Chaucer's Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales: An Annotated Bibliography 1900-1992 9781442672895

Citation preview

Chaucer's Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1900 TO 1992 T.L. Burton and Rosemary Greentree

This volume, the work of a group of Chaucerians from the University of Adelaide, is the latest in the University of Toronto Press's Chaucer Bibliography series, a series which aims to provide annotated bibliographies for all of Chaucer's works. It summarizes twentieth-century commentary on the three fabliaux of Fragment 1 of The Canterbury Tales: the Miller's, the Reeve's, and the Cook's tales. There are separate sections for editions, translations and modernizations, sources and analogues, lexicographical and linguistic studies, for the tales considered as a group, and for each tale considered separately. Annotations are arranged chronologically within each section, facilitating a quick grasp of the changing critical attitudes towards these tales, and showing how earlier neglect (resulting from embarrassment at the naughtiness of their subject matter) has given way, in the second half of the twentieth century, to universal admiration for their astonishing artistry. The general introduction and the separate section introductions comment on and evaluate the varying critical approaches. The detailed index facilitates research on particular characters, themes, or approaches, as well as on the work of individual commentators. T . L . ( T O M ) B U R T O N is a Reader in English Language and Literature at the University of Adelaide, where he has taught since 1974. He is the founder of the Chaucer Studio, a non-profit organization recording the works of Chaucer and other medieval writers using reconstructed pronunciation for use as teaching aids. He is also the author of Words, Words, Words, a book based on a series of short talks broadcast on Adelaide's university radio discussing the evolution of word meanings and usage. R O S E M A R Y G R E E N T R E E , also based at the University of Adelaide, is the author of Reader, Teller, and Teacher: The Narrator of Robert Henn/son's 'Moral Fables' (1993), and is completing an annotated bibliography of Middle English songs and lyrics. She has also recorded for the Chaucer Studio.

The Chaucer Bibliographies

G E N E R A L EDITOR

Thomas Hahn University of Rochester ADVISORY BOARD

Derek Brewer Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emerson Brown, jr Vanderbilt University John Hurt Fisher University of Tennessee David C. Fowler University of Washington JohnLeyerle University of Toronto James J. Murphy University of California, Davis Russell A. Peck University of Rochester Florence H. Ridley University of California, Los Angeles Paul Ruggiers University of Oklahoma

Chaucer's Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales edited by T.L. Burton and Rosemary Greentree

annotations by David Biggs, Rosemary Greentree, Hugh McGivern, David Matthews, Greg Murrie, and Dallas Simpson

Published in association with the University of Rochester by UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London

www.utppublishing.com © University of Toronto Press Incorporated 1997 Toronto Buffalo London Printed in Canada Reprinted 1999 ISBN 0-8020-0874-7

Printed on acid-free paper

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Main entry under title: Chaucer's Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's tales (The Chaucer bibliographies; 5) Includes index. ISBN 0-8020-0874-7 I. Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400. Miller's tale Bibliography. 2. Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400. Reeve's tale - Bibliography. 3. Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400. Cook's tale - Bibliography. I. Burton, T.L. II. Greentree, Rosemary. III. Series. Z8164.C421997

016.821'!

C96-932418-9

Contents

General Editor's Preface vii Preface xiii Abbreviations xv Introduction xxi Editions, Translations, and Modernizations 3 Sources and Analogues 17 Items of Linguistic and Lexicographical Interest 31 The Narrators of the Tales Considered as Characters 61 The Tales Considered Together 83 The Miller's Tale 165 The Reeve's Tale 223 The Cook's Tale 243 Index 251

This page intentionally left blank

General Editor's Preface

The Chaucer Bibliographies will encompass, in a series of some eighteen volumes, a complete listing and assessment of scholarship and criticism on the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer (d. 1400), and on his life, times, and historical context. Four volumes—on Chaucer's short poems andAnelida andArcite, on the translations, scientific works, and apocrypha, on the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, and on the Knight's Tale — have already appeared. The present volume, on the tales of the Miller, Reeve, and Cook, completes work on Fragment A, the opening section of the Canterbury Tales. Several additional volumes on individual tales (the Wife of Bath, the Pardoner) and on groupings (the tales of the Friar, Summoner, Clerk, and Merchant, those of the Monk and Nun's Priest, and the tales of the Second Nun, Canon's Yeoman, Manciple, and Parson, with the Retractions) should appear during the course of the next year or so. Each volume centers on a particular work, or a connected group of works; most contain material on backgrounds or related writings, and several will be topical in their coverage (music, visual arts, rhetoric, the life of Chaucer, and so on). Like all bibliographical projects, the series places unswerving emphasis on accuracy and comprehensiveness; yet the distinctive feature of the Chaucer Bibliographies is the fullness and particularity of the annotations provided for each entry. Annotations have averaged one-third to onehalf page in the first five volumes; these thick descriptions of intellectual and critical activity (as opposed to simple lists of items) have constituted more than four-fifths of each volume's content. The individual volumes in the Chaucer Bibliographies series do not therefore constitute a reference work in the ordinary sense of that term. While they will enumerate virtually every publication on Chaucer worthy of notice, and give complete coverage to materials from the twentieth century, they go far beyond the usual compilation, bibliographic manual, or guide to research. The bibliographies are not mechanical or machine-produced lists; each volume makes use of the intellectual engagement, learning, and insight of scholars actively at work on Chaucer. The series therefore serves not

viii /Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales simply as the collection of all relevant titles on a subject, but as a companion and reliable guide to the reading and study of Chaucer's poetry. In this, the Chaucer Bibliographies represents an innovative and penetrating access to what Chaucer means, and has meant, to his readers. The project offers the full richness and detail of Chaucer's thought and world to a much wider audience than it has, even after one hundred years of energetic scholarship, ever before reached. Before all else, then, the series provides a means of making practical headway in the study of earlier literature in English and its cultural context. These volumes help make the writing of Chaucer—the earliest figure in the canon of great writers in the English language—more immediate and more directly accessible to all readers. Although readers for six centuries have praised Chaucer as a moving, superb, complex writer, even teachers of his writing sometimes feel at a loss when faced with the linguistic, historical, and critical complexities packed into every line. Consequently, despite his canonical stature, Chaucer has often remained unread, or read only in translation or paraphrase. The goal of this project, at its first level, is to increase the numbers of those who read him with genuine understanding and pleasure by increasing the kinds of things that can be readily known about Chaucer. In offering such broad access to specialized knowledge, the Chaucer Bibliographies is effecting a major change in how Chaucer gets read, at what levels, and by whom. The Chaucer Bibliographies seeks to intensify the comprehension and enjoyment of beginning readers in university, college, and high school classrooms, presenting themselves as tools to both students and teachers. The series will move undergraduates more quickly from the generalizations and observations of textbooks and instructors to a direct access to the richness and variety of Chaucer's writing, and to its connections with medieval realities and modern understandings. For graduate students, the books will constitute a crucial resource for course work, exam preparation, and research. For non-specialist teachers of Chaucer in survey, masterpiece, and special topic courses, the series provides the means to a broader base of knowledge and to a more intense and shapely preparation than instructors, given the constraints of their work time, were previously able to manage. By clarifying and connecting both recent and long-available materials, and by making them readily accessible, the Chaucer Bibliographies can renew the teaching and reading of Chaucer, and enable the development of alternative approaches to understanding his writing. The series holds yet additional resources for specialist readers. The fullness and detail of the annotations in each volume will serve, in the first instance, as a check against duplication and redundancy in academic publication; individual scholars, and editors or readers at presses and journals, will be able to chart the place of new or proposed work quickly.

General Editor's Preface / ix Likewise, Chaucerians engaged with a topic or set of issues will be able to advance or situate their work more readily by reference to the materials in the appropriate volumes within the series. In consolidating the massive work that has been done in the last century or so in medieval studies, and particularly on Chaucer, the bibliographies provide the ground on which new work in Chaucer can build. Their presence in the field will encourage more efficient research on restricted as well as expansive topics, and will likewise facilitate work on the ways in which institutions have fostered and used the reading and study of his writing. In addition to Chaucerians, the series benefits other specialists in medieval literature in offering ready access to publications on Chaucer that touch on a variety of materials relevant to other fields. Whatever use the materials gathered in these volumes may have for particular queries or problems, they also address interests of a range of scholars whose expertise extends to Chaucer, but whose intellectual concerns have been stymied by the daunting mass of Chaucer scholarship. The Chaucer Bibliographies places interdisciplinary research before scholars in history, art history, and other related areas, and so makes multidisciplinary, collaborative work more possible and even more likely. In short, this massive effort to bring knowledge about Chaucer together strives to open up, rather than to close off, further innovative work on pre-modern culture. On average, each of the first five volumes in the series has analyzed nearly one thousand items. These include editions of Chaucer's writing, studies of language, manuscripts, and audiences, his sources and their contexts and intellectual connections, directly relevant background materials (eg, estates satire, medieval science, chivalry, the tradition of Boethius), and all publications (in whatever language) bearing directly on Chaucer's poetry. The early volumes have thoroughly fulfilled the promise of the series to sort out and make accessible materials that are confused or obscure, including early philological publications in German and Scandinavian languages, privately printed or scarce volumes, and recent work in Australia, Europe, Japan, and Korea. But even more strikingly, in bringing together all the materials on specific poems and subjects, these volumes have given new definition to the boundaries of Chaucer studies. Rather than working as a mopping-up operation, telling scholars what they already knew, these volumes attempt to contribute to anew flourishing of Chaucer research and criticism, enabling and even inspiring fresh and solidly grounded interrogations of the poetry. They stand not simply as the summation of a great tradition, but as an impetus for more intense and expanded understandings of Chaucer. The sweeping vision of late medieval writing offered in each volume represents a reconfiguration of knowledge that justifies and fosters informed work by an expanded community of scholars, of whom Chaucerians form merely the core.

x / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales In producing volumes that record all relevant titles and that specify— and thereby provide grounds for assessment—the content and interconnections of Chaucerian criticism, the Chaucer Bibliographies defines a new space for itself as a reference tool in its own field, and potentially within affiliated fields as well. The volumes, published and projected, differ markedly in purpose and use from other introductory bibliographies and cumulative listings. Standard bibliographies—unmarked or minimally annotated compilations—furnish helpful listings of publications, but offer limited help to the specialist, and still less orientation or access to the uninitiated. Volumes in the Chaucer Bibliographies project take these publications as a base of information (and make reference to them), but the aim of each volume is to offer in-depth coverage of the work(s) at hand. Contributors initially review annual and collected listings, but acquired learning, developed instincts, and the concentrated reading demanded for the preparation of each volume turn up leads and titles that complete the search. The series through its individual volumes seeks to stand as a definitive companion to the study of Chaucer, a starting point from which future work on the poet will proceed. It addresses itself to an audience beyond the community of professional Chaucerians, inviting nonChaucerian scholars and non-specialist teachers and students to take part in the continuous process of understanding Chaucer. The series achieves this inclusiveness through exhaustive itemization, full and strategic commentary, attention to backgrounds and corollary issues, demonstration of interrelationships and connected themes through annotation, cross-referencing, and indices, and the report of significant reviews. Its design entails an examination of every relevant published item, in all foreign languages, though contributors will trust their own expertise and discretion in determining the choice and extent of annotations. Information on a 'ghost' or an inaccessible but useless item may prove as valuable to users of these volumes as careful assessments of central books in the field; it is therefore crucial for contributors not to pass over inadvertently or deliberately omit any 'trivial' writings. The specification of items in these volumes should obviate the need for many pointless entanglements in the trammels of scholarship as readers of Chaucer pursue their special interests. The Chaucer Bibliographies is produced through the work of a diverse and distinguished array of experts. Its format—in which the individual efforts of autonomous scholars take their place within a single project's well articulated, coherent framework—accommodates in a peculiarly appropriate way its broad base and wide appeal. The authors of individual volumes include both distinguished and younger Chaucerians. The comprehensive work for each volume has been carried out over a period of years by an individual scholar or a team in close collaboration, conceiving each volume

General Editor's Preface / xi as a unified intellectual project. Having a collective of more than two dozen Chaucerians actively engaged in the same project has already led to a more thorough cross-checking, a richer array of suggestions and shared information, and a larger number of surprising finds—some obscure, some obvious—than any individual or more limited collaborative effort could have produced. Since materials for the entire series have been electronically processed and stored, it will be possible for the University of Toronto Press to issue revised editions of volumes, and eventually to produce a general index to all volumes. Plans are underway to generate an updatable CD-ROM version of the Chaucer Bibliographies, which would combine data from multiple volumes and enable a variety of rapid searches through the materials. This electronic version will not replace the issue of individual volumes in hard copy, so that the series will continue to be accessible to a wide range of general users and scholars in a variety of formats. The work of the Chaucer Bibliographies has been sustained from 1989 to 1995 by a series of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (USA), through its Division of Research Programs; without NEH support, it would have been impossible for the collective efforts of the project to continue, or for this work to result in publication. Library staff at the University of Rochester—in particular, Interlibrary Loan and the Rossell Hope Robbins Library and its Curator, Dr. Alan Lupack—have provided invaluable and unstinting bibliographic and research aid. Erik Kooper of the University of Utrecht, Yoko Wada of Kansai University in Osaka, and Ayumi Takagami of the University of Rochester provided critical assistance in tracking down, translating, or annotating elusive items. Patricia Neill, of the Blake Quarterly (University of Rochester), has furnished crucial editorial and technical expertise in the final stages of preparation. The final and pivotal phases of research and editing were resourcefully and meticulously carried out by Jennifer Klein, James Knapp, and Pamela Fiehn at Rochester. Thomas Hahn Rochester, NY

This page intentionally left blank

Preface

This volume was begun in 1987 under the co-ordinating editorship of Tom Burton; it was completed in 1994, with Rosemary Greentree as co-editor. It is the work of a group of scholars who, at the time of its inception, were graduate students at the University of Adelaide. Annotations and sections in the general introduction are signed with the writer's initials; the section introductions were written by Rosemary Greentree. In locating material to be annotated we have made extensive use of the standard bibliographies of English literature, medieval studies, and Chaucerian studies; the bibliographies themselves, however, are not annotated in this volume. In order to give an idea of the development in critical attitudes to these tales through time the general introduction is arranged chronologically, and the annotations within each section are likewise presented in chronological order. The first four section headings are self-explanatory: 'Editions, Translations, and Modernizations'; 'Sources and Analogues'; 'Items of Linguistic and Lexicographical Interest'; 'The Narrators of the Tales Considered as Characters'; the remaining four, however, may need glossing. Where a work deals with two or more of the tales without giving each a separate chapter the annotation will be found in the section headed 'The Tales Considered Together' (see, for example, 426, in which Derek Pearsall treats all three tales in a chapter entitled 'Comic Tales and Fables'). But where a book has a self-contained chapter on each tale, the chapters are annotated as separate items and each annotation is placed under the appropriate tale (thus 569, 698, and 746 are annotations of the separate chapters on MilT, RvT, and CkT in Alfred David's The Strumpet Muse). Work on this volume has been supported by research grants from the University of Adelaide, for which grateful acknowledgement is made. The co-ordinating editors wish also to express their gratitude to Sabina Flanagan

xiv I Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales for editorial assistance; to Maria Albanese and Vija Pattison and their staff in the inter-library loans sections of the Barr Smith Library and the Baillieu Library for help in obtaining items not available in Adelaide or Melbourne; to John Edge and Greg Murrie for their assistance with work in, respectively, Italian and German; to Mark Allen for advance information from the on-line bibliography for Studies in The Age of Chaucer; to Tony Colaianne, the first General Editor, for the original invitation to contribute to the series; and to Tom Hahn, his successor as General Editor, for the invitation to prepare this volume, for supplying annotations for items not available in Australia, and for his patience, advice, and encouragement.

Abbreviations

ME MnE OE OF

Middle English Modern English Old English Old French

LITERARY WORKS CITED

Astr BD CIT CkP CkT CT CYT FranT FrT GP Kn T LGW ManP ManT MerT MilP MilT MLT MkP NPT PardP PardT

A Treatise on the Astrolabe The Book of the Duchess The Clerk's Tale The Cook's Prologue The Cook's Tale The Canterbury Tales The Canon's Yeoman's Tale The Franklin's Tale The Friar's Tale The General Prologue The Knight's Tale The Legend of Good Women The Manciple's Prologue The Manciple's Tale The Merchant's Tale The Miller's Prologue The Miller's Tale The Man of Law's Tale The Monk's Prologue The Nun's Priest's Tale The Pardoner's Prologue The Pardoner's Tale

xvi / Miller's, Reeve !s, and Cook's Tales ParsT PF PhyT Rom RR RvP RvT ShT SqT SumT TC Thop WBP WET

The Parson's Tale Parliament of Fowls The Physician's Tale The Romaunt of the Rose Le Roman de la Rose (G. de Lorris & Jean de Meun) The Reeve's Prologue The Reeve's Tale The Shipman 's Tale The Squire's Tale The Summoner's Tale Troilus and Criseyde The Tale of Sir Thopas The Wife of Bath's Prologue The Wife of Bath's Tale

JOURNALS AND REFERENCE WORKS CITED ABR AL Anglia AnM AN&Q Archiv ArielE ArL A UMLA

BRMMLA BSUF BUSE C&L CE

American Benedictine Review American Literature: A Journal of Literary History, Criticism, and Bibliography Anglia: Zeitschrift fur Englische Philologie Annuale Mediaevale American Notes and Queries Archivfur das Studium der Neueren Sprachen und Literatur en Ariel: A Review of International English Literature Archivum Linguisticum: A Review of Comparative Philology and General Linguistics Journal of the Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association: A Journal of Literary Criticism, Philology & Linguistics Bulletin of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association Ball State University Forum Boston University Studies in English Christianity and Literature College English

Abbreviations / xvii CEA CCTE ChauNewsl ChauR CHum Cithara CL Comitatus

Comparatist CritQ Criticism E&S EIC ELH ELN ELS EngR Erasmus R ES ESA ESC ESt Exemplaria Expl FCS Florilegium FS HLQ HSELL

IdD IRLI

CEA Critic: An Official Journal of the College English Association Proceedings of the Conference of College Teachers of English (Commerce TX) Chaucer Newsletter The Chaucer Review Computers and the Humanities Cithara: Essays in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition Comparative Literature Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies The Comparatist: Journal of the Southern Comparative Literature Association Critical Quarterly Criticism: A Quarterly for Literature and the Arts Essays and Studies by members of the English Association Essays in Criticism English Literary History English Language Notes English Literary Studies The English Record Erasmus Review English Studies English Studies in Africa English Studies in Canada Englische Studien Exemplaria: A Journal of Theory in Medieval and Renaissance Studies The Explicator Fifteenth-Century Studies Florilegium: Carleton University Annual Papers on Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages French Studies: A Quarterly Review The Huntington Library Quarterly Hiroshima Studies in English Language and Literature llha do Desterro: A Journal of Language and Literature Italianistica: Rivista di Letteratura Italiana

xviii /Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales JEGP JEP JMRS JNT JRMMRA L&H Language LeedsSE L&LC Lore&L M&H MA Maledicta MED MedPers MichA MLN MLQ MLR MLS MP MRom MS MSE MSpr N&Q Names Neophil NM OED OL Parergon

PBA

Journal of English and Germanic Philology Journal of Evolutionary Psychology Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies Journal of Narrative Technique Journal of the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association Literature and History: A New Journal for the Humanities Language: Journal of the Linguistic Society of America Leeds Studies in English Literary and Linguistic Computing: Journal of the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing Lore and Language Medievalia et Humanistica Medium ALvum Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression Middle English Dictionary Medieval Perspectives Michigan Academician Modern Language Notes Modern Language Quarterly Modern Language Review Modern Language Studies Modern Philology Marche Romane Mediaeval Studies Massachusetts Studies in English Moderna Sprak Notes and Queries Names: Journal of the American Name Society Neophilologus Neuphilologische Mitteilungen Oxford English Dictionary Orbis Litteraraum: An International Review of Literary Studies Parergon: Bulletin of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Publications of the British Academy

Abbreviations / xix PLL PLPLS-LHS PMLA PQ Proverb iumY

QQ

RBPH REEDN RES RLMC RUO RUSEng SAC SAP SAQ Scrutiny SELit SFQ SIcon SN SP SSF SSL TLS Traditio TSL UTQ VLang

WascanaR YES

Papers on Language and Literature Proceedings of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, Literary and Historical Section Publications of the Modern Language Association of America Philological Quarterly Proverbium: Yearbook of International Proverb Scholarship Queen's Quarterly Revue Beige de Philologie et d'Histoire Records of Early English Drama Newsletter Review of English Studies Rivista di Letterature Moderne e Comparate Revue de I'Universite d'Ottawa Rajasthan University Studies in English Studies in the Age of Chaucer Studia Anglic a Posnaniensia: An International Review of English Studies South Atlantic Quarterly Scrutiny: A Quarterly Review Studies in English Literature (Tokyo, Japan) Southern Folklore Quarterly Studies in Iconography Studia Neophilologica Studies in Philology Studies in Short Fiction Studies in Scottish Literature [London] Times Literary Supplement Traditio: Studies in Ancient and Medieval History, Thought, and Religion Tennessee Studies in Literature University of Toronto Quarterly Visible Language: The Research Journal Concerned with All That Is Involved in Our Being Literate Wascana Review Yearbook of English Studies

