Chaucer's Universe
- Author / Editor
- North, J. D.
Chaucer's Universe
- Published
- Oxford and New York: Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1988.
- Physical Description
- xix, 577 pp.; 45 b&w illus
- Description
- North reveals a cryptic extension to Chaucerian criticism: a celestial allegory. Part 1 is a guide to late-medieval understanding of the planets and their influences on humans, physiologically and morally, including chapters on the spheres, the astrolabe, diverse tables, the medieval theory of celestial bodies, medieval astrology, and FranT. Includes attention to Astro and the authorship of Equat. Part 2 provides "an astronomical exegesis" of Chaucer's works which explores how and where Chaucer encodes astronomical assumptions and information in his major poetic works: BD, HF, PF, Mars, LGW, TC, and CT (especially MLT, WBP, MerT, SqT, FranT, and NPT).
- Reprinted in 1990 "with additional preliminary matter and corrections," including prefactory material (pp. x-xix) that pertains to astronomical concepts in SqT and MerT.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Background and General Criticism.
- Treatise on the Astrolabe
- Equatorie of the Planetis
- Book of the Duchess
- House of Fame
- Complaint of Mars
- Legend of Good Women
- Troilus and Criseyde
- Canterbury Tales--General
- Squire and His Tale
- Merchant and His Tale