Of Time and Tide in the "Franklin's Tale."

Author / Editor
Wood, Chauncey.

Title
Of Time and Tide in the "Franklin's Tale."

Published
Philological Quarterly 45 (1966): 688-711.

Description
Considers medieval knowledge of tidal patterns and details about astrology and the seasons in FranT to support the argument that the clerk of Orleans predicts rather than magically causes the rise of the sea, disguising the presence of the coastal rocks that threaten the Breton shore. The clerk's ruse of magic, its acceptance by others, and the Franklin's presentation undercuts the teller and the idea of "gentilesse" in the Tale.

Chaucer Subjects
Franklin and His Tale