This page intentionally left blank

Introduction

1900-1909 'Criticism' of the Miller's, Reeve's and Cook's tales during the first decade of this century is something of a misnomer, since the motives that have sustained interest in these narratives had not yet developed. Only one article treated in this section, Hart's on the Reeve's Tale (656) can be called truly 'literary critical.' Rather the dominant paradigm of literary scholarship in this decade was a continuation of the late nineteenth-century tradition of establishing reliable texts for all of Chaucer's work; and the second major interest was the study of sources and analogues. Both fields of research proved particularly fruitful in relation to MilTand RvT. The high standard of scholarship established by such Chaucerians as Furnivall, ten Brink and Skeat in the late nineteenth century culminated in Skeat's massive sevenvolume Complete Works of Chaucer (1), the second edition of which straddled the decade under consideration. Skeat, apart from establishing the most reliable texts to date for all of Chaucer's work, also expelled some of the myths which had hindered Chaucer scholarship to this point, pulling few punches as far as his colleagues and predecessors were concerned. The second major work of this decade was Eleanor Hammond's Chaucer: A Bibliographical Manual (Boston: Macmillan, 1908). It provided both a convenient focus to sum up the achievements of the decade and a steppingstone for future generations of Chaucer scholars, who, with the combined achievements of five hundred years at their disposal, were better able to pursue the critical paths that opened out during the course of this century. One of the most interesting features in the criticism particularly ofMilT and RvT in the decade 1900-1909 was the moralism of many commentators. Skeat believed that Chaucer had 'good cause to regret' having written such tales (1); critics like Ames (257) and Hammond spoke of the 'coarseness' of MilTor the 'coarse narratives' of the Miller and Reeve. Coulton described both tales as 'churlish' (266), Gwynn viewed MilTas 'a gross ribaldry' which 'unhappily does not bear repetition' (267). Other less dogmatic

xxii /Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales critics ranged from Axon, who characterized RvTas 'coarse but humorous' (53), to Mackail, who described such literature as 'brilliant work' (270); meanwhile critics such as Saintsbury sat on the fence and declared euphemistically that 'the morals [of the tales] are not above those of the time' (268). Such attitudes may have been influenced by the early criticism of Dryden, who tended to make hierarchical distinctions between the 'low' and 'high' characters of CT; certainly the Victorian age of bowdlerized Chaucers and Shakespeares must have exerted a strong influence. In some cases (notably that of Coulton) it seems that there is a deliberate ambiguity as to who is being castigated—Chaucer himself or the narrators of the tales; the overall impression from this decade is that a number of critics are left highly embarrassed by the apparent disparity between Arnoldian views of 'Literature' and 'Culture' and the anarchic machinations of the participants in these tales. Associated with this view, yet apart from the moral considerations inherent in it, lies a critical position like Mackail's, which has genuine difficulty in classing MilTand others like it as 'poetry'; this reveals much about the rigidity of the generic divisions of the time and the subsequent need to class and package narratives such as these in cultural terms not necessarily appropriate to their original fourteenth-century contexts. Much of the activity in Chaucerian studies in this decade centred on the ordering of the tales (eg 5, 6, 260), on the analysis of the time-scheme within them and on the comparison of various manuscripts and editions in order to achieve the most reliable texts available (eg 1). In its effect, this early scholarship orders and classifies the tales, and so encourages unity of interpretation; such efforts to hierarchize the tales and their tellers seem to defeat Chaucer's purpose of giving a voice to a large cross-section of representative figures of his society. The creative difference that Chaucer stresses between his Miller, Reeve, Cook, Knight and so on is just that: a creative difference which stresses difference not to maintain established moral or social hierarchies, but that articulates a particularized voice for each pilgrim, and encourages the multivalent play between contrasting characters and attitudes which makes up the richness of Chaucer's narrative. The various uses to which Chaucer put language, the very stuff of his art, emerged as a distinct category of critical interest at the turn of the century. Great interest was shown in his employment of the Northumbrian dialect for use by the students in RvT(eg 1, 9), and many specialized studies appeared such as ten Brink's on language and metre (89), Kenyon's on the infinitive (92), and Remus's etymological study of ecclesiastical and special scientific terms in Chaucer (90). The period was in many ways dominated, though, by the study of sources, imitations, modernizations and translations, and analogues of the tales. From Skeat's second edition of 1900 through Hammond's bibliogra-

Introduction / xxiii phy of 1908, scholars felt this to be an essential element of their critical task. Many critics, Legouis (9) and Axon (53) to name but two, picked up the link between the story of Pinuccio, Niccolosa and Adriano in Boccaccio and RvT, and Axon even posited a vague link between Boccaccio's story of Puccio and Don Felice and the plot ofMilT. A much stronger case was made for French fabliaux as sources of RvT(by Hammond, Hart, and Legouis, for example), and strong analogical connections were also made between MilTand German and Italian works, and between RvTand La Fontaine. The Chaucerian scholarship of this period was heavily indebted to the Chaucer Society, which, having printed scores of literary texts in the nineteenth century, continued its output of critical texts into the twentieth. Two each of the texts of Skeat and Tatlock, Kenyon's work, and Kittredge's The Date of Chaucer's Troilus and Other Chaucer Matters (725) were indebted to the privately funded Society for their publication during this decade. The following decades saw the increasing academicization of Chaucerian discourses and a movement away from England and particularly the Continent to the new and varied critical approaches of American Chaucerian scholars. [GDM]

1910-1919 Like their predecessors, critics in the second decade of this century identified many of the issues and themes that continue to occupy critics today, and their work may be divided into two groups. The first is concerned with matters of critical interpretation; the second involves various editorial matters, the elucidation of particular passages and an exploration of the social and cultural background to the text. The influence of these two modes of study in defining what constitutes 'Chaucerian criticism' has been enormous. The most lasting work in the area of reader response to the text was that undertaken by Kittredge (277), who fiercely argued the case for taking the Canterbury pilgrims as 'dramatis personae,' stressing the importance of the interaction of teller and tale; in doing so he set the terms of the 'dramatic reading' that has persisted ever since. In addition, Tupper, in several influential articles (278, 726, 727), saw a number of the tales as being built around the seven deadly sins, with important roles played by the characteristics of the individual pilgrims and their class. Many of the early studies that concerned themselves with elucidating terms within the text, and supplemented our knowledge of the text's social

xxiv /Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales and historical background, are almost identical to their modern counterparts. When Kuhl told his readers (in order to explain a puzzling reference at Mill 3761-3) that blacksmiths were open at night in Chaucer's time (463) he followed a style still enthusiastically pursued today as critics tirelessly search to explain cruces within the text. Barnouw was himself already working in an established mode when he considered the fabliau tradition behind MilT(459); nevertheless both the exploration of the fabliau tradition and the expository method he displayed have been replicated almost endlessly over the decades. Neither scholars nor their readers have tired. So we find that the issue of Chaucerian borrowings from Boccaccio is today debated in terms defined by the work of such early writers as Root (461), Tatlock (462), and Cummings (464); and, even today, Karpinski's judgement on 'augrim-stones' still stands (460). [DPS]

1920-1929 The critical concerns of the twenties are well represented by the work of the three major critics of the decade, Curry, Manly and Spurgeon. The latter's Five Hundred Years of Chaucer Criticism and Allusion 1357-1900 (283) remains an indispensable guide to the uses to which Chaucer's works were put by other authors in the five centuries following his death. Curry's work on medieval sciences, particularly the ways in which character is governed by physical constitution and reflected in or revealed by physical characteristics, is represented here by his articles on the Miller and the Reeve as characters (195) and on the Cook's mormal (728), and is conveniently brought together in his book, Chaucer and the Medieval Sciences (328). Curry's interest in Chaucer's use of the natural (as opposed to the literary) world is taken a step or two further by Manly, who proposes that some of the Canterbury pilgrims, including the Miller, were drawn from living models (285), also, roughly speaking, that the more experienced Chaucer became as a writer, the less he depended on rhetorical devices and the closer he came to writing directly from life (284; cf 470). (For an assessment of this latter claim in general terms, without specific reference to the tales treated in this bibliography, see Robert O. Payne's essay, 'Chaucer and the Art of Rhetoric' in Companion to Chaucer Studies, ed. Beryl Rowland, revised edition (New York: Oxford UP, 1979), pp 42-64. See also Rita Copeland's book Rhetoric, Hermeneutics, and Translation in the Middle Ages: Academic Traditions and Vernacular Texts [Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991].)

Introduction / xxv The early twentieth-century interest in naturalistic, local, and historical detail is shown also in attempts to identify the flower of MHT326& nicknamed piggesnye (94, 95), in discussions of Soler Hall (3990) and the Cambridge setting of RvT (660-62), and in continued interest in the dialect of the students in RvT (93) and the precise area in the north of England in which Chaucer located them (661). Sources and analogues draw less comment in the twenties than in the first two decades of the century, but they are not entirely neglected (see 286, 287, 471). There is little textual study other than that of Brusendorff (466). There are fewer objections than earlier in the century to the tone and content of the fabliaux, although moralistic judgements are still occasionally heard (eg 472). A lone article suggesting the study of lines in isolation from their context (469) looks like an exaggerated version of reader-response criticism half a century before its time. [TLB]

1930-1939 The chief landmark of the thirties was the publication in 1933 of Robinson's one-volume edition of the complete works (14), which became, and, in its subsequent revisions (15, 49), remained, the standard scholarly edition. That its major value, however, lay in its critical commentaries rather than in the reliability of its text (see Ruud's review, quoted in 14) is borne out by continuing work in this decade on the manuscripts of CT, such as that of McCormick (293), culminating in the publication in 1940 of Manly and Rickert's eight-volume study of the text of C7'on the basis of all known manuscripts' (18). The texts of CT remain one of the hottest issues in Chaucer scholarship to the present day, with the use of computer technology in 'The Canterbury Tales Project' currently in progress at Oxford and Sheffield universities under the direction of Norman Blake promising previously undreamed of levels of accuracy in transcription, reproduction, and stemmatic analysis (see below, p. xxxvii, for bibliographical information). Several substantial studies of Chaucer's work by influential critics appeared in the thirties (De Selincourt 290, Lowes 291, Thompson 292, Patch 295); in all these, as in Haselmayer's article on the portraits in the fabliaux (294), there is admiration for the brilliance of the characterization. Germaine Dempster (55) pursues at length the links between characterization and dramatic irony that had been noted briefly in the twenties by Raleigh (468). Tolkien's detailed study of the dialectal features of the students' speech in /?v7(100) is the culmination of a longstanding interest in this phenom-

xxvi / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales enon. Crow's demonstration, in a study of the same topic, that the language of the Paris manuscript owes much to the provenance of its scribe (101) anticipates the later work on ME dialects of Mclntosh, Samuels, and Benskin that led to the publication in 1986 of A Linguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English (Aberdeen: Aberdeen UP). Interest in historical matters and in details taken from life continues in the thirties in items concerned with the Miller's capacity for breaking doors with his head (199-200), with the words and music of the various songs in MilT (474-6), with Baldeswell as the home of the Reeve (196-7), with the Reeve's legal knowledge (664-5), with the weaponry carried by the Miller and by the characters in RvT(666\ and with the possible identity of the Cook (729,731). [TLB]

1940-1949 Though publication of The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies was suspended in Britain from 1940-49 because of World War II, the remarkable expansion in the MLA Bibliography alone is enough to attest to the rapid growth of Chaucer studies, along with the rest of English literature, in the years after the war. Unsurprisingly, some critics at the time seemed to be struggling for something new to say, while others simply resumed with the kinds of critical paradigms that had been in use before the war. The result was a field characterized by widely variant aims, styles, and achievements. There was still room for the dilettante's appreciation of literature, though in increasingly odd juxtaposition with the beginnings of a more professionalized discipline. Looking back to pre-war forms of criticism, H. S. Bennett (667) maintained that a thorough grounding in medieval history and culture is necessary before there can be any appreciation of its literature; thus, in RvT, '[t]he point of the story will be partly lost without knowledge of the practice of fostering the female children of parsons in nunneries.' We must put ourselves in the place of Chaucer's audience, and Chaucer's works, therefore, live principally as the realization of a past milieu. Humanistic, 'objective' historicism of this sort implicitly underpinned the host of articles which appeared at this time dealing with the minutiae of Chaucer's texts. These articles deal with Chaucer 'allusions' and 'notes'—for example Whitbread's contention that the Cook's name was a pun on Roger Bacon (297) or Cline's notes about the use of saints' names as oaths (299)—and embody the conception that the life of the poems is in their ability to realize historical facts lost to us without extensive study of the period. Such commentaries

Introduction / xxvii tend not to be interpretative, but simply point to a 'neat play of words,' as Whitbread has it, or to the appropriateness of a particular usage. In the crisis of national identities that occurred in the wake of the War, it is not surprising to find the historicist paradigm used in the construction of medieval literature as a powerfully nostalgic fiction of national origins. Shelly writes that Nicholas, Absolon and Alison 'in their gayety and high spirits, belong to a brighter and better day . . . They are thoroughly English, and they go far toward convincing us that in olden times there was veritably a Merry England' (296). Despite its lack of critical rigour, this kind of criticism continued to have some currency, as the reissue of Shelly's book in 1968 indicates. Nevertheless, this period also saw the publication of Manly and Rickert's monumental edition of Cr(18), and of Bryan and Dempster's collection of the sources and analogues (see 56 and 57), two works of great importance to the professionalization of the discipline, and its placement on a more rigorous basis. A rather different impulse, but still an indicator of change, is the appearance of the work of the Leavisite medievalist John Speirs (298). Whereas the pervasiveness of historicism indicates that both Leavisism and New Criticism were somewhat slow to penetrate medieval studies, it is nevertheless the case that some of the critical focuses of those schools are increasingly evident in Chaucer studies in the period. Irony and character are frequently discussed, and the moral value of the tales is an important criterion. Indeed, at this time 'moral seriousness' and the Arnoldian censure are still fundamental issues in criticism of the tales, and as a result, the fabliaux are by no means the most popular parts of C7for discussion. KnT and WBTare particularly popular, and even MerTand FranTappear more often as the object of critical scrutiny than the more 'vulgar' MilT, RvT, and CAT, testifying to the ongoing unease of critics with 'low art.' In sum, then, the work of this period bears the traces of a discipline in some confusion as to its direction. Nonetheless, in the influential scholarship of Manly and Rickert and of Bryan and Dempster, and in the criticism of Speirs, can be seen the emergence of a more confident discipline better able to take account of such art as the fabliaux. [DOM]

1950-1964 The more appreciative attitude towards the three fabliaux in the fifties and sixties is reflected in the criticism of the period. The unseemly tales, as noted above, had frequently before then attracted suspicion and disap-

xxviii /Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales proval. Some considered their inclusion in CTpuzzling, and the tales were excluded from some editions. The attitude of disdain for less enlightened moral and social values is crystallized in W.W. Lawrence's justification of his 'refusal to consider them [the fabliaux tales] as worth the same attention as the rest' (301). There was a tolerance of the vivid portraits of the characters, but slight regard for the subject matters of the fabliaux. Although Chute, for example, expresses admiration for the descriptions of Alison and Absolon, she finds MilTmerely 'two dirty stories, held together by the thinnest of connectives' (306). Diametrically opposed to this prim dismissal is the generous praise of John Speirs: 'The tales are poetry—the fabliaux tales no less than the others' ('A Survey of Medieval Verse,' in Boris Ford, ed., A Guide to English Literature, Vol. I, The Age of Chaucer [Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1954], p 32). Preston comments that'Chaucer did not descend to the fabliau; he raised it' (310); and Muscatine asserts that in Chaucer's hands 'the fabliau becomes an art form' (324). Copland sees this—'the aesthetic status of what are, after all, "nothing but dirty stories'"—as 'the most pressing problem that the critic of the fabliau-type tales must face' (681). Their aesthetic status could rise when the tales were considered without guilt and prudishness, and without the assumption that 'a kind of comic frankness was possible to the mediaevals . . . which is closed for ever to us,' an assumption that Copland attributes to Virginia Woolf and D.H. Lawrence. If medieval standards of conduct had been so different, it is hard to imagine that the behaviour of the brilliantly drawn characters would have been worth description, and impossible to believe that Chaucer's stories could be retellings of obviously successful earlier versions (Heist 58); Chaucer would have had no need to warn his listeners to 'chese another tale' (line 3177); and, most importantly, the fabliaux could not be so painfully funny. William A. Madden refers to the social divisions within the company of pilgrims and to the effects of violating accepted ideas of 'seemliness.' Although he hints at 'moral and social consequences of which Chaucer could not be unaware,' Madden comments that 'the "gentils" . . . do not object... to the gross stories . . . of the lower order, although they themselves are impeccably "nice" in their own narratives' (212). We can be guided by what Chaucer shows us of contemporary opinion, including the ironically unrepentant apology of the pilgrim narrator. Free acceptance of the fabliaux permits close and rewarding examination. They can be seen to fit soundly into the scheme of C7and also within the literature and values of the period. Stokoe sees the sequence of tales told on the first day as a debate between the gentils and cherls, with MilT, in particular, as a distortion of KnT(3Q9). The patterns and parallels of the first day's tales are explored by Owen, who notes the interplay of parody

Introduction / xxix and paradox (315), and by Corsa, who describes the expression of tensions and hostilities revealed in the first fragment (332). MilT is seen as a critique and parody ofKnT, and points of comparison are noted by several critics, including Donaldson (27,103), Huppe (508), Preston (310), and Wordsworth (493). Boothman notes the similarities in M//rand Me/T(506); and Makarewicz sees MilT as a variant of the MerT theme and, like RvT, an exemplum to show cupiditas (314). Similarities and differences in MilT and RvT are noted by a number of critics, including Owen (212), Copland (681), Speirs (298), Paul Olson (682), Craik (333), Brewer (312), and Coghill (320). The vengeful nature of the Reeve colours his tale and its telling, contrasting sharply with the fresh exuberance of the Miller and his 'legende.' Muscatine describes his tale as 'fairly curdled with an unrelenting irony' (324). Several particular details are seen as connecting links between the tales; these attract attention and, occasionally, extrapolation. The quarrel between the Miller and Reeve is frequently noted and seen as a framing device within CT, eg by Baugh (304) and Forehand (209). Baum offers a comparison of the Miller and Reeve, suggesting that the Miller is a vulgar cheat and the Reeve an accomplished one (326); Stokoe considers that 'the Miller is ill-mannered, but the Reeve is ill-natured' (309). Some critics, including Olson (682) and Preston (310) regard the character of Symkyn as the Reeve's malicious likeness of Robin the Miller, who may, in turn, have modelled John the Carpenter on the Reeve. The coincidence of the name 'Robin' for the Miller and the knave is also mentioned, but dismissed by Owen (206) as no more than coincidence. Lumiansky speculates on earlier connections between the Miller and the Reeve (317). When the wider field of literature is examined, it is clear that the tales are part of more than a pattern of ribald stories. Their most immediate connection is to the fabliau genre, and analogues of MilT and RvT are noted, although the antecedents of CkT seem elusive. Heist describes analogues in folklore, and builds on earlier studies of French sources for MilT and RvT (58); and Bratcher writes of a Spanish-American tale which resembles MilT (61). When he transferred the fabliaux to English settings, Chaucer followed, exploited and parodied literary traditions and conventions. Muscatine writes of the use of French traditions and styles, particularly noting the naturalistic style of RvTand the 'richly detailed mixed style' of M/r(324). Chaucer's fabliau tales offer versions of other literary traditions and works. Among the most striking examples are Aleyn's farewell, a parody of an aube (677), and Absolon's 'silly versions of the love songs in the Song of Songs' (507). The distortion of the Song of Songs is also considered by Kaske (498, 503) and, briefly, by Makarewicz (314), who

xxx /Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales develops the wider theme of the moral framework of CT, a topic explored by Siegel (499) and Slaughter (325), and alluded to by other critics. Stillwell draws our attention to Chaucer's entertainingly misplaced use of the elevated language of love in MilTand RvT(3l9). Similarly, the celebrated descriptive passages which define the characters of the tales stand as ironic commentary on the conventional medieval ideas of beauty. Brewer discusses the 'rhetorical joke' of detailing Alison's attributes in the style used for a heroine of romance (316), and Donaldson (103), Bolton (501) and Bronson (497) note the surprises and incongruously earthy comparisons which refresh the stock methods of description. Muscatine comments on the details which fix Alison firmly in her setting of a carpenter's house in Oxford, although her portrait observes the conventions of romance. Other portraits also draw on traditions and expectations. Absolon's invites association with the biblical Absolom and with ideas of feminine beauty, as described by Beichner (483). The significance of his luxuriant hair is further elaborated by Cline (502), who shows that it indicates defiance of prescribed standards of clerical dress. The descriptions and actions of Nicholas, 'an undergraduate of mystifying charm' (310), exploit and add to the connotations of the words associated with him, most significantly 'hende' and 'derne love,' detailed by Beichner (108) and Donaldson (103). A study similar to Beichner's of'hende' and Nicholas is Reed's, which shows how 'sely' defines John the Carpenter (120). A source of John's 'bileve' is the complex mixture of astrology and biblical knowledge described by O'Connor (491). Much of his garbled knowledge conies from mystery plays, and their contribution to the background of the fabliaux is noted by several critics. The medieval ideas of Herod and Pilate are considered particularly important, and are discussed by Harder (490), Mullany (215) and Reiss (216). Pilate, the devil's agent, was associated with millers, and the connection is emphasized in the case of Symkyn, through the 'Pilate/ piled' word-play, noted by Reiss. Pilate's voice is attributed to Robin, the pilgrim miller, and considered to be that of the ranting buffoon of the mystery plays, except by Ellinwood, who associates it with the countertenor used by the subdeacon in reading the gospels in Holy Week (205). The combination of mystery play ideas and contemporary stereotypes of millers contributes to the characters of Robin and Symkyn, and it is not surprising that Symkyn is often seen as a malicious parody of the pilgrim miller. Block (207) writes of the two millers' playing of bagpipes, symbols of greed and lust. George Fenwick Jones considers the unfavourable general concepts of millers, together with the particular additions of details of appearance and dress which add to the characters of Robin and Symkyn (211, 673). Among details of appearance, the most notorious is Symkyn's 'camus nose,' a feature inherited by his daughter, Malyne. This attracts

