Effigies of Power: Pitt and Fox as Canterbury Pilgrims

Author / Editor
Reisner, M. E.

Title
Effigies of Power: Pitt and Fox as Canterbury Pilgrims

Published
Eighteenth-Century Studies 12 (1979): 481-503.

Description
Blake's portraits of the Pardoner and Summoner in "Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims" bear strong resemblances to contemporary satirical portraits of William Pitt the Younger and Charles James Fox, respectively. The descriptions of the two pilgrims in GP and in their individual tales closely parallel the physical traits, tastes, abilities, and personalities of the historical figures.

Chaucer Subjects
Chaucer's Influence and Later Allusion.