Literal and Symbolic in the 'Canterbury Tales'

Author / Editor
Justman, Stewart.

Title
Literal and Symbolic in the 'Canterbury Tales'

Published
Chaucer Review 14 (1980): 199-214.

Description
There are in CT examples of the late medieval attack on the symbolic attitude. The literal use of the Song of Songs in MerT, and the Wife of Bath's scriptural interpretation, are respectively examples of the mockery and parody of analogical thought.

Chaucer Subjects
Canterbury Tales--General.
Merchant and His Tale.
Wife of Bath and Her Tale.