Introduction / xxxi attention, because it provokes word-play, described by Steadman (678), and also as an outward sign of a wanton nature, noted by Turner (670) and elaborated by Emerson (676) and Brewer (316). Such detailed study of the tales adds to the richness of our enjoyment, allowing us to share some of the background familiar to Chaucer's original audience. There are many other contributions to our knowledge, including investigations of word-play, particularly those of Kokeritz(llO), Baum (112, 117), and Eliason (113). These allow more shades of ambiguity to enrich our appreciation of Chaucer's art. The comparison of Alison to a weasel suggests many possibilities, recorded by Beryl Rowland (510), who also offers another interpretation of the reference in MilTto a swallow, to be considered with that of Kreuzer (492). Similar research enhances the images which characterize the Reeve, including the work of Forehand (209) and MacLaine(214). Studies that give entirely factual information strengthen our ideas of Chaucer's characters and their actions. The knowledge gained in the journeys of Magoun, eventually collected in his Gazetteer (329), give enduring touches of reality to an imaginary work. The observations of Block (674) help to establish an exact idea of 'half-wey prime' for the telling of RvT. Such research enhances the 'extraordinary solidity' which Muscatine notes as a feature of Chaucer's work. [RCG]

1965-1969 Broadly speaking, three major forms of critical activity are influential in Chaucer studies in the late sixties. These range from, at one end of a spectrum, the broad introduction or guide to the man and his work, such as Hussey, Spearing and Winny's An Introduction to Chaucer (336). At the other end are the articles and critical notes which examine the minutiae— disputed lines or words, the possible sources for an image or name—such as Biggins's 'Sym(e)kyn/simia: The Ape in Chaucer's Millers' (688). In between there are the more expansive critical articles, offering readings of a complete tale, such as Friedman's 'A Reading of Chaucer's Reeve's Tale' (687), and books which direct a particular interpretation at Chaucer's work as a whole, in the fashion of Jordan's Chaucer and the Shape of Creation: The Aesthetic Possibilities of Inorganic Form (516). The notes on 'minutiae' are not at all new, of course (eg 199, 297, 525), but what is interesting is their tendency to conclude that the line, word or allusion in question, when explicated, shows that Chaucer is being cleverer than had hitherto been suspected; in this sense, such articles are completely

xxxii I Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales in accord with the larger critical studies that make essentially the same point. Given this positivism, this period of Chaucer study can be firmly located within a discipline with a greater confidence in its approach to literature, engendered by the Leavisite and New Critical revolutions. It is difficult not to conclude that post-war prosperity, and its effect on the universities, has a direct corollary in academic positivism, particularly in a discipline which, in its early years, had been buffeted by the scepticism of the German philological schools, and was later slow to emerge from the naive historicism of early literary study. Although the moral value of literature was still of paramount importance to criticism, it was no longer the case that the fabliaux were the poor relations in the canon, uneasily set aside as non-serious, vulgar tales. As Brewer put it in 1968, the fabliaux 'have rocketed into a position of central importance for most critics of Chaucer' after occupying 'a lowly position' earlier in the century (62). Whereas this reflected a decreased concern with the Arnoldian charge of lack of seriousness, it was also no doubt the result of the continued expansion of the discipline, requiring new fields of enquiry to be opened up for successive generations of scholars. The rise of the fabliaux is also connected to the growing concern with Chaucer's realism in the criticism of this period. The stuff of his poems, it is generally maintained, is derived entirely from his acute observations of late fourteenth-century life. Though he is also, of course, an allegorist, the allegorizing impulse is tempered by this acuteness at representing life as it was. Thus, the generally negative judgments on D.W. Robertson (330)— such as that of Utley (353)—are not surprising. In this representational framework, the fabliaux are considered to offer valuable depictions of fourteenth-century lower-class life. Opinion differs, however, on whose perspective is being taken: for Brewer, MilT is a tale told from the point of view of the upper class, 'a courtly joke against old-fashioned provincial love-language, and against petty low-class folk who in their animal lusts ape the refined manners of their betters' (518). Jackson, on the other hand, finds that although the story is 'highly indelicate and immoral,' it 'is very funny and very much alive. It is the earthy answer to courtly love' (340). But Jackson's scruples are not often voiced in the criticism of this period; overall, the movement is towards seeing the fabliaux as sophisticated jokes, and placing them firmly in the acceptable canon of a master realist. [DOM]

Introduction / xxxiii

1970-1979 Whereas the late fifties and the sixties saw the production of several widely-used teaching editions of complete or selected C7"and other of Chaucer's major works (Cawley 26, Donaldson 27, Baugh 29, Pratt 31-2, Howard 35), in the seventies, apart from Fisher's edition of the complete works (42), there was a move towards the production of separate editions of individual tales, each provided with its own introduction and critical apparatus (MHT36, 39; RvT44). Facsimile editions had appeared before (Thynne's edition 5, the Kelmscott Chaucer 28), but developments in printing technology made their production more feasible in the late sixties and the seventies. These years, accordingly, saw the appearance of facsimiles of various early printed editions (33,37), of another Kelmscott Chaucer (40), and of the Hengwrt manuscript (43). The rise in the reputation of Hengwrt as against Ellesmere—which is the basis of the text in Robinson (14) and most other editions with the exception of Donaldson's (27)—is reflected in the choice of Hengwrt as the base text for the Variorum edition (see 46) and for Blake's 1980 edition of CT(4S). The explosion of publication in literary studies in the seventies that led T. A. Shippey to remark that the function of learned journals is 'not to be read but to be published in' (TLS6 June 1980: 647) is as noticeable in the Chaucer industry as in any other field. The Chaucer Review began publication in 1966; the yearbook of the New Chaucer Society, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, has been appearing since 1979. The latter's inclusion of an annual annotated bibliography of Chaucer studies, and its stated preference for articles on 'such concerns as the efficacy of various critical approaches to the art of Chaucer and his contemporaries, their literary relationships and reputations, and the artistic, economic, intellectual, religious, scientific, and social and historical backgrounds to their work,' are indicative of both the magnitude of this expansion and the sorts of directions it has taken. As Florence Ridley remarked in the first paragraph of the first issue of this journal, 'Study of this enigmatic poet and his work flourishes like the green bay tree. . . Rather more frequently of late ideas from the lunatic fringe of twentieth-century literary criticism seem to be assigned to the fourteenthcentury poet; but even the most far out of these are signs of Chaucer's continuing vitality, of continuing interest in his work, and the continuing emergence of new approaches to it' ('The State of Chaucer Studies: A Brief Survey,'&4C1 [1979]:3-16,p3).

xxxiv /Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales The proliferation of literary criticism in the seventies led to an upsurge in the publication of short histories and guides (eg 357, 375). Generic approaches to these tales as fabliaux continued to be popular in this period (eg 65-67). Linguistic study likewise remained popular, and the growth of Linguistics as a discipline made its impact in studies based on statistical and stylistic analysis (138, 234) and using computers for the collection and analysis of data (152). Much other work in the seventies was devoted to questions of rhetoric and style (eg 234-6, 239-40). Characterization, imagery, and love were all popular topics in the seventies (see the index entries for each of these headings); so too were the structure of the C7(eg 364-6, 389), pre-twentieth-century reactions to the fabliaux (eg 385, 4012), the historical and socio-political background (eg 374,383, 403), and the moral and religious import of the fabliaux (a large number of items, many of them inspired by the work of D.W. Robertson, 330: see the index under such entries as allusions', Bible; exegesis; preaching; sermons; sin; and individual saints' names, indexed under St). [TLB]

1980-1984 Current criticism, although sometimes using a new terminology and methodology, still follows a tradition established in the first years of this century; as it always has done, much of the published work concerns matters of social history, editorial importance or textual influences of relevance to Chaucer's work. The major event of this period must be the publication of the Variorum Chaucer for MilT(46), under the editorship of Thomas W. Ross, which, using Hengwrt as its base manuscript, establishes a text from a host of manuscript and early printed editions, and also draws upon much of the best critical and interpretative work of the last century. It defies annotation. A useful overview of the history of editing Chaucer is provided by Ruggiers (422). An almost innumerable quantity of articles seek to elucidate various difficulties of interpretation within the text, and so take their place in a tradition now well established. Each, no matter how apparently minor or contentious, adds something to the collective understanding of the text that can never be lost. Boenig, writing on the Miller's bagpipes (241), deepens the Miller's characterization simply by alerting us to a potential irony within the text; and who could think of 'hende' Nicholas in quite the same way after reading Condren (425)? In a similar (but more subtle) way, Revard's view of the tow on Absolom's distaff alters our perception of one of

Introduction / xxxv Chaucer's characters (159). Nitzsche writes on the importance of herbal imagery in M/r(591); and Cooper re-explores the ambiguities of the word 'sely' (157). Harwood (599) and Dane (587) both provide views of MilT from a structuralist perspective. Readings of the Reeve's character have been enhanced by Vasta's work on medieval representations of the devil (244, 710); writers such as Plummer (709) and Heffernan (702) explore aspects of the social and religious background behind the Reeve's characterization; and Tkacz considers the implications of the term 'beard-making' (170). Orme (748) and Scattergood (749) also add to our understanding of the Cook and his tale. However, the major interpretative study of the period is that by Kolve (419), which is representative of those studies that seek to explore the meanings of the text by reference to medieval artistic and cultural practices. Kolve's particular concern is to relate the imagery of Chaucer's work to the artistic conventions of the Middle Ages; his book has been welcomed as an important study on the uses of iconography. More general overviews and summaries of CTare provided by Brewer(416)andTraversi(413). [DPS]

1985-1992 The publication of the Riverside Chaucer in 1987 (49), in spite of some adverse reviews such as Betsy Bowden's (Essays in Criticism 38 (1988): 7579), re-established Robinson's edition (14,15), at least for the time being, as the most commonly used version of the complete works for teaching purposes and for citation in scholarly writing. It is too early yet to say what will be the impact of the increasing use of computer technology in teaching and research and of the availability promised by 'The Canterbury Tales Project' of computerized transcripts of all known manuscripts of CT. (The Project publishes a Newsletter and Occasional Papers that describe its work; these are available through the Office for Humanities Communications, Oxford University.) Meanwhile a new edition of eighteenth-century modernizations of Chaucer (52) and translations of CT'm the late eighties into French (41,47), German (48), and Chinese (636) attest to a continuing interest in Chaucer through both time and space. The structural principle governing CT is still a matter of dispute (see 411-12, 432, 439); and there is renewed interest in recent years in the narrative art of Cr(435, 443). Iconography and imagery continue to be areas of interest (see index), as do rhetoric and style (428, 432, 649). The need for critical guides is even more acute in the eighties than the seventies

xxxvi /Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales and is supplied by items such as 438, 440, 451-3. The Chaucer Bibliographies themselves grow out of this need. Linguistic studies continue to flourish. Many individual words have been the subject of study, with pryvetee (see index) proving in recent years to be easily the most popular. One recent article (85) analyses the narrative of M//rusing a model taken from transformational grammar. The use of dialect forms in 7?vr(reviewed by Dor in 179) still generates discussion. Computers continue to be used in linguistic study (see 188), but perhaps less widely than might have been expected. The impact of contemporary critical theory on medieval literature is the subject of 635, and, not surprisingly, many recent items show the influence of one or another of the fashionable critical approaches: Bakhtinian discourse theory (249), psychoanalytic theory (607), feminist theory (eg 456, 643-4), and Marxist theory, which, overtly or otherwise, lies behind many of the items dealing with the socio-political background (eg 247, 251). Items taking these new approaches, however, have not displaced those dealing with the religious background or content, which continue to proliferate. Chaucer and the Bible (442) provides a much-needed index to and review of scholarship in this area. Deconstruction has as yet had little impact on the study of the fabliaux, but it can surely be only a matter of time before someone suggests that what these tales really show is the incapactiy of verbal language to be as meaningful as Nicholas's fart. [TLB]

Chaucer's Miller's,

Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

This page intentionally left blank

Editions, Translations, and Modernizations

Only the most scholarly editions of Chaucer's works at first gave MilT, RvT and CkT'm full; many others resorted to exclusion or to bowdlerization which curtailed, altered or rendered them mystifying. The Modern Reader's Chaucer 10, for example, printed first in 1912 and last in 1966 omits many of the details of MilT which make it a coherent story. F.N. Robinson's edition of the complete works 14, using 'primarily the eight printed manuscripts and Thynne's edition,' first published in 1933, established itself as the standard to which most other criticism refers. The second edition 15 was published in 1957, and has been superseded only by The Riverside Chaucer 49 of Larry D. Benson et al, which is based on Robinson's. The edition of C7by John Matthews Manly and Edith Rickert 18 gives the fullest study of all manuscript sources, comparing all variant readings. Facsimile editions include those of individual manuscripts and more recent artistic productions such as William Morris's Kelmscott Chaucer. Among recent editions, those of E.T. Donaldson 27 and N.F. Blake 45 use the Hengwrt MS, and contribute valuable critical comment. Some translations into Modern English prose and verse have been annotated, together with some of the translations into other languages. Others were not available for annotation, but it may be useful to scholars to know of their existence, which gives an indication of the widespread interest in Chaucer and his works. A number of editions of the individual tales have been produced, generally with comprehensive critical introductions, most of them intended for student use. However, the Variorum edition of MilT 46 gives a coverage so full that it almost defies annotation. See also 422, 467, 650.

1

The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. Walter W. Skeat. 7 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1894-7.

4 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

2

3

4

5

MilP-MilT-RvP-RvT-CkP-CkT are printed on pp 89-129 of Vol 4, with notes on pp 95-131 ofVo!5. Vol 6 contains an introduction, glossary and index. The text is based on the Ellesmere MS, and follows Furnivall's SixText Edition (1877) with the addition of Harleian MS 7334. Scansion is used as a guide to the inclusion or exclusion of final -e (Vol 4, p xix). Skeat avoids commenting on matters of'aesthetic criticism' which he leaves to the 'professed critic [who] can be trusted to do it thoroughly' (Vol 6, p xxiii). [DPS] Selections from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (Ellesmere Text). Ed. Hiram Corson. New York: Macmillan, 1896. The text used is Ellesmere, with variations from other manuscripts noted. The aim of the selections 'has been to represent Chaucer at his best, both as a story-teller and as a poet,' with some tales given in full and passages 'from Tales which could not, in these days, be introduced into a text-book for students' (p vii). From MilT Corson selects the 'Description of the Carpenter's Young Wife' (3233-68) and the 'Description of a Parish Clerk' (3312-3336) (pp 63-5); from RvP lines 3855-3898, and the 'Description of a Miller and his Wife' (3921-56) from RvT(pp 66-9); and the 'Description of a London Apprentice' (4365^20) from CkT(pp 70-1). [RCG] The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. [The Globe Chaucer] Ed. Alfred W. Pollard, H. Frank Heath, Mark H. Liddell, and W.S. McCormick. London: Macmillan, 1898;rpt many times. A 'Library' edition, intended to accompany the Globe edition of Shakespeare (published by Macmillan in 1864). It was originally intended that Bradshaw and Furnivall should edit the book. Pollard gives a general introduction to CT(pp xxv-xxxii). Brief annotations and variants are given as footnotes with the texts. A glossary 'for working purposes' is provided. The most recent date of additions to the introductory material is 1928. MilT and RvTare mentioned only as tales developed by Chaucer from an 'original' with a similar plot (p xxx), although a note to the text of the tale states that no original of MilT has been found (p 44). [RCG] The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. With an Introduction by T.R. Lounsbury. New York: Crowell, 1900. The work is a school edition with a glossary. CAT is described as incomplete, 'little more than begun' (p xvi). [GDM] The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer and Others, Being a Reproduction in Facsimile of the First Collected Edition 1532. [William Thynne]. Introduction by Walter W. Skeat. London: De La More; Oxford: Oxford UP, 1905. Thynne presented the first collected edition of Chaucer's works, together with some non-Chaucerian pieces. Skeat gives some notes on the order of the tales in the Thynne edition, which is consistent with the usual order of tales in the first fragment. The tales are illustrated with woodcuts. [GDM]

Editions and Translations / 5 6

7

8

9

10

11

Tales of the Canterbury Pilgrims Retold from Chaucer and Others. Ed. F.J. Harvey Darton. Introduction F.J. Furnivall. Illustrations Hugh Thomson. London: Gardner, 1906. The collection includes 'The Miller is a Churl,' a brief retelling of MilT, RvT and CkT. In it the Cook ceases his tale because it is 'bad . . . not fit to be heard by you' (p 57). [GDM] The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer From the Text of Professor Skeat. Vol. 3, The Canterbury Tales. World's Classics. London: Henry Frowde, Oxford UP, 1906. Based on Skeat's edition, 'The Oxford Chaucer,' this edition contains MilT, RvT and their prologues. [GDM] Chaucer's Canterbury Tales for the Modern Reader. Ed. Arthur Burrell. Everyman's Library, 307. London: Dent; New York: Dutton, 1908. Rpt many times to 1948. MilT(pp 74-92) and RvT(pp 92-103) are among the seven tales not modernized: 'They are so broad, so plain-spoken, that no amount of editing or alteration will make them suitable for the twentieth century' (vii-viii). CkT is omitted. There is no indication of which manuscripts have been used; there are no notes, glossary or introductory material. [GDM, DPS] Les Contes de Canterbury de Geoffroy Chaucer: Traduction Francais. Trans. Emile Legouis et al. Paris: Felix Alcan, 1908. The basis for the translation is Skeat's Student's Chaucer. J. Delcourt translates MilT, and J. Derocquigny RvT and CkT. RvT is set in parasyllabic lines without rhyme, using the Norman oaths employed by La Fontaine in the tales of the Troqueurs, to preserve the Northern dialect. The notes stress the sources and analogues of the tales, including Nachtbuchlein by Valentin Schumann (1559) and Novelette 49 of Massuccio di Salerno's collection (c. 1470) for MilT, and De Gombert et des II clers and Le Meunier et les II clers for RvT. M. Castelain notes verbal echoes of MilT in CYTand of RvT inManT. [GDM] The Modern Reader's Chaucer. Ed. John S.P. Tatlock and Percy MacKaye. 1912. Toronto: Free Press-Macmilllan, 1966. A modern English prose version of Chaucer's complete works. MilT(pp 52-64), RvT(pp 64-72) and CkT(pp 72-4) are given with some expurgation. [DFS] The College Chaucer. Ed. Henry Noble MacCracken. New Haven: Yale UP, 1913. Based on the Ellesmere manuscript. Only the prologues are printed for MilT (pp 91-3), RvT(pp 94-6) and CkT(pp 97-8). At the end of each of these there is a synopsis of several lines standing for the relevant tale. There are no notes. [DFS]

6 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook s Tales 12 Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: Nach dem Ellesmere Manuscript mil Lesarten, Anmerkungen undeinem Glossar. Ed. John Koch. Englische Textbibliothek 16. Heidelberg: Carl Winter's Universitatsbuchhandlung, 1915. MilP-MilT-RvP-RvT-CkP-CkTarQ on pp 66-90. The text is based on the Ellesmere MS and follows Furnivall's Six-Text Edition (1877) with the addition of twelve other manuscripts discussed on p 2 of the introduction. Notes and glossary are provided. [DPS] 13 The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Wood engravings by Eric Gill. Waltham Saint Lawrence, Berkshire: Golden Cockerel Press, 1929. 3 vols. A handsome edition, decorated with engravings. MilTis found on pp 107— 32, RvTpp 132^8 and CkTpp 148-51 of Vol 1. The source of the text is not given and there is no commentary. [RCG] 14 The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. F.N. Robinson. Student's Cambridge Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; Oxford University Press, London: Milford, 1933. Robinson used 'primarily the eight printed manuscripts and Thynne's edition' (p vii), collating also the Cardigan and Morgan copies and taking account of'the various textual studies of Zupitza and Koch, McCormick, Tatlock and Brusendorff (p vii). His general introduction includes sections on the life of Chaucer (pp xv-xxiii), the canon and chronology of Chaucer's works (pp xxiv), language and metre (pp xxv-xxxi), and the text (pp xxxiixl). There is a separate introduction to CT(pp 1-17), followed by the text, with MilP (pp 56-7), MilT(pp 57-65), RvP (p 66), RvT(pp 67-72), CkP (p 72), CkT(p 73). The bibliography and explanatory notes are placed after the text, with textual notes and a general glossary and list of proper names. [RCG] •Review by Dorothy Everett, M/E1 (1938), 204-13: questions the thoroughness of Robinson's dealing with Northern forms in RvT. 'In summing up the impression made by this edition one must say that it is at the same time indispensable and to be used with caution' (p 213). •Review by Frederick Tupper, 'Chaucer and the Cambridge Edition.' JEGP 39 (1940), 503-26: 'There mingles with our large gratitude for the diligence, decency and fidelity that pervades the many pages of comment and criticism in Professor Robinson's valuable edition of Chaucer (1933), a deep regret that he is insensitive to the value of constructive evidence, whenever it runs counter to his own preconceptions' (p 503). •Review by M.B. Ruud, MLN 50 (1935), 329-32: 'The merits of Professor Robinson's text are no doubt a matter of debate; there can be no doubts at all about the excellence of his introduction and notes' (p 331). 15 The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed F.N. Robinson. 2nd edn: London and Oxford: Oxford UP, 1957; first published 1933.

