Chaucer's Language and the Philosophers' Tradition
Chaucer's Language and the Philosophers' Tradition

Author: J. D. Burnley

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Published: 1979

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0859910512

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This book is designed to explore the various kinds of association found in Chaucer's lexical usage, and so to alert the reader to the wider implications of particular words and phrases. By concentrating on the `architecture' of the language, Dr Burnley offers what is in some respects an antidote to the skilled contextual glossing of the editor, whose activities may often obscure important connections. Such connections are vital to the interpretation of any work as a whole, and awareness of them is what distinguishes the scholar from the student who can `translate' Chaucer perfectly adequately without being aware of deeper meanings. Even apparently simple words such as l>cruel, mercy/l>and l>pity/l>can often carry subtle echoes and overtones. Dr Burnley is particularly concerned with words which carry some l>conceptual/l>association, and thus with moral stereotypes inherited from classical and early medieval philosophy, which formed the currency of both secular and religious ideals of conduct in the Middle Ages. His prime concern is to identify the themes and symbols and their characteristic language, and thus to provide a firm basis for critical investigation in Chaucer's literary use of this material.

English Medieval Narrative in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries
English Medieval Narrative in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

Author: Piero Boitani

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1986-07-31

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 9780521311496

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In this detailed study of English narrative verse the author describes and analyses the undisputed masterpieces of narrative (such as the works of the Gawain poet, Langland, Gower and Chaucer), as well as anonymous romances and specimens of religious and comic narrative which form the background to more well-known poems.

Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Stories for an Uncertain World
Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Stories for an Uncertain World

Author: Robert W. Hanning

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022-01-06

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 0192894757

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A comparative study of Boccaccio's Decameron and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales that explores the differences and similarities between the worlds that are portrayed by each text, with a focus on the strategies and limits of personal agency, and the significance and social dynamics of story-telling.

Middle English
Middle English

Author: Laurel Brinton

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2017-09-25

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 3110525321

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The volume provides a wide-ranging account of Middle English, organized by linguistic level. Not only are the traditional areas of linguistic study explored in state-of-the-art chapters, but the volume also covers less traditional areas of study, including creolization, sociolinguistics, literary language (including the language of Chaucer), pragmatics and discourse, dialectology, standardization, language contact, and multilingualism.

A New Companion to Chaucer
A New Companion to Chaucer

Author: Peter Brown

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2019-03-19

Total Pages: 696

ISBN-13: 1118902238

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The extensively revised and expanded version of the acclaimed Companion to Chaucer An essential text for both established scholars and those seeking to expand their knowledge of Chaucer studies, A New Companion to Chaucer is an authoritative and up-to-date survey of Chaucer scholarship. Rigorous yet accessible, this book helps readers to identify current debates, recognize historical and literary context, and to understand how particular concepts and theories affect the interpretation of Chaucer’s texts. Chaucer specialists from around the globe offer contributions that range from updates of long-standing scholarship on biography, language, women, and social structures, to original research in new areas such as ideology, the afterlife, patronage, and sexuality. In presenting conflicting perspectives and ideological differences, this stimulating volume encourages readers to explore additional paths of inquiry and engage in lively and informed debate. Each chapter of the Companion, organized by issues and themes, balances textual analysis and cultural context by grounding the reader in existing scholarship. Key issues from specific passages are discussed with an annotated bibliography provided for reference and further reading. Compiled with all students of Chaucer in mind, this important volume: Presents contributions from both established and emerging specialists Explores the circumstances in which Chaucer wrote, such as the political and religious issues of his time Includes numerous close readings of selected poems Provides points of entry to a wide range of approaches to Chaucer’s works Incorporates original research, fresh perspectives, and updated additions to Chaucer scholarship A New Companion to Chaucer is a valuable and enduring resource for scholars, teachers, and students of medieval literature and medieval studies, as well as the general reader interested in interpretations and historical contexts of Chaucer’s writings.

Sources and Analogues of the Canterbury Tales
Sources and Analogues of the Canterbury Tales

Author: Robert M. Correale

Publisher: DS Brewer

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 646

ISBN-13: 9780859918282

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"This edition ... contains the sources and major analogues of Chaucer's works (some re-edited from manuscripts closer to his own copies) together with discoveries from the past half-century, some of which have not previously appeared together in print. Special features in this new enterprise include a fresh interpretation of Chaucer's sources for the frame of the work, and modern English translations of all non-English texts; chapters on the individual tales contain an updated survey of the present state of scholarship on their source material".--BOOKJACKET.

