'My Tale Is of a Cock' or, The Problems of Literal Interpretation

Author / Editor
Boitani, Piero.

Title
'My Tale Is of a Cock' or, The Problems of Literal Interpretation

Published
Richard G. Newhauser and John A. Alford, eds. Literature and Religion in the Later Middle Ages: Philological Studies in Honor of Siegfried Wenzel (Binghamton, N.Y.: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1995), 25-42.

Description
The cock of NPT, through correct Latin quotations and their English mistranslations, provides three literal interpretations of scripture.
By placing the ideological meaning of NPT within the gap between these interpretations--and thus providing a puzzle of determining the correct literal meaning--Chaucer shows his awareness of the pain and pleasure of writing in an "ideological age" and yet, ultimately "justifies the letter by itself, and "forces" us to "stay" within it."

Alternative Title
Literature and Religion in the Later Middle Ages: Philological Studies in Honor of Siegfried Wenzel.

Chaucer Subjects
Nun's Priest and His Tale.