Editions and Translations / 7 To the first edition, Robinson has added critical material made available by more recent scholarship. The bibliography has been enlarged and the notes revised and expanded. [RCG] • Review by Vernon P. Helming, Speculum 33 (1958), 123-5: notes improvement made by the publishers and some textual alterations based on the edition of Manly and Rickert. 'As in the first edition, the fruits of the editor's own unremitting studies and the direct contributions of his colleagues and correspondents impressively enrich his clarification and criticism' (p 124). 16 The Canterbury Tale of the Miller: Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. William van Wyck. San Francisco, CA: Black Vine, 1939. Not seen. The work is a free prose translation ofMUT, privately printed in a limited edition of three hundred copies. More than two hundred were destroyed by A. A. Sperisen, one of the printers. [RCG] 17 Canterbury Tales By Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. John Matthews Manly. With an Introduction, Notes and a Glossary. London: Harrap, 1940. Manly supplies a biography of Chaucer (pp 3-37), with information on his appearance (pp 37-9), friends and associates (pp 39^4) and his England (pp 44-67). These are followed by a general introduction to CT(pp 67-88), covering the general plan, pilgrims, frame stories, order of tales and links, together with a key to manuscripts. There are comprehensive sections on Chaucer's language (pp 88-121), versification (pp 122-32), astronomy and astrology (pp 132-44) and a short reference list (pp 144-7). There are notes (pp 495-658), a glossary (pp 659-707) and index (pp 709-21). The text offered is selective, with most of MilTomitted, because it is 'a vulgar tale of the fabliau type' (p 558) and 'as a whole is not fit to be read in mixed company' (p 559). MilP and the portraits of Nicholas and Alison (3187270) and Absolon (3307-47) are given. The texts of RvP, RvT(ending at line 4106) and CkTare fuller, but also abridged. [RCG] 18 The Text of the Canterbury Tales, Studied on the Basis of All Known Manuscripts. Ed. John M. Manly and Edith Rickert. Chicago: U of Chicago P; London: Cambridge UP, 1940. The most comprehensive edition of the tales, in eight volumes. Text and critical notes are in vols 3-4, descriptions of the manuscripts in vol 1, classification of the manuscripts in vol 2 and corpus of variants in vols 5-8. [DOM] •Review by H.S.V. J[ones], JEGP 40 (1941), 142-5: 'the editors belong to what Professor Robinson called "the severest critical school," although at more than one turn their common sense and their ready intelligence have achieved an economy and a clarity that we do not associate with merely industrious research' (p 143). •Review by Margaret Galway, MLR 35 (1940), 534-7: 'This definitive

8 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

19 20

21

22 23

24

25

edition of the text of the Canterbury Tales provides all the means the MSS. afford for discovering Chaucer's intentions for the poem' (p 535). •Review by Dorothy Everett, RES 18 (1942), 93-109: although 'as a working tool for the scholar . . . it is not an easy book to use' (p 108), it 'merits the highest praise for its accuracy' (p 109). Les Contes de Canterbury. Ed. Floris Delattre, Louis Cazamian et al. Paris: Aubier, 1942. Selections, containing a translation of MilT; not seen. [DOM] Geoffrey Chaucer: Canterbury Tales. Ed. I.A. Kashkin and O.B. Runner. Introduction and commentary I.A. Kashkin. Moscow: State Publishing Company for Artistic Literature, 1943. Russian translation of the tales; not seen. [DOM] The Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer. Trans. R.M. Luminansky. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1948. Rpt many times. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963. 'A new modern English prose translation' of all the tales, illustrated, and with an introduction by the translator. Translations are close to the original, but in a modern American idiom. Hence Alison, for example, 'thrust her ass out the window' at Absolon (p 64). [DOM] I Raccontidi Canterbury. Versione integrale. Trans. Cino Chiarini and Cesare Foligno. Firenze: Sansoni, 1949. Not seen. [DOM] The Portable Chaucer. Ed. Theodore Morrison. New York: Viking, 1949. Rev. New York: Penguin, 1975. Contains an extensive introduction, and gives a broad selection from CT, including verse translations of MilT(pp 135-54) and RvT(pp 156-68). [DOM] The Age of Chaucer. Ed. William Frost. English Masterpieces 1. Gen. ed. MaynardMack. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1950. 2ndedn. 1961. An anthology of Middle English poetry. The first two tales of C7are about rivalry of suitors, each 'in the kind of milieu that its teller would probably most like to inhabit' (p 14). They tell of violence and sharply diversified characters, with the greatest contrast between Theseus in KnTand John the carpenter in MilT. Frost gives the text of MilT, with glosses at the foot of the page, and a short prose summary of RvTand CkP. [RCG] The Canterbury Tales. Trans. Nevill Coghill. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1951. Rev. 1958. Rpt many times. A translation into modern English verse, with synopses of the prose tales. Hende Nicholas is 'Nicholas the Gallant.' The two clerks of 7?vruse northern forms of speech such as '[H]ow's your canny daughter?' Coghill gives a general introduction describing Chaucer's life and works (pp 11-18) and notes on some passages following the text (pp 509-25). [RCG]

Editions and Translations / 9 26

The Canterbury Tales. Ed. A.C. Cawley. Everyman's Library. London: Dent; New York: Dutton, 1958. Rev. 1975. Gives the text of Robinson's second edition, with glosses in the right margin and longer notes at the foot of the page. There is an introduction (pp viixiv), a select bibliography (pp xv-xvii) and appendices on 'Pronunciation' (pp 609-10), 'Grammar' (pp 610-11) and 'Versification' (pp 611-12). [RCG] 27 Chaucer's Poetry: An Anthology for the Modern Reader. Ed. E.T. Donaldson. New York: Ronald Press, 1958. The text is based on the Hengwrt ms, with a standardized spelling, glosses on the page, and a critical introduction to each piece. To quite KnT, the Miller tells a tale of a love triangle, retaining and ridiculing some conventions of courtly romance. 'Nicholas' directness of purpose makes fun of the idealized but remote love of those nice young men Palamon and Arcite for a lady whom they have never met and scarcely seen . . . . Similarly, the long description of Alison . . . burlesques the conventional item-by-item catalogue of charms, physical and spiritual' (p 907). Absolon's feminine beauty is stressed; John is punished for his jealousy. M/77 presents a world of comic ideals and justice, unlike that of KnT, 'in which the workings of a higher justice are impenetrably obscure' (p 908). 'In the Miller's world, the unseen forces ride roughshod over probability to fulfill the great conspiracy to make laughter supreme' (p 909). 'Revenge . . . seems too mean and low a thing to be raised to the level of pure sportiveness that the theme of carnal love achieves in the Miller's Tale', but is given to 'the calculating, unattractive Reeve, who uses it to effect his own revenge on the Miller for the latter's fancied insult' (p 909). Although the Reeve's meanness permeates it, the tale is close to the Miller's 'in terms of general hilarity' (p 910). Although Symkyn wins early victories, 'the dupes undo all his jealous guarding of his wife's honor, impair the marketable value of his daughter, regain their corn, and beat him w e l l . . . And while these worms are turning, the Reeve . . . takes his own sly revenge on his own more forceful antagonist' (p 910). Although he intended to develop a conflict between the Cook and Host like that between the Miller and Reeve, 'probably Chaucer felt that a third fabliau would scarcely serve the variety that he had promised, and therefore left it unfinished' (p 911). Since the Cook's earlier activity is not mentioned when he is reintroduced in the prologue ofManT, Donaldson suggests that Chaucer intended to cancel both the link and the unfinished tale. [RCG] 28 The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer: A Facsimile of the William Morris Kelmscott Chaucer with the Original 87 Illustrations by Edward BurneJones. Introduction, John T. Winterich. Cleveland: World, 1958.

10 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

29

30

31

32

A facsimile, somewhat reduced in size, of'[t]he most memorable and beautiful edition of Chaucer's works' (p v), The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer Now Newly Imprinted by William Morris, at the Kelmscott Press, in 1896, in the Chaucer type designed by Morris. A short historical introduction (pp v-xii) describes the lives and works of Chaucer and Morris, and there is a glossary (pp xiii-xx), based on Skeat's annotations. The text gives MilT(pp 31-7),/fv/Xpp 37-41) and OfcTXpp 41-2). See also 40. [RCG] Chaucer's Major Poetry. Ed. Albert C. Baugh. London: Routledge, 1963. This edition gives 'extensive annotations on the same page as the text' (p v). The general introduction deals with Chaucer's life (pp xi-xxi), language (pp xxii-xxxix) and versification (pp xl-xlii), and gives a bibliography (pp xliiixlv). There is an introduction to Cr(pp 228-35), followed by the text (pp 237-533), with MilT(pp 290-302), RvT(pp 302-10) and CkT(pp 310-12). The prose tales are omitted. There is a general glossary. [RCG] The Canterbury Tales. Trans. David Wright. London: Barrie and Rockliff, 1964. A translation into modern English prose. 'Hende Nicholas' is rendered 'Fly Nicholas,' and Malyne is 'Molly.' John the clerk wants to avoid looking 'a clahthead, daft as a brush!' (p 65). [RCG] The Tales of Canterbury: Complete. Ed. Robert A. Pratt. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966. Rpt 1974. The text follows the ' 1400 Order,' based on Robinson's edition 15, with additions from Manly and Rickert 18. Pratt gives a comprehensive general introduction (pp ix-xxxiv). Here he describes the pilgrims, the framework and the tales, dealing with MilTand RvT, their relations with each other and fabliaux, the names used in the tales (pp xxviii-xxxi), the order of the tales (pp xxxv-xxxvi) and Chaucer's language (p xxxvii). The text of CTis printed with marginal glosses and brief commentary at the foot of the page, and there is a basic glossary. The Reeve and the Miller are examples of 'one of Chaucer's more complex methods of characterization' (p xxviii). The references to a colt, fruit, bells and fire in MilTare picked up by RvP, which looks back to MilT(pp xxviii-ix). In MilTour view of Oxford is enriched by 'figures of speech which present simultaneously . . . both the scene of the immediate action and also another scene' (p xxix); 'the learned world of the irreverent Nicholas is set against the obscurantism of the pious carpenter John; and motifs of religion, both sincere and hypocritical, are counterpointed against lust and melody of flesh and the world' (p xxxiii). [RCG] Selections from The Tales of Canterbury and Short Poems. Ed. Robert A. Pratt. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966. Contains MilT(pp 80-96), RvT(pp 98-109) and CkT(pp 110-11), with glosses in the margins and explanatory notes at the foot of the page. The

Editions and Translations / 11

33

34 35

36

37

38

text is based on Robinson 15, with readings from Manly and Rickert 18. Brief comments on the tale in the introduction show the relations between this tale and RvT, stating that John the carpenter satirizes Osewold the Reeve, and Symkyn satirizes the Miller (pp xxix-xxx). [DOM] Geoffrey Chaucer. The Works, 1532, With supplementary material from the editions of 1542, 1561, 1598 and 1602. Facsimile edition. Ed. D.S. Brewer. Menston, Yorkshire: Scolar, 1969. Rpt London: Scolar, 1974, 1976. This facsimile presents sixteenth- and seventeenth-century editions, chiefly those of Thynne and Speght. It offers the works as they appeared to readers of the period. [RCG] Povestirile din Canterbury [The Canterbury Tales]. Trans. Dan Dutescu. Bucuresti: Editura pentru literatura universala, 1969. Not seen. [DOM] The Canterbury Tales: A Selection. Ed. Donald R. Howard. New York: New American Library, 1969. Contains MilP and MilT(pp 162-84) and RvP and RvT(pp 185-200), in a normalized text, with glosses at the foot of the page. There is a general introduction, chronology, select bibliography and a glossary of basic words. [DOM] The Miller's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. Constance B. Hieatt. The Canterbury Series. Gen. Ed. A. Kent Hieatt. University of Western Ontario. New York: Odyssey, 1970. This edition gives an introduction (pp 1-19), the text of the prologue (pp 21-4), the tale (pp 25^48) and an epilogue (lines 3855-82 of RvP) (pp 4950), a translation of the Flemish analogue The Three Guests ofHeile of Bersele (pp 5 l^t), a bibliography (pp 55-60), a note on Chaucer's language (pp 61-7) and a glossary (pp 69-85). In the introduction, Hieatt deals with attitudes towards MilT(pp 1-3), connections with other tales (pp 4-6), analogues and motifs (pp 7-9), word-play (pp 10-16) and aspects of poetic justice (pp 18-19). [RCG] The Canterbury Tales. With a note by J.A.W. Bennett. Cornmarket Reprints in association with Magdalene College, Cambridge, 1972. A facsimile of Pepys's copy of Caxton's second edition of CT, with a short introduction by J.A.W. Bennett. He notes that the text was produced from a manuscript which 'cannot now be traced' and includes a 'Prohemye,' which 'constitutes the first extended appreciation of the poet.' [RCG] A Choice of Chaucer's Verse. Ed. Nevill Coghill. London: Faber, 1972. Since Chaucer's is 'a kind of excellence that is difficult to illustrate by short excerpts' (p 12), Coghill has included all ofMilT'm this collection of extracts, with MnE paraphrases on facing pages. Other selections include C^rand the portrait of the Miller from GP. [RCG]

12 / Miller's, Reeve s, and Cook s Tales 39

40

41

42

43

The Miller's Prologue and Tale: From the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. James Winny. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1971. Rpt 1974. The text is based on Robinson's 15. The introduction stresses Chaucer's turning 'from the closed world of courtly ideals towards the lively informality of middle-class affairs and its graphically expressive language' (p 2), shown in the character of the Miller and his tale. The outwitting of John 'represents the triumph of scholarly subtlety over bourgeois native wit, and in this respect offsets Chaucer's imaginative commitment to common life' (p 8). The most imaginative departure from analogues is Chaucer's use of astrology (pp 10-14), and his most remarkable change in characterization 'the transformation of Heile's third client into this provincial amorist and fop' (p 16), Absolon, whose manners 'call for rebuke not only from Alison but from the poet whose outlook is given form and substance by The Miller's Tale' (p 19). Alison exists 'as a complex of sensations' (pp 20-21). [RCG] Chaucer's Works. London: Basilisk, 1974. [Facsimile of The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer Now Newly Imprinted. Ed. F.S. Ellis. Illustrated by Edward Burne-Jones. Hammersmith: Kelmscott, 1898.] With A Companion Volume to the Kelmscott Chaucer. Duncan Robinson. London: Basilisk, 1975. The Kelmscott Chaucer was produced by William Morris, using Skeat's text, and decorated with woodcuts by Edward Burne-Jones. The Companion Volume gives the history of the production and is copiously illustrated with Burne-Jones's sketches and drawings. See also 28. [RCG] Geoffroy Chaucer: Les Contes de Cantorbery. lerepartie. Trans. Juliette de Caluwe-Dor. Gand: Editions Scientifiques, 1977. KtemataS. Gives a translation into French of GP and some tales, from the edition of Robinson 15, with an introduction (p ii-v), notes (p 129-41) and a bibliography (p 142-6), with Mil? (p 87-9) and MilT(p 90-108). [RCG] The Complete Poetry and Prose of Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. John H. Fisher. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977. Rev. 1989. 'This edition presents Chaucer's complete works, glossed and annotated so that each page can be read without reference to other parts of the book or to other reference tools' (p vii). CTare in Ellesmere order, using that manuscript, with variants from Hengwrt and others. Fisher gives a general introduction to CT (pp 2-5) and to Part I (pp 6-8), with MilT(pp 57-68), RvT(pp 69-76) and CkT(pp 77-9). Chaucer's works are followed by essays on 'The Place of Chaucer' (pp 951-5), 'Chaucer in His Time' (pp 956-60), 'Chaucer's Language and Versification' (pp 961-5) and 'The Text of This Edition' (pp 966-72). [RCG] The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer: A Facsimile and Transcription of the Hengwrt Manuscript, with Variants from the Ellesmere Manuscript. Ed.

Editions and Translations / 13 Paul G. Ruggiers. Introductions Donald C. Baker, A.I. Doyle and M.B. Parkes. A Variorum Edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Gen. Eds. Paul G. Ruggiers and Donald C. Baker. Norman, OK: U of Oklahoma P; Folkestone: Dawson, 1979. Baker's introduction concerns The Relation of the Hengwrt Manuscript to the Variorum Chaucer Text' (pp xvii-xviii). Doyle and Parkes give a 'Paleographical Introduction' (pp xix-xlix). Ruggiers presents 'Notes on the Transcription' (pp li-liii). The text follows, with facsimile and transcription, with variants, on facing pages. MilTls found on pp 158-97, RvT pp 196-221, CkTpp 220-5. [RCG] 44 The Reeve's Prologue and Tale with the Cook's Prologue and the Fragment of His Tale. Ed. A.C. Spearing and J.E. Spearing. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1979. RvT 'moves . . . further perhaps than any other poem of Chaucer's—towards a consistent realism of character, motive, and social and economic setting; and its special interest, as being the first work in English to use local dialect as a means of characterization, is only one aspect of this realism' (p 3). The full introduction relates RvT to other works in the first fragment, particularly to MilT, in the settings of university towns, antagonism between clerks and tradesmen and the particular antagonism between the Reeve and millers. C^rmay continue the tales of'unwisely giving someone else lodging in your house' (p 11), with particular reference to antagonism between 'those who sold food and those, like the Host, who provided lodgings but often added board as well' (p 12). A link between RvP and CkT\s that '[t]he former emphasizes the failings of age, the latter those of youth' (p 12). The 'bracing callousness' (p 15) of the fabliaux give the effect, in RvT, of'a game', between the teams 'town and gown or lewedand lered (p 20), with the final score 'Trumpington two, King's Hall four' (p 22). Other sections of the introduction include: the analogues of the tale (pp 22-4), the Reeve as teller (pp 24-32), work in the comic tales (pp 33-6), milling (pp 37-41), the horse (pp 42-6), the characters (pp 46-56), and Chaucer's poetic style (pp 56-65). The text includes the Reeve's portrait from GP, and there are textual notes and a glossary. [RCG] 45 The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Edited from the Hengwrt Manuscript. Ed. N.F. Blake. York Medieval Texts. Second Series. Gen. Eds. Elizabeth Salter and Derek Pearsall. London: Arnold, 1980. 'For too long we have accepted Robinson's edition [15] as Chaucer. It is time we had a "plain" text to remind us of what is actually in the best manuscript so that we can reformulate our ideas about Chaucer's language and metre' (p 12). The text is divided into sections, 'different from the traditional Groups/Fragments' (p 5). MilT(pp 133-56), RvT(pp 157-72) and CkT(pp 172-6) are in the first, with GP and KnT, with glosses and

14 / Miller s, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

46

46a

47

48

footnotes on the page. Blake gives a 'Table of Correspondence' to Robinson's edition (pp 15-16), a 'Bibliography' (pp 19-26), 'A Note on Language' (pp 662-6), appendices to supplement MS Hengwrt, generally taken from MS Ellesmere (pp 667-92) and a 'Glossary' (pp 693-707). [RCG] The 'Canterbury Tales', Part Three: The Miller's Tale. Ed. Thomas W. Ross. The Variorum Edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. General Editor Paul G. Ruggiers and Assoc. Ed. Donald C. Baker. Vol. 2. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1983. Included in the 'Critical Commentary' are subsections entitled 'Sources and Analogues' (pp 4-6), 'The Date of The Miller's Tale" (pp 6-7), 'Survey of Criticism'(pp 7—48), and 'Conclusions' (pp 48-9). The 'Textual Commentary' includes 'The Textual Tradition of The Miller's Tale' (pp 49-50), 'Evidence of Marginal Glosses'(pp 50-1), 'Order Among The Canterbury Tales' (p 51), 'Table of Correspondences' (p 52), 'Descriptions of the Manuscripts' (p 53-94) and 'Descriptions of the Printed Editions' (pp 94114). The text of the tale is given in pages 115-248. 10 manuscripts and 20 printed editions are collated, with Hengwrt taken as the base, in order to produce 'a text that is as close to Chaucer's final version as we can come' (p xix). [DPS] •Review by E.G. Stanley, N&Qn.s. 35 [233] (1988), 512-16: finds the detail of commentary excessive, but that the variorum editions 'are especially useful because they provide readers with the help needed for a sound understanding of Chaucer line by line, tale by tale, poem by poem through the voluminous body of Chaucer scholarship' (p 516). Medieval English Literature. Ed. Thomas J. Garbaty. Lexington, MA: DC Heath, 1984. An anthology of Medieval English Literature. Includes an extensively annotated version of MilTin a section called 'The Fabliau' (pp 441-478). MHT'ls undoubtedly the most brilliant fabliau in the English language, written by Britain's greatest poet of the Middle Ages' (p 455). The Miller's tale 'fits his personality' (p 455). [TGH] Geoffroy Chaucer: Les Contes de Cantorbery. 2eme partie. Trans. Juliette de Caluwe-Dor. Louvain: Peelers, 1986. Ktemata9. The French translation is based on the edition of John Hurt Fisher 42, given on facing pages. A bibliography (pp vii-xi) precedes RvT(pp 1-31) and Gtr(pp 33-41). [RCG] Die Canterbury-Erzdhlungen. Fragment I-Fragment IV. Trans. Fritz Kemmler. Munich: Goldmann, 1987. Vol 1. Jb'rgO. Fichte A translation into German prose, with passages from the Riverside Chaucer 49 on facing pages. MilP (pp 192-7), MHT(pp 196-235), RvP (pp 234-9), RvT(pp 238-63), CkP (pp 262-5), CkT(pp 266-9). [RCG]

