Little Lewis and Latin Folk in Chaucer's Prologue to the "Treatise on the Astrolabe."

Author / Editor
Stadolnik, Joe.

Title
Little Lewis and Latin Folk in Chaucer's Prologue to the "Treatise on the Astrolabe."

Published
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 121 (2022): 359-82.

Description
Claims that although the prologue to Astr is addressed to Chaucer's son "little Lewis," it is structurally and rhetorically complex, appealing to sophisticated Latinists as well as to young English speakers. Argues that the prologue imitates Latin prologues of scientific texts, including a youthful addressee, a defense of the vernacular, and a disavowal of comprehensiveness.

Chaucer Subjects
Treatise on the Astrolabe
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations