Dialogics and Prosody in Chaucer

Author / Editor
Guthrie, Steven (R.)

Title
Dialogics and Prosody in Chaucer

Published
Thomas J. Farrell, ed. Bakhtin and Medieval Voices. (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1995), pp. 94-108.

Description
Contrasts the prosodic polyglossia of Chaucer's verse with the less various rhythms of Gower's verse.
Welding French and English rhythms, Chaucer avoided the dullness that Gower did not escape, achieving a poetic style characterized by rhythmic syncopation, phonological complexity, controlled tempo, and cumulative rhythms.
Guthrie examines the relation of prosody to theme in BD.

Alternative Title
Bakhtin and Medieval Voices.

Chaucer Subjects
Style and Versification.
Book of the Duchess.