Editions and Translations / 15 49 The Riverside Chaucer. 3rd edn. Gen. ed. Larry D. Benson. Based on The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer ed. F.N. Robinson [15]. Boston: Houghton, 1987; Oxford: Oxford UP, 1988. The re-edited texts are 'at once revisions of Robinson's texts and new editions in their own right' (p xli), using the same manuscripts and retaining some of his notes, but reconsidering editorial decisions in the light of more recent information. The general arrangement of material is similar, with rewritten introductory chapters and notes. After a general introduction (pp xi-xliii), and an introduction to CT(pp 3-22), the texts are presented, with glosses given as footnotes: MilP and MilT(pp 66-77), RvP and RvT(pp 1184), CkP and CkT(pp 84-6). The introduction to Fragment 1 outlines the fabliau responses to KnTm MilT, RvTand CkT(pp 7-9). The 'Appendix' (pp 771-1327) gives a 'General Bibliography' (pp 771-8), and other references are mentioned in 'Abbreviations' (pp 779-93). There are 'Explanatory Notes' for MilP (pp 841-2), MilT(pp 842-8), RvP (pp 8489), RvT(pp 849-52), CkP (pp 852-3) and CkT(p 853). A general 'Glossary' (pp 1211-310) and an 'Index of Proper Names' (pp 1311-27) follow. The notes supplement the brief glosses given with the texts and give general and particular references to the individual tales, including such topics as the fabliau and poetic justice and matters arising from particular lines. [RCG] • Review by N.F. Blake, SAC 12 (1990), 257-61: finds the work 'very much a revised edition' (p 261), still with some of the imperfections of Robinson's second edition. Blake considers it a text for postgraduate rather than undergraduate use. • Review by Andrew Wawn, MLR 85 (1990), 910-12: acknowledges a diversity of approaches among the numerous contributors, but finds that '[inconsistencies of collaborative practice if not of principle are nevertheless a small price to pay for an edition the excellence of whose overall achievement offers a much-needed shot in the arm to Chaucer studies in colleges and universities' (p 911). • Review by Rosemarie Potz McGerr, JEGP 88 (1989), 221-3: notes inconsistencies, a few errors and editorial decisions that 'might bear reconsideration' and 'probably clarification. If this edition does not receive the unquestioned authority often given to its predecessor, it will be to the editorial team's credit; for they make the richness of Chaucer's works accessible without giving the impression that the process of editing Chaucer is over' (p 223). 50 The Ellesmere Manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: A Working Facsimile. Introduction Ralph Hanna III. Cambridge: Brewer, 1989. [A reproduction of the facsimile of the Ellesmere Chaucer manuscript published by Manchester UP in 1911.]

16 / Miller s, Reeve s, and Cook s Tales Hanna's introduction summarizes the history of the manuscript, referring particularly to a possible association with the Norfolk Pastons, and considers critical responses. In 'Some Paleographical Detail' (pp 9-15), he notes that only the Miller's portrait is placed in an exceptional position. [RCG] 51 Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales: Nine Tales and The General Prologue. Ed. V.A. Kolve and Glending Olson. Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton, 1989. The text, based on Skeat's, 'is addressed specifically to students making their first acquaintance with Chaucer in his own language' (p xi), with pedagogic glosses and footnotes on the page. An introductory section, 'Chaucer's Language' (p xiii-xvii), deals with pronunciation, morphology and syntax. Among the sections from C7"are MilP and MilT(pp 75-93), RvP and RvT(pp 93-104) and a portion of CkP (pp 104-5). Following the texts are 'Sources and Backgrounds' to some of the works (pp 235^37), a selection of critical articles (pp 441-546), and a selected bibliography (pp 547-52). The extracts from sources given for MilTare The Three Guests of Heile ofBersele and portions of the introduction to the fourth day and conclusion to the tenth day of the Decameron (pp 291-302); those for RvT are The Miller and the Two Clerics and part of The Story ofPinuccio and Adriano (pp 303-10). [RCG] 52 Eighteenth-Century Modernizations from the Canterbury Tales. Ed. Betsy Bowden. Chaucer Studies 16. Rochester, NY; Woodbridge, Suffolk: Brewer-Boydell, 1991. Includes modernizations ofMUTby Samuel Cobb (pp 14-22), John Smith (pp 23-30) and an anonymous author (pp 171-6); of RvTby Thomas Betterton 'probable pseud, for Alexander Pope' (p v) (pp 10-13), an anonymous author (pp 33-54) and Henry Travers (pp 69-72); and of MilP, RvP, CkP and CkT by George Ogle (pp 107-11), giving comments on the texts. They are presented in chronological order. Bowden's introduction explores the idea 'that every reader modernizes Chaucer, or any text, while reading it', surveying the versions and their 'implications for synchronic as well as diachronic approaches to literature' (p ix), and noting particular instances of modernization [see also 650]. The second part of the introduction explains the use and presentation of the texts, in uniform type face, with references to corresponding lines of Chaucer's Tales. [RCG]

Sources and Analogues

These works place the tales within the tradition of fabliau, relating them to their analogues and commenting on Chaucer's treatment of the originals. The most comprehensive studies are those collected by Bryan and Dempster, annotated at 56 and 57, Benson and Anderson 66, and Hertog 88; and there are many works dealing with individual fabliaux. The connections are most obvious in comparisons with the French analogues of RvT: De Gombert et des II clers and Le Meunier et les II clers; Dempster, in particular shows Chaucer's alteration and elaboration of fabliau elements 54, 55. The analogue in The Decameron is developed by Chaucer in a more realistic fashion, explained, for example, by Giaccherini 71, 86. MilT too is related to fabliaux in its use of recurring motif; its themes of branding, prophecy and deception can be traced in varying guises and combinations, but generally not as exactly as the elements of RvT. The investigation extends to that of folklore, and to the later use of Chaucer's themes by other authors, including John Barth 69, 81, 83. There is some disagreement about the social status of the fabliau, and Chaucer's purpose, generally considered satirical, in giving a courtly form to churlish narrators. All admire his elaboration of the genre, the enrichment of character and the plentiful details which allow for the possibility of preposterous plots. See also 537, 549, 574, 656, 658. 53 Axon, William E.A. 'Italian Influence on Chaucer.' In Chaucer Memorial Lectures, 1900: Read Before the Royal Society of Literature. Ed. Percy W. Ames. London: Asher, 1900. Pp 83-110. Certain of Chaucer's tales resemble stories in Boccaccio's Decameron. The trick played upon Puccio by his wife and Don Felice (Decameron 3,4) is similar to the situation in MilT, but the link is too nebulous to be strongly sustained. The 'coarse but humorous "Reeve's Tale" is undoubtedly the same in its main incidents as the story . . . of Pinuccio, Niccolosa, and Adriano in the Decameron' (Decameron 9,6), (p 104). The tale did not originate with Boccaccio, being found in a fabliau of Jean de Boves and

18 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales elsewhere, and therefore it is not certain that Boccaccio was Chaucer's source. Furthermore 'In the details the English poet is closer to the fabliau than to the novella' (p 104). [GDM] 54 Dempster, Germaine. 'On the Source of the Reve's Tale.' JEGP 29 (1930), 473-88. RvT is the only fabliau in CT with an analogue which could be a source— 'Le Meunier et les deux Clers' (p 473). Dempster compares two manuscripts of the French fabliau: A, Bern 354, and B, Hamilton 275, Berlin, noting points of similarity to and difference from RvT. Deficiencies of B suggest a scribe's bad memory. A comparison of rhymes and details omitted leads Dempster to suggest that 'if our A reached Chaucer . . . . it cannot have been the only source known to him . . . close relatives of B have by far the best claim' (p 478). An English work which borrows from Chaucer and the French, A Verie Merie Historie of the Milner ofAbington has features which 'suggest B rather than A' (p 479). It is likely that Chaucer and the later poet 'used a version close to B' (p 480), probably from the north of France. Neither A nor B could be the only source of RvT. [RCG] 55 'Chaucer's Fabliaux.' In Dramatic Irony in Chaucer. Stanford University Publications, University Series, Language and Literature. Vol 4, No 3. Stanford UP; London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford UP, 1932. Pp 27-58. RptNew York: Humanities, 1959. Chaucer was not the first to employ the elements of the tale: the kiss-andburn motif, the prophecy and the cry 'water.' Dempster posits a fabliau source for MilT, with 'a few guesses as to the amount of Chaucer's contribution,' which gives 'a number of finer touches' (p 36). The phrase goddes privetee recurs in John's philosophy of life and Nicholas's deception. John's fears for Alison provide 'a note of human pathos that would still give to this stroke of dramatic irony a unique character in this otherwise purely comical tale' (p 38). She compares and contrasts John with January ofMerT. Dramatic irony enhances the kiss-and-burn episode, because Absolon's hopes centre on a kiss, and Nicholas's wish to trick Absolon and the 'contrivance of making the carpenter sleep under the roof cause his misfortune, the 'experience that makes the contriver call for water' (p 38). Neither version of Le Meunier et les II clers can be the unique source of RvT. Chaucer 'developed and enriched . . . dramatic contrasts' of the trouveres' stories, 'mostly by a character drawing that lay entirely outside the lines of fabliau tradition' (p 35). Dempster stresses the mutual dependence of characterization and dramatic irony, shown in the characterization of Symkyn and the clerks, illustrated in the 'dramatic irony that turns the joke against the joker' (p 30), in the outwitting of Symkyn's pride, the

Sources and Analogues / 19 mistaken beds and Malyne's gift of the cake. Symkyn is 'the victim of an irony almost too wickedly refined' (p 34). [RCG] • Review by G. Bullough, MLR 28 (1933), 503-5: 'It is the merit of the work to show how in his later tales Chaucer developed "a light, reticent, completely objective method of presenting the ironies of action"; this is aided by an admirable comparison of the "fabliaux" with their foreign analogues (especially in the Reeve's and Merchant's Tales' (p 504). • Review by Mabel Day, RES 9 (1933), 470: finds the work 'a very careful and interesting study.' 56 Hart, W.M. 'The Reeve's Tale.' In Sources and Analogues of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Ed. W.F.Bryan and Germaine Dempster. Chicago: U of Chicago?, 1941. Pp 124-47. Rpt New York: Humanities?, 1958. Pp 124-47. Hart provides details of the two manuscripts which contain the French fabliau, the Miller and the Two Clerks, and prints texts of both of them. [DOM] 57 Thompson, Stith. 'The Miller's Tale.' In Sources and Analogues. Ed. W.F.Bryan and Germaine Dempster. Pp 106-23 [Rpt Pp 106-23]. See 56. '[N]o direct literary source has ever been discovered for the Miller's Tale' but 'the presence of the tale in oral tradition of the poet's day is well established' (p 106). The tale is divided into three main elements—the flood, the misdirected kiss and the branding—and analogues are listed, with texts of some European versions. [DOM] 58 Heist, William W. 'Folklore Study and Chaucer's Fabliau-like Tales.' PMASAL 36 (1950), 251-8. Examines Chaucer's use of sources for his fabliau-like tales, referring to earlier studies of analogues of MilT, particularly those of Varnhagen (1884), Zupitza (1895), Barnouw (Leiden, 1910, English version 459) and Stith Thompson 60, the last shifting the emphasis 'to the possibility of oral transmission' (p 255). Heist advocates the study of folklore for literary historians who wish to study Chaucer's tales and their sources. He investigates analogues of RvTto discover whether the plots for Chaucer's fabliaulike tales came from fabliaux themselves or from oral tradition. The relationship between RvTand Decameron 9,6 may be explained by assuming that Chaucer took his story from the anonymous Le Meunier et les II clers and Boccaccio borrowed from Jean de Bove's De Gombert et des II clers. Le Meunier has been assumed to be the source and there has been 'no folkloristic study of RvTthai treats it as we usually treat folklore, as one version among many' (p 255). This notion has caused students of RvTto tend towards 'a false view of the possible relationships present' (p 255). [RCG]

20 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 59 Cazamian, Louis. The Development of English Humor. Part 1, London: Macmillan; Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1951. Part 2, Durham, NC: Duke UP. Parts 1 and 2, Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1952. " In this general study of humour, Cazamian compares Chaucer's fabliau tales with French fabliaux. The tales give 'the release of mind from the seriousness of life, the joy of irresponsibility and primitiveness, the salutary sense of rebellion and the saturnalia of character, the occasional fit of drunkenness which the ancients regarded as part of the hygiene of a sane man' (p 71). The poet's warnings against his cynicism enlist the reader as an accomplice. Cazamian finds that 'the obscene, the gross, the absurd recommend themselves to deep and refined minds . . . [because] the grossness and the absurdity were invested by them with their own inner depth and refinement' (p 71). He places Chaucer with Aristophanes, Rabelais and Shakespeare, and gives illustrations from M/fand RvT. [RCG] 60 Thompson, Stith. Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books and Local Legends. Rev and enlarged edn 6 vols. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger; Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1955-8. Comprehensively surveys the sources of motifs occurring in works listed in the subtitle. The introduction notes additions to the range made since the first edition (1921-6). The motifs are arranged according to the general synopsis given in Vol 1, (pp 29-35). Vol 6 gives an alphabetical index. References to M/7 are found at K1225, K1522, K1577, to RvTat K1345. [RCG] 61 Bratcher, James T. 'A Chaucer Analogue in Spanish-American Tradition.' 7Vc£g208(ns 10) (1963), 210-12. Bratcher draws attention to parallels between MilTand an orally transmitted cuento, recorded between 1930 and 1939, in Juan B. Rael's collection Cuentos espanoles de Colorado y de Nuevo Mejico (Primera Serie), called La mujery los tres amantes, ('the woman and the three lovers'). The story resembles MilT'm telling of the wife's adulterous meeting, a lover at the window and a misdirected kiss; the branding has its parallel in burning with a match. The exclamation that ends the episode is of fire rather than flood; in this aspect it resembles an Old French fabliau, Le Cuvier. [RCG] 62 Brewer, D.S. 'The Fabliaux.' In Companion to Chaucer Studies. Ed. Beryl Rowland. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1968. Pp 247-67. Rev. New York: Oxford UP, 1979. Pp 296-325. Brewer offers a definition of fabliau, and then follows 'in outline the progress of twentieth-century criticism and scholarship of the fabliau' (p 247), finding that 'from a lowly position . . . in the earlier part of this

Sources and Analogues / 21

62a

63

64

65

century, Chaucer's fabliaux have rocketed into a position of central importance' (p 256). Summarizing critical approaches to MilT, he states that it 'has received much the greatest attention' (p 257). [DOM] The 1979 edition includes a brief comment on recent criticism and an augmented bibliography. [RCG] Ruggiers, Paul G. 'The Italian Influence on Chaucer.' In Companion to Chaucer Studies. Ed. Beryl Rowland. Pp 160-84. See 62. Presenting the different sides in the debate surrounding Chaucer's knowledge of Boccaccio's Decameron, Ruggiers mentions the view in Richard S. Guerin's dissertation, 'The Canterbury Tales and II Decamerone' (1966), which finds 'similarities and possible borrowings' in MilT among others (pp 153-54). [DOM] Olson, Glending. "The Reeve's Tale" and "Gombert'V MLR 64 (1969), 721-725. Le Meunier et les II clers is usually considered the closest analogue to RvT and a possible source, but 'the relationship between The Reeve's Tale and its other Old French analogue, Gombert et les deux clers, is a good deal closer than has been realized' (p 721). Contrary to claims made by W.M. Hart 56 and Germaine Dempster 54, 55, 'there are at least five specific points of resemblance between Chaucer and Bodel which are not shared by either version ofLe Meunier' (p 721). Chaucer 'avoids any confrontation between Symkyn and his wife. Had he based The Reeve's Tale on a story which featured the Le Meunier ending, surely he would have used that final scene, for as it is neither The Reeve's Tale nor Gombert pursues its plot to its final consequences' (p 723). Such an ending 'would have been perfectly consistent with the Reeve's intention to tell a story which humiliates a miller . . . The most logical reason that Chaucer's ending differs from Le Meunier's is simply that his source, like Gombert, omitted the final recognition scene' (p 723). [DOM] Pearcy, Roy J. 'A Minor Analogue to the Branding in "The Miller's Tale.'" N&Q 214 (ns 16) (1969), 333-5. The Sot Chevalier of Gautier le Leu, in which the foolish knight accidentally brands 'the bare backside of a sleeping guest,' is not a close analogue, but 'considerably antedates any more detailed analogue known' (p 333). [DOM] Robbins, Rossell Hope. 'The English Fabliau: Before and After Chaucer.' MSpr 64 (1970), 231^14. Chaucer's literary achievement is great in absolute terms, not merely in comparison with precursors and followers; the fabliaux in C7are far more highly developed than their sources or analogues. The argument is demonstrated by a comparison of RvTand its sixteenth-century reworking in A Mery Jest of the Mylner ofAbyngton with his wyfe and his daughter and

22 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales two poore scholers of Cambridge. There is a very brief reference to MilT(p 236). [HMcG] 66 Benson, Larry D., and Theodore M. Andersson. The Literary Context of Chaucer's Fabliaux: Texts and Translations. Indianapolis and New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1971. 'Chaucer's freshest and most original works—his fabliaux' (p ix) invite comparison with their heritage. Benson and Andersson print analogues of the fabliau tales, with texts and translations on facing pages. Eleven are analogues of MilTand six of RvT. Those related to MilT include one or more of the motifs ' 1) the prophesied flood, 2) the misdirected kiss, 3) the hot iron' (p 3). The works are Apuleius' Tale of a Poor Fellow's Cuckoldry (pp 6-9), Guerin's Berenger of the Long Arse (pp 10-25), Masuccio's Viola and Her Lovers' (pp 26-37), Morlini's The Monk Who Prophesied an Earthquake' (pp 38-9), Heinrich Wittenweiler's Ring (pp 40-5), Hans Folz's Mirthful Peasant Play (pp 46-59), Hans Sachs's The Smith in the Kneading Tub (pp 60-3), Valentin Schumann's The Merchant Who Was Afraid of Judgement Day (pp 64-7), Jankyn and A leys on (pp 68-9), Old Hogyn 's Adventure (pp 70-1), and Caspar Cropacius' Fable of a Priest and a Simple Rustic (pp 72-7). The story of RvT 'exists as a whole in a number of apparently independent versions' (p 79), in several languages. The authors summarize the story and show, in table form, how the six versions deal with the various events (pp 80-83), relating them to passages ofRvT(pp 86-7). The analogues are Jean Bodel's Gombert and the Two Clerks (pp 88-99), The Miller and the Two Clerks (pp 100-15), The Students' Adventure (pp 11622), Rudiger von Munre's Waywardwight and Lusty mite (pp 124-93), the Latin Two Students Who Intoxicated Their Host Together with His Wife and Daughter' (pp 194-7), and the Danish The Miller's Daughter (pp 198201). [RCG] 67 Burbridge, Roger T. 'Chaucer's Reeve's Tale and the Fabliau "Le meunier et les .II. clers".' AnM 12 (1971), 30-36. Burbridge compares the two versions of Le Meunier et les II clers and RvT, noting Chaucer's use of details of setting and character, his elaboration of the sources of Aleyn and John, Symkyn, his wife and Malyne, and the omission of the magic ring trick. The rape of Malyne parallels Symkyn's trickery: 'Just as the miller makes the stolen corn into a loaf and gives them bran in return, so does Aleyn take the virgin and turn her into a "made" woman, returning her to her father in an inferior condition,' ruining her 'pretensions to gentility' (p 34). Aleyn courts Malyne only 'after he has crudely taken her, and been just as crudely accepted' (p 34). The wife's perception of John as 'miraculously rejuvenated . . . [is] a dig at the real miller of the Prologue' (p 35). The tales differ in the denouement, because

