Two Notes on Chaucer and Cultural Tradition
- Author / Editor
- Jember, Gregory K.
Two Notes on Chaucer and Cultural Tradition
- Published
- Geardagum 19 (1998): 1-17.
- Description
- In BD and HF, Chaucer uses the "symplegades" or "clashing rocks" motif, which is related to the "Cliff of Death" theme in Germanic literature, as identified by Donald K. Fry.
- However, in Chaucer's texts, the motif reflects the "polarity between knowledge and ignorance" (17) rather than movement between life and death.
- Chaucer's concern with boundaries places him in a "liminal tradition" (1).
- Chaucer Subjects
- Book of the Duchess.