Chaucer and the Early Writings of Boccaccio
Chaucer and the Early Writings of Boccaccio

Author: David Wallace

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0859911861

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David Wallace's examination of the aims and literary affiliations of Boccaccio's early writings provides an indispensable preface to and context for an informed appraisal of Chaucer's usage of Boccaccio. Previous studies of the relationship between the work of the two poets have tended to consider Chaucer's borrowings without making a thorough study of the traditions which shaped the Italian writer's work. Wallace argues that Boccaccio was not primarily concerned with winning recognition at the Angevin court, but was chiefly concerned with fashioning an identity for himself as an illustrious vernacular author. Chaucer recognised that both the l>Filostrato/l> and l>Teseida/l> derived their basic narrative capabilities from popular tradition analogous to that of the English tail-rhyme romance. Following a detailed analysis of Chaucer's translation practice in l>Troilus and Criseyde/l>, Wallace concludes that it was Boccaccio's attempt to develop a narrative art occupying the middle ground between popular and illustrious, domestic and European traditions that Chaucer found so uniquely congenial and instructive.

Chaucer: An Introduction
Chaucer: An Introduction

Author: S.S. Hussey

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-09-18

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 1000681300

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Originally published in 1981, this second edition built on the success of the first which had established itself as a standard introduction to the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer. It shows Chaucer not only in the context of his own age, but, more important, as a writer and a man who is still vivid to us so many years later. As well as examining the early poems, Troilus and Criseyde, and The Canterbury Tales the author gives a thorough account of Chaucer's background. He examines the traditions in which he wrote, his audience, and his position among his contemporaries. The second edition was updated throughout and included a number of revisions and additions, in particular on the second part of the Roman de la Rose and on The Knight's Tale.

A New Introduction to Chaucer
A New Introduction to Chaucer

Author: D. S. Brewer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-07-15

Total Pages: 441

ISBN-13: 1317895371

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This new introduction to Chaucer has been radically rewritten since the previous edition which was published in 1984. The book is a controversial and modern restatement of some of the traditional views on Chaucer, and seeks to present a rounded introduction to his life, cultural setting and works. Professor Brewer takes into account recent literary criticism, both challenging new ideas and using them in his analysis of Chaucer's work. Above all, there is a strong emphasis on leading the reader to understand and enjoy the poetry and prose, and to try to understand Chaucer's values which are often seen to oppose modern principles. A New Introduction to Chaucer is the result of Derek Brewer's distinguished career spanning fifty years of research and study of Chaucer and contemporary scholarship and criticism. New interpretations of many of the poems are presented including a detailed account of the Book of the Duchess. Derek Brewer's fresh and narrative style of writing will appeal to all who are interested in Chaucer, from sixth-form and undergraduate students who are new to Chaucer's work through to more advanced students and lecturers.

Chaucer’s Dream Visions
Chaucer’s Dream Visions

Author: Michael St John

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-03-02

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 135195251X

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Chaucer used the dream device to engage with the work of French and Italian authors and to explore the philosophical content of their poetry. His four dream visions therefore represent an important conduit through which the influence of European writers was received into English, enabling a profound transition in the way in which the 'self' was conceptualized in medieval courtly literature. Chaucer's Dream Visions is the first book length study to examine the poet's considered use of Aristotelian psychology to describe the mind of the courtly subject in its social context. The study shows that by drawing upon Aristotelian psychology, derived from his reading of Boethius, Dante, and the poets of the French court, Chaucer was able to articulate precisely those aspects of the courtly identity that are determined by language and empirical experience, and those which are transcendent of this determinism. A detailed engagement with the literature, language, and behaviour of the court therefore takes place in the dream visions, which are a genuine exploration of individual subjectivity in its social context. The author of this volume demonstrates that the motivation for this exploration is a product of Chaucer's Christian beliefs and philosophical awareness. Chaucer's Dream Visions thus constitutes a major contribution to the debate concerning distinctions between medieval and early modern culture.