Sources and Analogues / 23 'when the verbal texture of the fabliau is especially thin, Chaucer's is dramatically rich and effective' (p 35). [RCG] 68 Kirby, Thomas A. 'An Analogue (?) to the Reeve's Tale.' In Chaucer and Middle English Studies in Honour ofRossell Hope Robbins. Ed. Beryl Rowland. London: Allen and Unwin, 1974. Pp 381-83. Breaking temporarily with the traditional list of analogues to RvT, this looks at 'Night Shift,' 'an Appalachian folk story retold by David Madden,' in Playboy 18 (November, 1971), 177, in which there is bed-swapping and mistaken identity similar to that of RvT. [HMcG] 69 Conlee, John W. 'John Barth's Version of The Reeve's Tale: AN&Q 12 (1973), 137-38. Chs 12-14 of part 3 of Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor appear to be an analogue of RvT. The two sets of characters 'correspond perfectly' (p 137). [HMcG] 70 Olson, Glending. 'The Tteeve'sTa/e as a Fabliau.' MLQ 35 (1974), 219-30. A survey of criticism of RvT as a fabliau, comparing it particularly with Bemngier au long cul. The satire is 'less merry' than that of MilT, but 'less brutal' than that ofBerangier, and 'never transcends the bounds of fabliau action to become the focal point of the narrative' (p 223). Chaucer's plot is 'a battle of wits' (p 224). Comparing RvT with Le Meunier et les II clers, Olson decides 'Chaucer altered motivations to diminish the sense of revenge and lust inherent in the plot,' so that 'RvTremains thoroughly within the fabliau tradition . . . [I]t is primarily an entertainment featuring a clever plot and satirical social humor' (p 227). The relationship between tale and teller is not always satisfactorily developed, and in C7'fabliaux are told by characters who are of the same social and moral level as the protagonists of the stories,' giving many 'possibilities for irony' (p 229). RvTis 'a rich fabliau and not another kind of literature' (p230). [RCG] 71 Giaccherini, Enrico. '"The Reeve's Tale" e "Decameron" IX, 6.' RLMC29 (1976), 99-121. A comprehensive comparison of character and plot in RvT and the sixth novella of the ninth day of The Decameron. The description of the inn on the plain of Mugnone and the family seems vague when compared with those of the mill at Trumpington and Symkyn and his family. Boccaccio's characters are more refined, and presented without irony or comicality. The students Pinuccio and Adriano are gentlemanly and treated with respect; Pinuccio's difficulties in consummating his love for Niccolosa come from his own hesitation and fear of censure. There is none of the trickery and scorn in the speech and descriptions of the clerks Aleyn and John, the miller Symkyn, his wife and daughter. John behaves cunningly, whereas Adriano seems simply to respond to chance, but each misleads his host's wife by moving the cradle. The greatest difference is seen in the actions of the

24 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales woman of the house, in the morning. The scene in RvTis typical of fabliau, but in the novella, the beautiful wife tells a plausible story to avert disgrace and scandal, an outcome foreshadowed in the opening lines of narration. The characters of RvTseem instinctive and immersed in their world. Boccaccio's characters are organized and superior to their world. Chaucer gives a vision of reality. [RCG] 72 Cooke, Thomas D. 'Chaucer's Fabliaux.' In The Old French and Chaucerian Fabliaux: A Study of Their Comic Climax. Columbia, MO: U of Missouri P, 1978. Pp 170-94. Chaucer developed the possibilities of the fabliau genre beyond the French originals. MilThas a richer cast of characters than any other fabliau. Descriptions 'round out and enliven the typical flat personae of the genre' (p 176), and Chaucer adds minor characters and details to prepare for the comic climax. Still, the characters remain types, especially John 'who suffers the most indignities in the story but who never evokes our sympathy for his pains' (p 177). Fabliau authors generally 'abstract their stories from any moral concern for the sake of humor' (p 178); Chaucer gives a moral dimension through biblical allusion. Cooke compares the reference to church bells in lines 3653-6 to a similar one in the French fabliau Auberee, la vielle maquerelle. The latter is isolated and may be coincidental, but in M/rthe cumulative effect of the allusions compels us to sense a moral judgement. He disagrees with critics who see the scriptural ideas of MilTas the tale's only merit, and argues that the religious and profane are so well 'fused' that 'enjoyment results . . . from our awareness of the artistry of the author in bringing those materials together so appropriately' (p 180). The climax unites sacred and profane, and in its complex combination of a series of climaxes is perhaps the best of any fabliau. Each climax and its link to the preceding one is a surprise, carefully prepared for and just. However, 'perfect justice does not operate in this story' (p 183), shown by critical attempts to deal out justice to Alison. There is a structural and aesthetic equation of action and reaction; moral justice is ancillary. CkT 'is a fragment of what no doubt would have been a fabliau' (p 170). [DJB] • Review by Enrico Giaccherini, M/E48 (1978), 300-2: finds 'a convincing account of the artistry of these [Old French] tales' (p 300). That of Chaucer's fabliaux is less satisfactory: 'while Dr Cooke's brief examination of the Miller's Tale is basically correct, he offers nothing new' (p 301). • Review by Roy J. Pearcy, Speculum 55 (1980), 783-6: 'If the fabliaux can with some degree of validity be described as "narrative jokes," such a description tells us next to nothing about The Miller's Tale, which, despite its multiple instances of ironic foreshadowing, and the neat interweaving of the strands of its plot, has nevertheless something of the fortuitous and

Sources and Analogues / 25

73

74 75 76

77

78

farcical about it by comparison with the most exquisitely plotted fabliaux, and falls as far short of their compression and logical rigor in one direction as it surpasses their emotional and intellectual content in the other' (p 785). • Review by Glending Olson, SAC \ (1979), 151-5: 'Chaucer's handling of the genre is an important topic, one that could use careful and thorough study. Cooke's treatment of the subject is too cursory to be of much help; his book is principally about the structure of Old French fabliaux from essentially a generic point of view' (pp 154-5). Rowland, Beryl. 'What Chaucer Did to the Fabliau.' SN 51 (1979), 20513. French fabliaux are successful through a 'unity of design and treatment' which produces plots that are 'single and clear-cut,' which employ stock characters, and in which 'description, like characterization, is minimal and never allowed to impede the movement of the action' (p 205). In Chaucer, plot becomes more complex and character more lifelike, while the 'basic structural principle is the juxtaposition of discrete materials, without continuous development from one part into an organic whole' (p 211). 'Complex ironic patterns of imagery . . . have an integrating effect' and these 'are the principal means whereby Chaucer achieves unity and turns the fabliau into an art form' (p 213). [DFS] Item Canceled. Giaccherini, Enrico. / 'Fabliaux' di Chaucer: Tradizione e innovazione nella narrativa comica chauceriana. Pisa: ETS Universita 12, 1980. Not seen. [DFS] Goodall, Peter. 'The Reeve's Tale, Le Meunier et les ii Clers and the Miller's Tale.' Parergon 27 (1980), 13-16. Notes the dramatic relationship between RvTand MilTand the minor variations in plot between the former and Le Meunier et les II Clers, necessitated by enhancements made by Chaucer to the character of the Miller. 'The real mark of Chaucer's skill is ... t h a t . . . in many respects, these changes were forced upon him and the improvements were made in the very process of coping with the problems raised by these changes' (p 15). [DFS] Coggeshall, John M. 'Chaucer in the Ozarks: A New Look at the Sources.' SFQ 45 (1981), 41-60. Cites parallels between Ozark folktales and NPT, PardT, MilTand RvTand suggests a common source in the oral folktales of medieval England. [DFS] Goodall, Peter. 'An Outline History of the English Fabliau after Chaucer.' AUMLA 57 (1982), 5-23.

26 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

79

80

81

82

83

Mylner ofAbyngton is 'an early sixteenth century reworking' of RvT(p 7). It is written in a 'careful and coherent' fashion in spite of'its truly execrable verse' (p 7). Magic is an 'unusual element' in fabliaux 'unless it is used ironically' as in MilT(p 10). [DPS] Jack, R.D.S. 'The Freiris ofBerwik and Chaucerian Fabliau.' SSL 17 (1982), 145-52. An examination of the 'fifteenth-century Scottish tale "The Freiris of Berwik" and its closest analogue in French fabliau, "Le Povre Clerc," reveals the Scottish author to be following many of the devices initiated or perfected by Chaucer' (p 145). The Scottish version is influenced by Chaucer's use of a 'particularised milieu,' characterization, humour, irony and internal monologue—devices which are either not evident or not so greatly developed in the French model (p 145). [DPS] Lewis, Robert E. 'The English Fabliau Tradition and Chaucer's "Miller's Tale".' MP 79 (1981-82), 241-55. It is 'usually assumed' that Chaucer was indebted to French fabliaux but there was an English tradition from which he borrowed (p 246). The scarcity of English fabliaux before Chaucer is attributed to the dominance of the French language 'until after 1244' (p 245). Three English examples predating Chaucer survive; one of these, Dame Sirith, has aspects of dramatic characterization, diction and syntax which are 'suggestive of the language' ofMHT(p 250). Parallels between the two poems are noted with reference to MYT"3277-81, 3288-90, 3361-2, 3700-2, 3284-7, 3708-13. [DPS] Richer, Carol P. 'The Fabliau: Chaucer to Barth and Back Again.' BSUF 23:2(1982), 46-52. Discusses John Earth's use of RvT'm his novel The Sot-Weed Factor, noting differences and similarities between the two works. Barth 'in terms of characterizations, setting, and denouement... has retained much of Chaucer's original invention' (p 48). Richer notes the characteristic form of the fabliau and the realism of RvT(pp 48-50). However, Barth's use of the fabliau moves 'as far away from realism as possible' (p 50). [DPS] Wimsatt, James. 'Froissart, Chaucer, and the Pastourelles of the Pennsylvania Manuscript.' SAC Proceedings No.l (1984), 69-79. The University of Pennsylvania manuscript, French 15, contains pastourelles which show 'a lively fourteenth-century tradition of bourgeois realism' (p 78). This is relevant to Chaucer's work because it provides a 'contemporary precedent for his effective presentation of men of common occupation in action, in works like The General Prologue, The Miller's Tale, The Reeve's Tale, and The Canon's Yeoman's Tale' (p 78). [DPS] Winston, Robert P. 'Chaucer's Influence on Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor.' AL 56 (1984), 584-90.

Sources and Analogues / 27 Barth 'borrows from both "The Reeve's Tale" and "The Miller's Tale": from the first for plot, from the second for the spirit of healthy ribaldry which dominates the episode at his Maryland mill' (p 586). Parallels in plot and characterization are discussed. Nicholas and Absolon 'are inverse copies of Palamon and Arcite' from KnT; 'the Reeve uses essentially the same dramatis personae as the Miller in order to construct his meanly revengeful tale of the miller Symkyn'; RvTand Mill' represent a decline from the gentility' of KnT, and they contain 'the increasingly bitter theme of using a tale to "pay back" someone, to exact revenge' (p 586). [DPS] 84 Pearcy, Roy J. "The Reeve's Tale" and "Gombert" again.' AN&Q23 (1985), 65-9. Pearcy refers to CkT(4330-4), where the Cook offers a moralitas on the action of RvT, and notes a similar passage in Jean Bodel's De Gombert et des II clers. He suggests that both Chaucer and Bodel were aware of an earlier, probably written, version of the 'cradle story' (p 65). [DPS] 85 Edden, Valerie. 'Reading the Miller's Tale: IdD 18 (1987), 15-33. Analysis 'using a theory of narrative analogous with transformational grammar' (p 15) establishes MilTas 'a structure with two interwoven strands of story' (p 21), telling of Nicholas, Alison and John, and of Absolon. Edden compares the tale to others where the reader supplies links from experience of similar narratives, and classifies events as essential 'kernels' and inessential 'satellites,' using Masuccio's Viola and her Lovers for illustration. Details in M/rgive realism, and repetition ofhende and sely augments descriptions of Nicholas and John. The opening of the story establishes the genre; from expectations and 'the juxtaposition of lusty student, old husband and wild young wife, we can all predict the outwitting of the husband' (p 26). Thus interest lies 'more in "how?" than in "what then?" or "why?"' (p 27). Alison's role is secondary; her description, unlike Nicholas's, 'provides no clues to the unfolding of the plot' (p 27), but contrasts and paradoxes control our responses. Her social position is ambiguous, depending on her relation to John or Nicholas. Ambiguity in language comes from romance language and cherles termes, and it 'abounds in sexual innuendo and double entendre\p 28). Nicholas's wooing is 'far from aristocratic' (p 28) and Absolon's 'courtly language is revealed as a pretentious cover-up of naked sexual desire' (p 28). Central kernels 'construct the solidity, the "substantiality" of the tale' (p 31). [RCG] 86 Giaccherini, Enrico. 'Chaucer, Boccaccio and the Fabliaux.' IRLIl 8 (1989), 347-56. Chaucer and Boccacio made different use of 'raw narrative material belonging to the tradition of popular comic literature' (p 347). RvT, based on Le Meunier et les II Clers, may be compared with the story of Pinuccio and Niccolosa, Decameron 9,6, based on De Gombert et des II clers. Differences

28 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales include the importance of chance, Aleyn's aube, and the responses to the revelation of the night's events, trends farcically, but the Decameron reveals the ingenuity of'the real protagonist of the story . . . the innkeeper's wife' (p 351). The stories differ in the social level and refinement of characters and setting; the novella has 'no use of dialect, no "local" colour, no excessively vulgar or obscene elements in the "sex" scenes' (p 353), and the denouement operates 'to reveal the woman's cleverness and capacity to make everyone happy again without causing embarrassment to anyone' (p 353). In RvT, 'the setting, the protagonists, the linguistic register, the verbal realization and, above all, the comedy . . . point to the spirit of the fabliau,' (p 354). Although RvTwas written about 40 years after the Decameron, Chaucer seems 'a more "medieval" writer than Boccaccio' (p 354). [RCG] 87 Beidler, Peter G. The Reeve's Tale and its Flemish Analogue.' ChauR26 (1991-2), 283-92. Gives an English translation of 'a fourteenth-century Flemish rendition of Jean Bodel's story, Een bispel van .ij. clerkerf (p 282), and compares it with RvT and 'Jean Bodel's late-twelfth-century De Gombert et des II clers and the anonymous thirteenth century Le Meunier et les .II. clers,' to establish similarities and differences among the tales. The Old French Gombert differs from the Flemish analogue in ten ways, two of them closer to RvT: the motifs of'an infatuated daughter' and 'enclosed fighters' (p 288). In other details the Flemish story is closer to RvT: the clerks are clever, fun-loving and polite; drinking precedes urination; the tales mention snoring, a dangerous father, a sleepy wife and a bloody fight. Individually, these similarities are not conclusive; together they point to the possibility that Chaucer could have known the tale. [RCG] 88 Hertog, Erik. Chaucer's Fabliaux as Analogues. Mediaevalia Lovaniensia, Istser, 19. Leuven: Leuven UP, 1991. A comprehensive study of Chaucer's fabliaux, relating them to their analogues. Hertog refers to RvT'm his discussion of 'Plot' (pp 27-89), developing notions by reference to How Howleglas Deceived His Ghostly Father and Le Vescie a Prestre. He presents a diagrammatic and descriptive analysis of RvT, comparing it with the French Le Meunier et les II clers and De Gombert et des II Clers, the Flemish Een bispel van ij clerken, the German Studentenabenteuer and Boccaccio's 9,6 of The Decameron, and explores the relation of model and analogue, using Wittgenstein's concept of family resemblances. RvT shows that 'Chaucer had a penchant for the more complicated variations possible on the Model' (p 88). In Ch 2 'Character' (pp 91-130) Alison ofMHTis compared with Heile of the Flemish Heile van Beersele and Viola of Mansuccio's Viola e li suoi Amanti, and there are comparisons of elements in other MilT analogues. Hertog uses 'a three-tiered descriptive model of character (Actant-Thematic

Sources and Analogues / 29 Role-Acteur), structured as the three levels of a taxonomy' (p 121) and aspects of Prototype-theory to determine 'the "essential" core' (p 126) of a category. Most fabliau characters are defined in terms of stereotypes, but 'Alisoun's portrait seems to be dominated by one basic tenor: the affirmation of a natural, almost instinctive physicality or vitality' (p 119). The 'deviations and extra traits' discovered when Alison's character is compared with Heile's and Viola's and the typical Model of 'Lecherous Woman' make her 'consequently and inescapably become the "better" character' (p 130). Characteristics of the genre seen in Chaucer's fabliaux include contempt for lecherous and greedy clergy and 'an absolute disdain for anyone not using his or her wits, for stupidity and gullibility . .. pervaded by a mixture of fascination and fear of women' (p 194). They were received according to 'the moral, the comedy, and their social usefulness' (p 213). Intertextuality, particularly with other tales in CT enhances meaning, and the concept of family relations is significant in analogue study. [RCG]

This page intentionally left blank

Items of Linguistic and Lexicographical Interest

This criticism covers general and particular aspects of the tales. General studies of Chaucer's use of language include 131,135 and 181. The poet's fluent manipulation of styles has been discerned in the relation of the tales to colloquial (102,109,118,134,140,148), religious (139,144) and courtly language (103,178), in studies often examining the relation to parody. Chaucer's bawdy language is examined in 124,129,130,136,176, and 178. The play of words in various figures, names of characters and the manipulation of rhetorical tropes add specific detail to general principle. Comments include those at 110, 112,113,117,132,121, 128,129, 133,136, 147, 172 and 175 (see also Index, s.v. wordplay). Some individual words have attracted attention. Scheps 156 writes of the nonce words generally, and other critics have dealt with particular words or phrases. Astromye (143,154, 166,167), Nowelis Flood (143, 154,192) and g«o/(134,185,193) all add to the characterization of John in MilT. More telling in this respect are the recurring adjectives hende (103, 108,142), sely (120,157) andjoly (189) which come to define Nicholas, John and Absolon. The recurring and changing associations of words are most significantly exploited by words repeated throughout the First Fragment, serving to connect the tales and to offer comment on one another. Among these are queynte and pryvetee (see the numerous references in the Index). Some words, eg deerne (103, 155, 187) and myrie (183) may be related to contexts outside the tales. Much has been written of the Northernisms used by the clerks, John and Aleyn, in RvT, and Chaucer's use of these forms is considered to be the first use of dialect for comic purposes. Ten Brink 89 and Tatlock 91, 93 make the first references, and the most comprehensive early study is that of Tolkien 100, who compares variations in manuscripts, gives detailed examinations of particular words and phrases, and concludes that the jokes are for readers rather than listeners. Further comments on the clerks' speech include those at 99,101,145,153,156, 160,161 and 181. Dor 179,

32 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales surveys reaction to Tolkien, in the fifty years following the publication of his study, offering a comparison with other dialect forms and the significance of their relation to the dialect of London. These and other investigations explore the degree of ridicule intended by Chaucer in giving this speech to John and Aleyn, who seem more sophisticated than Symkyn and his family, but less so than the other clerks in CT. (For further references see Index, s.v. Northernisms.}

89

Brink, Bernhard ten. The Language and Metre of Chaucer: Set Forth by Bernhardten Brink. Leipzig: Weigel, 1884; 2nd ed. Rev. Friedrich Kluge. Trans. M. Bentinck Smith. London: Macmillan, 1901. RptNew York: Greenwood, 1969. Ten Brink discusses aspects of language and metre relevant to MilT, RvT and CkT under headings such as phonology, accidence, prosody and rhyme. He refers to the unusual forms used by the Northumbrian students of RvT: use of forms like hand, use of old a, dropping of the ending -est from the second person singular preterite indicative (ne hadthow instead of naddest thou, 4088), and to the Norfolk provincialism ik used by the Reeve himself(RvP3867). [GDM] 90 Remus, Hans. Die Kirchlichen undSpeziell-Wissenschaftlichen Romanischen Lehnworte Chaucers. Halle: Niemeyer, 1906. Catalogues words derived from Latin with ecclesiastical or scientific significance which appear in MilT, RvT, CkT and their prologues. Remus traces their development through Old French or Anglo-French or occasionally directly from Latin, showing in three cases the conflation of AngloFrench or Old French words with Old and Middle English elements. He provides brief notes explaining the context of a word where applicable, and gives instances when the same word has different meanings in different Chaucerian contexts, supplying the German equivalents. [GDM] 91 Tatlock, John S.P. The Harleian Manuscript 7334 and Revision of the Canterbury Tales. Chaucer Society Publications, Second Series. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Oxford UP, 1909. In establishing a text, Harleian MS 7334 'should be used, if at all, only with the greatest suspicion' (p 32). Examples from MilT, RvP, RvTand CkT from this manuscript illustrate revisions by unknown hand(s) in sense or style and metre, and there are passages which one would have expected a scribe to correct and which were not corrected. Tatlock shows modernizations believed to be the work of a fifteenth-century reviser, the insertion of Vs in RvT(some of which are found also in Harl. 7335), and substitutions for lost lines, one of which—MilT, line 3322—could be by Chaucer's hand.

