"To take a wyf it is a glorious thing": Januarie's Thesis on Marriage in the "Merchant's Tale" (IV.1263–1392).

Description: Assesses January's praise-of-marriage speech (encomium) as a "classical' thesis' as it appeared in the later Middle Ages." The speech engages the WBP through common source material and follows the topic and structuring of the thesis genre found in Aphthonius of Antioch's "Progymnasmata," an oratorical primer. May's successful duping of January shows that "erudite rhetoric crumbles in the face of life's realities," but also makes it possible that they "can find a new model for their life together."