The Text of the 'Troilus'

Published: Mary Salu, ed. Essays on Troilus and Criseyde (Cambridge: Brewer, 1979), pp. 1-22.

Description: Root's contention that his alpha, beta, and gamma classifications represent stages of Chaucer's revisions of TC is untenable. The ms evidence must be judged for itself,not in comparison with other "revision" problems such as those in Gower and Langland, nor should the evidence be forced into a mold based on preconceptions of ms relationships.; The major differences among TC mss (Troilus' song, the "predestination" of soliloquy in Book IV, and Troilus' ascent) when seen in context show that from the start Chaucer conceived of his long poem with these passages included.