Linguistic/33

92

93 94

95

96

97

The Northern character of the dialect in RvThas been generally increased, and by someone 'who was unusually conversant with the matter' (p 7). Various mss (including this) put the hour ofRvP, line 3906, later than the correct reading, an example of the frequency of scribal revision. Arguing against revision of CTby Chaucer, Tatlock asks whether he would have left CkT fragmentary. [GDM] Kenyon, John Samuel. The Syntax of the Infinitive in Chaucer. Chaucer Society Publications, Second Series. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1909. Surveys the differing uses of the infinitive in Chaucer, citing approximately sixty-five examples from MilT, RvTand CkT under headings such as 'the simple infinitive of purpose,' 'the prepositional infinitive of purpose,' 'the infinitive with nouns,' etc. Relevant appendices include discussion of the accusative with infinitive construction and the don auxiliary. [GDM] Tatlock, J.S.P. 'The Epilog of Chaucer's Troilus.' MP 18 (1920-21), 62559. RvTis characterized as the 'first dialect story' in English (p 647). [DJB] Manly, John M. 'Piggesnye. CT A, 3268.' TLS 6 Oct. 1927, 694. Notes the suggestion by R.M. Garrett in a lecture class that piggesnye 'ought to be the name of a flower, to balance "prymerole",' and the response from students that '"pig's eye" was a common name for trillium.' Manly notes that he has been unable to substantiate this claim, and asks for information from readers. See 95. [DJB] Arber, Agnes. 'Piggesnye.' 7153 Nov. 1927, 790. A reply to Manly's letter 94. Notes identification of Chaucer's piggesnye (line 3268) in R.C.A. Prior, Popular Names of British Plants (3rd ed., 1879) as 'Whitsuntide Pink,' Dianthus caryophyllus. See 94. [DJB] Haskins, Charles Homer. The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1927. Haskins notes that Chaucer's augrym (3210) is derived from algorismus, a softening of the name of the Arabic mathematician al-Khwarizmi (p 312). He also notes the use of the name Cato as a 'synonym for elementary education' in line 3227 (p 132). [DJB] Collins, Fletcher, Jr. 'Solas in the Miller's Tale.' MLN 41 (1932), 363-4. As an alternative to Skeat's gloss of'pleasure, solace' for 'solas' in line 3335, written of Absolon, 'it would seem reasonable to suppose that solas has some musical significance' (p 363), in this case, the hexachord system for notes of the scale. Collins suggests for the line: 'That he did not visit with his singing, his sol-las', a use of solas 'readily understood by an enlightened fourteenth-century audience; every gentleman was taught solmisation—his do-re-mis—by French music-masters' (p 364). See 98. [RCG]

34 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 98 Brown, David. 'Solas in The Miller's Tale.' MJV48 (1933), 369-70. Brown suggests that Collins [97] 'has overlooked in favor of an ingenious definition of solas an obsolete meaning of the word visit,' defined in OED, ' 11: To supply or enrich with some benefit' (p 369). Thus lines 3334-5 may be translated: 'There was no brewhouse nor tavern in all the town that he did not enrich with his joy-giving powers' (p 370). [RCG] 99 Vine, Guthrie. 'The Miller's Tale: A Study of an Unrecorded Fragment of a Manuscript in the John Rylands Library in Relation to the First Printed Text.' Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 17 (1933), 333-47. Rylands English MS, no 63 (c. 1420) has portions of MilT differing from the Chaucer Society's Six-Text print of CT [1877]. Vine prints the two leaves of the fragment in facsimile and gives a transcription of the text, comparing it with the corresponding section of the Ellesmere MS, to show the divergences: 'additions, omissions, variations in spelling and transpositions of words in corresponding lines' (p 334). He describes the manuscript, comments on dialect and orthography, noting evidence of editorial work, and prints some lines and words with equivalent passages from Caxton's first and second editions and the Corpus Christi manuscript of CT (pp 337-8). The words chorll (3188) for gnofand pryvite (3566) for purveiance suggest editing (p 336), and are among the words traced. The manuscript 'has its origin in the east of England' (p 340), belongs to the group used by Caxton for his first edition and is related to the Corpus family. [RCG] 100 Tolkien, J.R.R. 'Chaucer as a Philologist: The Reeve's Tale.' Transactions of the Philological Society 1934, 1-70. 'Of all the jokes that Chaucer ever perpetrated the one that most calls for philological annotation is the dialect talk in the Reeve's Tale' (p 2). Tolkien describes sound correspondences, and the spelling, which he does not find extremely northern. He suggests the source of Chaucer's knowledge is literary—'drawn from written northern works . . . he was considering readers' (p 15), discusses the meaning offer north, and of the places Strother andfer in the north (p 56). He examines possible effects of scribes on Chaucer's original, but finds, in line 253, 'the only case of competition among northernisms' (p 23)—that ofslyk(e), slik, sclike, swilk, swich. His analysis of numerous northernisms is illustrated in 'approximately ninetyeight lines put into the mouths of the northern clerks' (p 26), printed (pp 17-20) with notes giving the occurrences in various manuscripts, comparing variations with the southern forms and with one another (pp 20-27). Tolkien divides 'abnormal or dialectal features' (p 27) into 'sounds and forms' and 'vocabulary,' with these headings further subdivided. He concludes that Chaucer is 'correct in his description of northern language in at least 127 points in about 98 lines, in inflexion, sounds and vocabulary' (p

Linguistic/35 46). He notes Chaucer's 'errors' (pp 48-54) and southernisms in the clerk's speech (p 54). 'In accuracy and in abundance the dialectal features go far beyond what was merely necessary for the joke' (p 54). There are appendices: on tulle (p 59), slik (p 64), and geen and neen (p 65). [RCG] 101 Crow, Martin Michael. 'The Reeve's Tale in the Hands of a North Midland Scribe.' University of Texas Studies in English 3826 (1938), 14-24. The Northern dialect used in RvTby John and Aleyn is well known. The Paris Manuscript (Ps) shows Northern forms in phonology, morphology and vocabulary, in words other than those of the clerks, and Crow gives numerous examples. The scribe is thought to be John Duxworth of Lincolnshire, and the dialect 'is best described as North Midland' (p 19). Crow prints the students' speeches, showing that they may be 'preserved as in the original... changed to Midland [ o r ] . . . made more Northern' (p 22). He gives examples to illustrate these possibilities, concluding that 'the dialectal passages in Ps do not stand out sharply' and that sound changes and a few Northern words account for the 'Northern coloring in the students' speech' (p 24). [RCG] 102 Schlauch, Margaret. 'Life-History of the English Language.'In The Gift of Tongues. London: Allen and Unwin, 1943. Pp 193-226. Chaucer's description of Alison is an example of'brilliant realism . . . reinforced by an appropriate vocabulary and a sentence structure echoing the cadences of ordinary speech' (p 211). Alison rebuffs Nicholas, using 'the simple vocabulary of ordinary life' (p 211). [RCG] 103 Donaldson, E.T. 'Idiom of Popular Poetry in the Miller's Tale.' In English Institute Essays. Ed. A.S. Downer. New York: Columbia UP, 1951. Pp 116-40. Rpt in Explication as Criticism: Selected Papers from the English Institute 1941-1952, ed. W.K. Wimsatt, Jr. (New York: Columbia UP, 1963), pp 27-51; in Chaucer and His Contemporaries: Essays on Medieval Literature and Thought, ed. Helaine Newstead (Greenwich, CT: Fawcett, 1968), pp 174-89; and Donaldson's Speaking of Chaucer (London: Athlone, University of London, 1970,1973),pp 13-29. Idiom reinforces the connection between MilTand KnT. The parallels of the love rivalries make MilTa parody of courtly romances, juxtaposing courtly ideals with harshly naturalistic values from fabliau; the ironical context of the cliches borrowed from the vernacular romances also contributes to the comic effect. Donaldson comments on the descriptions of Alison, Absolon and hende Nicholas, who comes to define that adjective, (so that others who are hende suffer guilt by association), just as he adds new shades of meaning to derne love. The descriptions of Absolon and Alison (3317, 3324,3233-4, 3237,3252^4 and 3268) and conversations of Nicholas and Absolon (3704,3705-6 and 3723-6) resemble some of the Harley lyrics; but Absolon's use of courtly diction leads to humiliation, and stock phrases for

367 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

104

105

106

107

108

109

complexions describe the clothing worn by Alison and Absolon. Chaucer's use of idiom contributes most significantly to the comic effect of the tale. [RCG] Henshaw, Millett. 'La Clameur de Haro.' SFQ 14 (1950), 158-9. The cry of harrow is made by Alison (3286), Alison and Nicholas (3825), by the clerk John (4072) and Symkyn (4307). The old Norman Clameur de Haro survives in the Channel Islands, and Henshaw cites a case recorded in Guernsey, in 1920. [RCG] Smith, Roland M. 'Chaucer Allusions in the Letters of Sir Walter Scott.' MLN 65 (1950), 448-55. In a letter to Richard Heber (18th August, 1806), Scott uses the expression 'upon . . . the Viretote"1 (p 451). [RCG] Spitzer, Leo. 'A Chaucerian Hapax Legomenon: upon the viritoot.' Language 26 (1950), 389-93. Skeat assumed this phrase from Gerveys's questioning of Absolon (3770) to have associations with the French virer 'to turn', rejecting the form found in MS Cam as 'an attempt to make sense.' Spitzer examines Italian and French forms connected with the meanings 'turn' and 'joust' and virevouste, an equestrian term from the dialect of Vendome. He concludes that Chaucer intends to be ambiguous and to convey the suggestions of equestrian activities, in senses which are both lively and erotic. [RCG] Lumiansky, R.M. 'Chaucer's "For the Nones".' Neophil 35 (1951), 29-36. This phrase, one of Chaucer's favourites, occurs twice in MilT, (3126, 3469), where it takes its usual meanings, 'for or with a view to the one (thing, occasion etc)' (p 30). See also 675. [RCG] Beichner, P.E. 'Chaucer's Hende Nicholas.' MS 14 (1952), 151-3. The brief description of the scholar Nicholas has details which 'make him thoroughly individual' (p 151). Beichner lists and explains the shades of meaning ofhende, the epithet associated eleven times with the clerk's name. Chaucer develops and exploits the word's possibilities to establish that Nicholas is all of 'ready and skilful,' 'clever,' 'pleasing to the sight,' 'comely,' 'fair,' 'nice,' 'pleasant in dealing with others,' 'courteous,' 'gracious,' 'kind' and 'gentle.' [RCG] Schlauch, Margaret. 'Chaucer's Colloquial English: Its Structural Traits.' PMLA 67 (1952), 1103-16. '[T]he short-segmented, breathless, supremely appropriate rejoinders of Alison to the eager Nicholas in the Miller's Tale (A 3284-87)' (p 1103) are examples of colloquial diction, including lines 3190, 3624-6, 3429f. The 'colloquial sentence patterns' and other devices create an 'enchanting effect of immediacy' as Chaucer gives his language 'its qualities of social and psychological appropriateness' (p 1116). [RCG]

Linguistic/37 110 Kokeritz, Helge. 'Rhetorical Word-Play in Chaucer.' PMLA 69 (1954), 93752. Examples of word-play cover 'every kind of play on words from doubleentendre to jingle' (p 938). '[I]n the language of a fourteenth-century poet well versed in medieval rhetoric, they acquire the labels traductio, adnominatio, and significatio' (p 952). In MilT he notes a jingle sickerly: likerousye (3244) and the repetition oflenger (3596-7). In RvT, traductio occurs in lines 4047-8, in the play on wyle: begile. [RCG] 111 Donaldson, E. Talbot. 'Chaucer's Miller's Tale, A 3483-6. MLN69 (1954), 310-13. Rpt'mhis Speaking of Chaucer. Pp 131-3. See 103. A crux in John's Charm may be read as nyghtes nerye (3485), and the line rendered as 'May the White Pater Noster save (us) from (the perils of the) night'(p 312). [RCG] 112 Baum, Paull F. 'Chaucer's Puns.' PMLA 71 (1956), 225^6. Chaucer's word play is plentiful, deliberate and sophisticated; Baum discusses the use of dress (3358), pryvetee (3163) and queynte (3276), in MilT. In RvTacoustic effects are found in lines 3982-7, involving hooly, blood, good and moot. There is word play in easement (4179,4186), flower:flour (4093, 4174), grey (3974), heavy, (related to the use of light) (4154), hoot (3941), lemes (3883 f), Malyne (4236), and pricking (4231). Baum notes Chaucer's play with the words argument and conclusion in lines 4328 ff. ofCkT, and a reference to Newgate (4402) which suggests that Perkin was guilty of adultery. See also 117. [RCG] 113 Eliason, Norman E. 'Some Word-Play in Chaucer's Reeve's Tale.' MLN 71 (1956), 162^1. There are double entendres involving homonyms or connotations of words noted by Kokeritz [110]. Eliason finds references to hooly (holy/wholly) (3983-6). Panne of bras (3944) is to be read as money (panne = penny) rather than pan, with bras implying 'something base or counterfeit' (p 164); allye (3945) should suggest 'alloy' as well as 'ally' (p 164). Symkyn has some success 'in alloying the bastard blood of the parson's daughter in his own, presumably purer strain, though ultimately the parson's plan to improve the family pedigree still further with som worthy blood ofauncetrye was somewhat marred' (p 164). [RCG] 114 Malone, Kemp. 'Chaucer's Double Consonants and the Final £.' MS 18 (1956), 204-7. It is necessary to know when and why the final e's of Chaucer's verse are to be pronounced or elided. Some, by pronunciation, give a rhyme, including the final e in cinamome in MilT, line 3699 which gives an extra syllable rhyming with to me in line 3700. [RCG]

387 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 115 Cauthen, I.B.,Jr. 'Another Chaucer Allusion in Harsnet (1603).' N&Q2Q3 (1958), 248-9. The account of a secret baptism in Samuel Harsnet's A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures has a reference to MilT lines 3638-9, in the admonition: 'All must be mum: Clum, quoth the carpenter, Clum quoth the Carpenter's wife, and Clum quoth the Friar, (sig. Flv)' (p 248). [RCG] 116 Dobbins, Austin C. 'Chaucer Allusions: 1619-1732.' M,018(1957), 309-12. Samuel Birckbec, in The Protestants Evidence, Taken Out of Good Records . . ., refers to the use of knave for servant, in MilT (3431-2) (p 311). [RCG] 117 Baum, Paull F. 'Chaucer's Puns: A Supplementary List.' PMLA73 (1958), 167-70. Baum adds examples of word play to those noted in his first article [112], noting Chaucer's play on the word speed in line 3728 of MilT. He comments on Eliason's references [113] to the use of holy in RvT, doubts a similar pun in line 3983f, and expands Eliason's remarks on lines 3944 f, concerning play on panne of bras and ally:alloy. He also notes the suggestions by Pratt of play on rynge andchymbe (3895, 3896) and bore (3891). [RCG] 118 Nathan, Norman. 'Pronouns of Address in the "Canterbury Tales".' MS21 (1959), 193-201. A survey of the use of formal and informal pronouns of address in CT shows that although Chaucer 'about once in fifty times departed from usage which was not too perfectly adhered to in fourteenth century England' (p 195), only one error is found in the Miller's use of ye and thou. The Reeve and Cook always conform to the conventions of usage. See also 148. [RCG] 119 Pratt, Robert A. 'Symkyn koude "turne coppes": The Reeve's Tale 3928.' JEGP 59 (\960), 208-11. Although Skeat suggested Symkyn turned wooden cups on a lathe, Pratt doubts that Symkyn was 'one to devote his leisure to so tame an occupation' (p 208), and proposes that the cups were 'filled with ale and were turned bottoms up' (p 208), an interpretation favoured by Symkyn's drunkenness and resemblances to Robin, the miller. One editor, H.Q. Hitchins, glosses the phrase as 'carouse'; and persuasive evidence comes from a drinking game called 'turning the cups over,' a Sussex harvest home custom. The phrase suggests that 'Symkyn was one to carouse "and drynken evere strong ale atte best'" (p 211). [RCG] 120 Reed, Mary Brookbank. 'Chaucer's Sely Carpenter.' PQ 41 (1962), 7689. Chaucer relied on his audience's knowledge of meanings of sely, repeatedly associated with John the Carpenter, to suggest that John is pious, innocent,

Linguistic/39

121

122

123

124

gullible, defenceless and pitiable, but 'although he suffers, he does not suffer undeservedly' (p 769). See also 157. [RCG] Hinton, Norman D. 'More Puns in Chaucer.' AN&Q 2 (1964), 115-16. Hinton refers to Chaucer's use of a sexual pun in ^v7which recurs in TC III, 197, 'eseth youre herte,' and alludes to Baum's noting of easement (4\19, 4186) [112]. [RCG] Hoffman, Richard L. '"Ovid's" Ictibus Agrestis and the "Miller's Tale".' N&Q 209 (ns 11) (1964), 49-50. The gloss generally found next to line 3382 of MilTis 'Vnde Ovidius Ictibus agrestem'. In MS Py, the brief gloss is combined with line 3383, to give 'Vnde Ovidius Ictibus agrestis and maistre'. Hoffman suggests that 'the glossator refers throughout to women—of the country, of the city, and of the upper classes—and the words Ictibus, munere, and Colloquio or commoditate loci parallel Chaucer's for strokes, for richesse, and for gentillesse' (p 50). Ictibus agrestis may have its source in a misreading of Fasti II, line 193, 'Idibus agrestis fumant altaria Fauni'. 'To the medieval copyist of the Miller's Tale, Chaucer's statement . . . probably seemed to be a quotation of "auctoritee"; and since he remembered Ovid's Ictibus agrestis . . . he wrote these words . . . to indicate Chaucer's source. Another scribe, in MS En3 [Egerton 2864], extended this terse reference into a complete proverb simply by paraphrasing Chaucer's couplet in Latin' (p 50). [RCG] Hench, Atcheson L. 'Chaucer's Miller's Tale, I. 3226.' ELN3 (1965-66), 88-92. 'This note discusses the chronic mistranslation during the last fifty years of I. 3226 of the Miller's Tale; and . .. explains why the mistranslation has persisted' (p 88). Although Skeat in 1894 [1] said that demed himself been lyk a cokewold meant that 'the carpenter "considered himself to be like" a cuckold; not that he considered himself likely to be a cuckold' (p 89), most translators and many editors have translated 'been lyk' as if it were the same as 'lyk to ben.' Tyrwhitt perpetrated the inaccuracy by having 'belike' in his text, and although Skeat noted that this was an anachronism, '[i]t is Tyrwhitt's version of the line, and descendants of his version, that set the mistranslation going' (pp 90-91). [DOM] Braddy, Haldeen. 'Chaucer's Bawdy Tongue.' SFQ 30 (1966), 214-22. Chaucer's bawdiness is not restrained in MilTand RvT, but 'he hardly may be regarded seriously as a foul-mouthed poet plagued with an obscene mind' (p 215). In MilThe 'intrepidly joins sex with scatology,' describing Alison, Absolon and Nicholas 'in a language harmonizing with the sportiveness of the participants' (p 217). The conquests of the tales 'veer sharply from the pattern of courtly love', and 'Chaucer spares little of ribaldry in the Reeve's Tale' (p 219) in the graphic descriptions of John and

40 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

125

126

127

128

Aleyn and their dealings with the miller's wife and daughter. He displays 'unparalleled artistry with country language and its crude but basic humour' (p221). [RCG] Golden, Samuel A. 'Chaucer in Minsheu's Guide into The Tongues' ChauR 4 (1969-70), 49-54. In Minsheu's work, published in 1617, 'Lydgate, Spenser, More, Heywood and Sylvester are noted only once and these five entries constitute the full extent of Minsheu's use of British literature except for the startling fact that the name of Chaucer appears in more than fifty entries' (p 50). Most of these citations are attributed to Chaucer by name only but a few are more specific. Examples of specific citation include couth, crouch, crull (MilT) and digne (RvT). See also 354. [DPS] Elliott, R.W.V. 'When Chaucer Swears.' Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association: Proceedings and Papers of the Twelfth Congress, Held at the University of Western Australia, 5-11 February, 1969. Ed. A.P. Treweek. Sydney: AULLA, 1970. Pp 417-35. Chaucer's vulgar characters swear more than the others, and the oaths are generally religious. Nicholas, when he is burned, cries for water 'for Goddes herte!' (3815), (p 426). Alison and Gerveys swear 'by good English saints like St. Thomas a Beckett (I, 3291) and St. Neot (I, 3771); and . . . John in The Reeve's Tale . . . by the northcountry "seint Cutberd" (I, 4127)' (p 432). Symkyn uses by my thrift (4049), (p 420) and echoes Aleyn in swearing by my croun (4041, 4099), (p 421). [RCG] Lewis, Robert E. 'Alisoun's "Coler": Chaucer's Miller's Tale, 11. 3239, 3242,3265.' MS 32 (1970), 337-9. Three of the seven instances of Chaucer's use ofcoler occur in the portrait of Alison in MilT (3233-70). Elsewhere the meaning varies, but in MilTaft three have the modern sense of '[a]n ornamental border at the neck of a garment, a collar' (p 337). ME coler derives ultimately from the Latin collare or collarium, meaning a kind of band or fetter worn around the neck, retained in the Old French coler, or colier, specifically for slaves or animals. The modern meaning ofcoler developed with the costume changes introduced in the latter part of the fourteenth century, during the reign of Richard II, but the earlier sense, available to English speakers from the introduction ofcoler in the fourteenth century, and in the reign of Edward III, would have further informed the animal imagery of Alison's portrait. [HMcG] Mustanoja, Tauno F. 'The Suggestive Use of Christian Names in Middle English Poetry.' In Medieval Literature and Folklore Studies, Essays in Honor of Francis Lee Utley. Ed. Jerome Mandel and Bruce A. Rosenberg. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1970. Pp. 51-76.

