautions that familiarity can blunt readers' awareness of the subtleties of satire in GP, recommending renewed attention to the characterization of the pilgrim narrator and differences between this character and "Chaucer the poet" as aspects of…
Describes and critiques a number of the paratextual notes and hard-word glosses that Thomas Speght included in his editions of Chaucer's works, noting many inaccuracies, but also demonstrating Speght's efforts to clarify words and references for his…
Ruggiers, Paul G.
College English 19 (1958): 296-302.
Assesses Chaucer's uses of Boccaccio and Boethius as source material in KnT, addressing the omission of Arcite's apotheosis and the subordination of the pagan gods to providential order. Focuses on Palamon's and Arcite's prayers and Theseus' final…
Schmidt-Hidding, Wolfgang.
Heidelberg: Quelle & Meyer, 1959.
Opens with a chapter on Chaucer (pp. 9-35)--followed by ones about William Shakespeare, Henry Fielding, Thomas Sterne, Charles Lamb, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain--surveying his self-portraits, narrative poses, characterizations, ironies, and the…
Wilson, William Smith
Yale University Dissertation, 1960. Dissertation Abstracts International 31.06 (1970): 2893-94A. Full text available at ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
Considers HF to be an occasional poem, perhaps "written for Christmas Revels at the Inner Temple," and reads its three parts an "an allegorical representation of the trivium" that pertains to poetry, "testing the trivium, and rejecting it, and…
Hodgson, Phyllis, ed.
[London]: University of London. Athlone Press, 1960 and 1973.
Textbook edition of FranPT and the GP description of the Franklin, with text in Middle English, notes and glossary, and discussion of the Franklin's character, possible sources of FranT, and Chaucer's "inventiveness." Includes several appendixes:…
Musgrave, Thea, composer.
London: J. & W. Chester, 1960.
Sets MerB to orchestral music, sung by tenor; text in Middle English. A Special Oder Edition / Study Score was commissioned by the Saltire Music Group, apparently in 2009.
Baker, Donald C.
University of Mississippi Studies in English 1 (1960): 97-104.
Argues that "the role of the artist as purveyor of Fame" is the fundamental unifying theme of HF and suggests that Chaucer may have intended to resolve tensions between Dantean and Boethian views of the poet (as teacher and misleader, respectively)…
