Forty Years of Plague: Attitudes Toward Old Age in the Tales of Boccaccio and Chaucer

Author / Editor
Sandidge, Marilyn.

Title
Forty Years of Plague: Attitudes Toward Old Age in the Tales of Boccaccio and Chaucer

Published
Albrecht Classen, ed. Old Age in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Interdisciplinary Approaches to a Neglected Topic. (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2007), pp. 357-73.

Series
Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture, no. 02.

Description
Youthful attitudes toward old age in the works of Boccaccio and Chaucer differ strikingly, perhaps because of demographic changes caused by the Black Plague. In Boccaccio, youth respects the wisdom of age, whereas in Chaucer young people resent the advice, authority, wealth, and existence of elders. KnT introduces the conflict between the generations, a motif throughout CT.

Contributor
Classen, Albrecht, ed.

Alternative Title
Old Age in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Interdisciplinary Approaches to a Neglected Topic.

Chaucer Subjects
Canterbury Tales--General.
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.
Knight and His Tale.