Pandarus and Procne.

Author / Editor
Miller, Ralph N.

Title
Pandarus and Procne.

Published
Studies in Medieval Culture 7.2 (1964): 65-68.

Description
Explores why Chaucer alludes to the "story of Procne and Philomena" at the awakening of Pandarus in Book 2 of TC even though he does not cite the tale when the "nightingale sings to Criseyde" later in the Book, commenting on readers' expectations and on possibly analogous references to nightingales and swallows in Boccaccio's Filostrato, Dante's Commendia, and bestiaries. Suggests several ways of reading Chaucer's bird allusions (and lack thereof) in TC, and closes with a coda on the preponderance of Chaucer's generally commonplace or realistic uses of flora and fauna.

Chaucer Subjects
Troilus and Criseyde
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations
Style and Versification