Fire and Blood: 'Queynte' Imaginings in Diana's Temple

Author / Editor
O'Brien, Timothy D.

Title
Fire and Blood: 'Queynte' Imaginings in Diana's Temple

Published
Chaucer Review 33 (1998): 157-67.

Description
In KnT, Chaucer's use of the word "queynte," the dying and quickening fires in the temple, and the spurting and spewing of the flames to "suggest parturition, life's uncertainty and tenuousness and even menstruation." Emelye's tears at the sight of the fires may indicate her "elemental fear of entry" into a world in which these aspects are a part.

Chaucer Subjects
Knight and His Tale.