Linguistic/41 A challenge to the view, 'first formulated by John Stuart M i l l . . . [that] proper names are strictly denotative: they denote individuals but give no information about them' (p 52). In the context of 'living speech' all proper names have connotative associations and in some circumstances these may develop to the point where a proper name can function 'as a common, appelative, noun' (p 52). [HMcG] Alison is 'commonly associated with love and flirting' (p 70), and so a fitting name for the carpenter's wife of MilT. Malkin is a pet form of Mary or Matilda, associated with 'light-hearted and light-headed young people' (p 61). Symkyn may be associated with word-play on simus or simia. As a pet form, it 'suggests familiarity' (p 76) and lower social prestige than the full form Symond, used by the clerks, but not the Reeve; his wife uses both forms. Jakke ofDovere is an early use of the name for an inanimate thing. Its development into 'a lexical Jack of all trades . . . is already under way' (p61). [RCG] 129 Lancashire, Ian. 'Sexual Innuendo in the Reeve's Tale.' ChauR 6 (19712), 159-70. Explication of the sexual puns and double entendre in Aleyn's phrase, flour ofil endyng (4174). The principal concerns are with the legalistic equivocations on the senses of flour (milled grain, the choicest or best, and virginity) and with the poetic justice that follows upon the consequent puns on milling. It is also argued that in releasing Bayard, Symkyn precipitates 'the unleashing of the students on his own "mares'" (p 168). [HMcG] 130 Ross, Thomas W. Chaucer's Bawdy. New York: Dutton, 1972. To the 'new "marriage" in Chaucer studies: the old, the new, the borrowed,' Ross adds 'the blue' (p 15). He gives a comprehensive introduction (pp 124), which includes comments on the uses of bawdiness by characters and poet; Chaucer's reputation, past and present; bawdiness in sexual and excretory terms; copulation and metaphors for familiar and deviant forms; amelioration and pejoration of Chaucer's bawdy words; his sources and retraction. A bibliography and index to Chaucer's works frame the extensive glossary, which lists Chaucer's bawdy alphabetically (pp 31241), giving references for all the terms described. [RCG] 131 Eliason, Norman E. The Language of Chaucer's Poetry: An Appraisal of the Verse, Style, and Structure. Anglistica 17. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde, 1972. A very full general study of Chaucer's uses of language as a poet, with many references to MilT, and fewer to RvTand CkT. There is an introduction (pp 7-15) and three chapters: 'The Sound of Verse' (pp 16-59), 'The Style' (pp 60-136) and 'Chaucerian Structure' (pp 137-244). Ch 1 deals , with pronunciation of names, including Alison, Nicholas, Roger and Malyne, and with the Miller's drunken speech (pp 33-5). Ch 2 explores the

42 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales use of details in MilTand RvT. The vividness of Alison's description 'depends primarily upon the details which quite obviously are carefully selected and less obviously carefully arranged' (p 91), with figures of speech 'from the English countryside' (p 102). The description of places 'is usually less complete and detailed' (p 96) than that of people, with a few significant details effectively used. Chaucer's art is 'mainly pictorial,' seldom invoking 'smell, taste, and touch' (p 100). Eliason comments on some familiar words used in Alison's portrait, especial\y perled, popelote andpiggesnye (pp 104-5), and some 'Chaucerian "first" usages' (p 105): shot-window, tehee and viritoot (pp 105-6). On bawdy expression (pp 107-11), he concludes that 'Chaucer is not obscene' (p 111). Relationships between tales may be 'chronological, dramatic, thematic, positional and formal parallelism' (p 142); Eliason notes connections, particularly between KnTand MilTand between MilTand RvT. The use of 'enough credible details' (p 156) allows Chaucer to express incredible parts of his narratives in saints' lives, romance and fabliau; Eliason gives instances from MilT(pp 155-6). He gives examples of Chaucer's opening formulae, including those of MilTand CkT(pp 195-6), and of endings and benedictions (pp 198-201), and describes links between MilTand RvT(pp 22021). There are references to individual or exceptional speech traits (p 241, esp. fn 179). The only indications of reaction to the tales are the Reeve's anger and the Cook's delight. [RCG] 132 . 'Personal Names in the Canterbury Tales.' Names 21 (1973), 137-52. This examines the etymological and generic principles of selection and use of the names of the pilgrims and characters who figure prominently in CT. The argument is that whether Chaucer adopted a name from a literary source or chose a common name current in England at the time, his use of variants was restrained and not dictated by versification. See MilT: Absolon (p 148), Alisoun (pp 142, 143), Gervase (p 148), John (pp 142, 149), Nicholas, Nicholay (p 142), homonymous use ofRobyn (pp 142, 149); RvT: John (pp 142, 149), identification of Malyne and Malkyn (p 146), Oswald (p 148), Simkyn and Simon (p 146); CkT: Roger and Hodge (pp 143, 144, 146). [HMcG] 133 O'Keefe, Timothy J. 'Meanings of "Malyne" in The Reeve's Tale: AN&Q 12(1973), 5-7. The literal meaning of the miller's daughter's name is 'bad line,' indicating the illegitimacy of her mother (p 5). [HMcG] 134 Davis, N. 'Chaucer and Fourteenth-Century English.' In Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. Derek Brewer. Pp 58-84. See 376. MilT has words of Germanic (gnof) and Dutch (kiken, cape) origin (p 82). Colloquial language found in RvT includes toty and the students' dialect,

Linguistic/43

135

136

137

138

which was 'outside the range of acceptable literary usage in London' (p 63). [RCG] Elliott, Ralph W.V. Chaucer's English. The Language Library. Ed. Eric Partridge and Simeon Potter. London: Deutsch, 1974. Within this 'conducted tour along some of the more interesting highways and byways of Chaucer's English: his use of colloquialisms and slang, technical language, literary terms, proper names, oaths, and the like' (p 9) are many references to MilT, RvTand CkT. This detailed general study has seven chapters, a select bibliography (pp 423-8), index of words mentioned (pp 429-38) and general index (pp 439-47). Ch 4 'Cherles Termes' (pp 181-231) gives aspects of the three tales, including the devaluation of MilT, language, bawdy terms, northernisms and colloquialisms. Ch 5 'Many a Grisly Ooth' (pp 240-84) includes much of the material in 126. [RCG] Neuss, Paula. 'Double-Entendre in The Miller's Tale: EIC24 (1974), 325^0. The bawdy meanings of Chaucer's sexual puns may obscure the commonplace meaning of the words. A dirty story fits 'a person with the Miller's qualities,' with 'vocabulary of the sort that a "goliardeys" would naturally employ . . . with a wit that is far beyond the Miller's abilities' (p 328). These occur in MilT 'where one character (usually John the Carpenter, sometimes Absolon) is using a word innocently which is seen to have a bawdy meaning by other characters (usually Alisoun, Nicholas), and by us' (p 328). Finding one bawdy pun increases our awareness of others; repetition may 'be used as a kind of short-hand to be drawn on as the tale progresses, making later explanations or elaborations unnecessary' (p 329). There are puns 'with connotations of subtlety and secrecy (pryvetee, queynte); and those with connotations of pleasure and entertainment (solas, pleye, instrument, melodye, compaignye' (p 329). Neuss traces occurrences, contexts and implied contradictions of these and related words in MilT and related works, such as CkT and KnT. [RCG] Elliott, Ralph W.V. '"Faire subtile wordes": An Approach to Chaucer's Verbal Art.' Parergon 13 (1975), 3-20. In MilT(3449), 'seinte Frydeswyde' 'is a local Oxford saint, appropriately invoked when the rich Oxford carpenter... is confronted with the apparently moonstruck Nicholas' (p 15). Further, 'the saint was credited with special proficiency in the art of healing' (p 15). The wordp/sse 'was a vulgarism for Chaucer who confines its use to the Miller, the Reeve, the Canon's Yeoman, and the Wife of Bath,' except for a particular occurrence in ParsT(858-9). [DJB] Jambeck, Thomas J. 'Characterization and Syntax in the Miller's Tale.' JNT 5 (1975), 73-85.

44 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales Jambeck's subject is the Miller's style and Chaucer's 'skilful adaptation of the prescribed rhetorical elements . . . to the pilgrim speaker's level of discourse' (p 73). [See 324.] Little attention has been paid to the 'stylistic stratum . . . by which a speaker organises [his] experience' (p 74). This element of MilTis approached by contrast with KnT. Jambeck maintains that '[t]he causal relationships which give significance to the Knight's universe are not within the Miller's purview,' and the Miller's narrative 'evokes a world where random chance and animal vitality are the sole principles of order' (p 75). Statistical analysis of syntax shows how the Miller's 'predilection for parataxes' gives the impression of'an immediate graphic perception which is visually urgent and emotionally engaging rather than logically cogent' (p 80). 'If the Miller's "mateere" is the celebration of his own darksome vision, it is his syntactical "manere", the characteristic way he organises that vision, which attests its force and energy' (p 83). [DJB] 139 Quinn, Esther C. 'Religion in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: A Study in Language and Structure.' In Geoffrey Chaucer: A Collection of Original Articles. Ed. George D. Economou. New York: McGraw, 1975. Pp 5573. MilTis rich in religious language, despite being a bawdy story. 'Although the uses to which this language is put are hardly devotional, the structure of the tale—the exposure and punishment of folly—is not inconsistent with a broadly conceived religious view' (p 67). Chaucer's fabliaux 'are permeated by religious references, for the most part explicitly Christian, but the effect of the religious language in inappropriate contexts is hilarious' (p 70). [DJB] 140 Salmon, Vivian. The Representation of Colloquial Speech in The Canterbury Tales' In Style and Text: Studies Presented to Nils Erik Enkvist. Ed. Hakan Ringbom. Stockholm: Sprak fdrlaget Skriptor AB and Abo Akademi, 1975. Pp 263-77. Salmon cites examples from MilT, RvTand CkT'm her discussion of Chaucer's representation of colloquial speech. [DJB] 141 Blodgett, E.D. 'Chaucerian Pryvetee and the Opposition to Time.' Speculum, 51(1976), 477-93. MilT provides comment on KnT and an avenue to RvT, giving form to the first fragment by connecting the Knight and Reeve, joining 'their manner of telling so as to be the link between animalism and ideality' (p 482). Pryvetee, as 'undercover action' (p 482) is physical and spatial in MilT, and psychological in reference to actions and settings (3623) and to private counsel (3603). The astrological and theological background suggests '"ernest" beyond the game' (p 483) in characters' hopes of manipulating providence to serve their ends. Nicholas uses John's inquisitiveness to

Linguistic/45 achieve privacy with Alison, and the plot 'hangs upon a use of private parts, and in actions deliberately set within enclosed places' (p 483). John prepares secretly for the flood, leaving Nicholas and Alison free to take their pryvetee, allowing Absolon's discovery 'through "prively" enquiring, that John has apparently withdrawn from town' (p 484). The tale ends in actions centering on pryvee places and acts prively performed. The cry Water\ 'symbolises in a single word the depth of the tale's illusion. The illusion Q$ pryvetee is the illusion of the Flood: it only seemed to occur, and Nicholas's effort to pretend that time was other than it was, even for a day, meets with too many accidents to be a rose garden of bliss' (p 484). Absolon plays a public character to Nicholas's private one; his function is 'to expose the illusion of spatial withdrawal,' as 'time's agent and time's fool' (p 484). RvT discards 'the splendor of the first tale and the joyfulness of the second' (p 489). It gives 'neither an explication of pryvetee from a philosophical point nor a parody of Saturnianism through comedy: it accepts pryvetee as the way things are so that the function of its humour contrasts sharply with that of the Miller's Tale. The world is reduced to an interplay offeree (3912) over possessions' (p 489). This reduction is manifest in style: RvT is shorter than MilTand the narrator's sense of character is more limited. Through brevity of style and emphasis on simple action, 'the notion of pryvetee is by the third tale stripped of its cosmic connotations . . . and dramatized as mere sexual seizing' (p 491). C^ris 'dependent upon all the three preceding tales, [but] seems to make only a fundamentally comic sense of them' (p 491). The tale underlines the fact that pryvetee cannot be abandoned by opting for its opposite' (p 492). It completes a progression of tales which plot a downward movement in reverse of 'the upward movement required of pilgrimage' (p 492). CkT, 'in contrast to the action of pilgrimage, . . . has no aim and no clear goal', and 'it continues, with no apparent coherence, the tendency of the whole Fragment to build upon precedence' (p 493). [DJB] 142 Cockelreas, Joanne. '"Hende" Nicholas in The Miller's Tale: Epithet, Structure and Theme.' CCTE 4 (1976), 40-45. Chaucer's use of'familiar cliches and worn poetic imagery' (p 40), especially hende, parodies conventions and attitudes with comic and ironic associations at many levels. The Miller is not aware of the term's triteness and range of meanings. Nicholas is contrasted with the Clerk and the lovers of KnT, of which MilT\s a parody. Hende 'expands and accrues religious astrological, dramatic and literary allusions' (p 42), including those associated with Absolon, John and Alison. In the tale, 'Absolon represents pride, Nicholas lechery, and John avarice'; and each is punished for acting 'in ironic contrast to his avowed religious belief,' although Alison 'goes free

46 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

143

144

145

146

147

because the Miller's Tale is a comedy' (p 43). Hende traits give motivation to the characters. [RCG] Huntsman, Jeffrey F. 'Caveat Editor: Chaucer and Medieval English Dictionaries.' MP 73 (1976), 276-9. 'Although "Nowelis flood" (3518 and 3818) can probably be termed an error,' astromye cannot (p 279). The form cannot be precisely localized, 'but by Chaucer's time it is clearly nonstandard in London English and a receding form elsewhere' (pp 278-9). Huntsman argues that 'Chaucer i s . . . marking a social distinction by having the Miller use a rather old-fashioned and countrified form' (p 279). See also 154,192. [DJB] Wenzel, Siegfried. 'Chaucer and the Language of Contemporary Preaching.' SP13 (1976), 138-161. The tales of the Pardoner and Nun's Priest, and the speeches of the friar in SumT, 'reflect the professional training and activity of preachers' (pp 1389). In RvP, MerT, and WBT similar rhetorical devices appear, making it plausible that 'in these instances Chaucer has made lay people the butt of his irony by caricaturing them as pseudo-preachers' (p 139). Material borrowed from preaching is used to portray both Pardoner and Reeve as hypocrites. RvTlines 4122-4 refer to 'tales told by preachers about young students who, back home on vacation, have their academic pride taken down a notch by fathers or friends' (p 143). [DJB] Blake, N.F. 'Another Northernism in "The Reeve's Tale"?' N&Q 222 (ns 24) (1977), 400-01. Manuscript history indicates a possessive form god in lines 4087 and 4187, as an example of the 'Northern uninflected genitive' [Tolkien, 100, p 26]. The major objection to the reading god is metrical, but Blake maintains that knowledge of CT metre is insufficient to reject a well-supported reading on these grounds, and further suggests that verse may be intentionally rougher in speeches by the Northerners. He recommends reading god at lines 4087 and 4187, but does not agree with Tolkien in emending to uninflected forms at other lines, such as 4204 and 4266. [DJB] Burnley, J.D. 'Chaucer's Termes: YES 1 (1977), 53-67. MilTis an 'outstanding example' of'[t]he comic and ironic effect... of the terms of affection of the popular lyric together with the affectation of courtly sensibility in a rustic setting' (p 61). Burnley does not discuss the tale, considering these qualities to have been demonstrated in the works of E.T. Donaldson [eg 103]. [DJB] Clark, Roy Peter. 'A Possible Pun on Chaucer's Name.' Names 25 (1977), 49-50. With regard to Harry Bailly's words to the Reeve in lines A3901-3908, Clark notes that Chaucer's editors take the reference to Greenwich as home of rascals as 'a sarcastic allusion to Chaucer himself (p 49). This assump-

Linguistic / 47

148

149

150

151

tion is reinforced by a possible pun in line 3904, where the host refers to a shoemaker (soutere) in his proscription against role switching. Clark notes that chaucer as a proper name means 'shoemaker', and while admitting another possible explanation by reference to the fables of Phaedrus, he suggests that such a pun would not be at all out of character for Chaucer the poet. [DJB] Johnson, Judith A. 'Ye and Thou among the Canterbury Pilgrims.' MichA 10 (1977), 71-6. Middle English speakers used thou, thine and thee to intimates or servants; ye, your and you were used with equals unfamiliar to the speaker or superiors. The apparent breaking of these general rules between speakers in Crcan give 'some insights into the relationships among the characters' (p 71). The Miller, Reeve and Cook (pilgrims from the lower classes) address each other as thou. But the Cook also uses the familiar with the Host (pp 72-3). 'The Manciple, whom the Host addresses as thou, shows respect to Harry, but not to the Cook, in his choice of pronouns. Social relationships in the Middle English period must have been rather ticklish . . . those in the middle ranks of the social hierarchy would have had to choose [their pronouns] with great care' (p 76). [DPS] Baird, Joseph L. 'God's Plenty.' Maledicta 2 (1978), 146-8. Dryden said of Chaucer's poetry 'Here is God's plenty' but 'it is not altogether clear that he knew he was echoing Chaucer himself (p 146) from MilT, lines 3163-6. Pryvetee in these lines refers both to God's mysteries and the female private parts. There is some irony to Dryden's reference as 'it is immediately after his use of the famous phrase that Dryden explains that he has not translated Chaucer's "indecent" tales' (p 147). [DPS] Cosmos, Spencer. 'Towards a Visual Stylistics: Assent and Denial in Chaucer.' Viang 12 (1978), 406-27. 'In the Canterbury Tales Chaucer uses the unmarked form yea five times as frequently as the marked yis, and nay is used at least ten times more frequently than the behabitively marked no\ and 'the marked forms are reserved for expressing behabitive involvement of stylistic significance' (p 423). Three of the ten instances of yis occur in MilT. In lines 3366-9 Alison's response to John is marked by yis, an oath, and 'the degree expression every deel... giving a sense of her desire to express absolute cooperation in her husband's indignation' (p 424). The other two examples illustrate character as well as situation. At 3535-6 yis adds to the impression of Nicholas's eagerness to trick John, and John's use of it at 3533-7 shows how keen he is not to be taken for a fool. [DJB] Donner, Morton. 'Derived Words in Chaucer's Language.' ChauRll (1978-9), 1-15.

48 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales In the use of suffixes, Chaucer shows imagination 'with some of the less emphatic positive adjective suffixes, especially in applying them to familiar objects' (p 9). For example, -ed is used 'on various parts of the body, so t h a t . . . Absolon finds Alisoun's supposed mouth unexpectedly long "haired" (CT A 3738)'(p 9). Donner gives examples from RvT of words which 'combine a French root with a French suffix but are not cited in French and were . . . derived in English on the French pattern': 'nortelry (CT A 3967) instead of another derivation nurture'', and 'revelry (CT A 4005) instead of a conversion noun revel" (p 6). These words are used by Chaucer for the choice they offer, and they demonstrate 'his readiness to exploit derivational resources' (p 7). [DJB] 152 Phelan, Walter S. 'The Study of Chaucer's Vocabulary.' CHum 12 (1978), 61-69. Phelan reports on a computer-generated analysis of Chaucer's vocabulary derived from the text of CT with CkT omitted. The analysis showed RvT to have by far the highest semantic density of the tales. [DJB] 153 Blake, N.F. The Northernisms in The Reeve's Tale: Lore &L3:\ (1979), 1-8. For his use of northern forms in RvT Chaucer has been called 'the first literary writer in English to attempt to reproduce a dialect other than his normal one' (p 1). This has generally been considered accurate, but not so pure as to lead 'to poor intelligibility' (p 1). Blake refers particularly to Tolkien [100]. Northern speech is suggested by lexical items, including words of Scandinavian origin, and features of phonology and grammar; numerous examples are given. Hengwrt is the best source of CT, and Blake suggests that scribes added northern forms to those found there 'to improve on what Chaucer wrote' (p 5). Additions imply that 'Chaucer's knowledge of the northern dialect was in no way exceptional' and 'northern forms were not likely to cause many problems to a wider audience' (p 6). The idea of using dialect 'to increase the sense of light-hearted fun' probably came from the Old French fabliaux and 'has no deeper significance' (p 7). [RCG] 154 . '"Astromye" in "The Miller's Tale".' M£g224(ns26) (1979), 110-111. Astromye has been accepted by Donaldson [27], Baugh [29] and Fisher [42] as an indication of the carpenter's ignorance. Blake argues that astromye is rather an acceptable variant spelling, since it is retained in all manuscripts: if it were a malapropism 'it would be natural to expect at least some scribes to emend it' (p 110). He also notes similar shortened forms in CT, and the problems of interpreting individual forms as malapropisms in terms of a linguistic situation which freely tolerated variants. The form Nowelis, if a malapropism for Noah's, is of a different type, being 'a word in its own right

Linguistic / 49 which is inappropriate in the context' (pill). While this type of malapropism may occur in the linguistic context of Chaucer's time, the corruption of words into meaningless forms does not. He therefore regards astromye as an allowable variant for 'astronomy'. [DJB] 155 Reiss, Edmund. 'Chaucer's deerne love and the Medieval View of Secrecy in Love.' In Chaucerian Problems and Perspectives: Essays Presented to Paul E. Beichner CSC. Ed. Edward Vasta and Zacharias P. Thundy. Notre Dame, IN: U of Notre Dame P, 1979. Pp 164-79. 'Deerne love... is at the heart of the Miller's Tale' (p 164), associated with Nicholas and juxtaposed with Absolon's open expressions of love for Alison. The term is an English original, without counterparts in other medieval love literature. Reiss traces deerne and related words and the development of ideas of secret, illicit love from classical literature to Proven9al and French lyrics and RR. Medieval theologians, eg St Augustine and Hugh of St Victor, wrote disapprovingly of concealed love. The use of deerne in ME literature, implies 'a low love, one illicit and sinful, and more appropriate to fabliaux than to accounts of noble and proper love' (pp 1712), hence appropriate for the secrecy of MilT. It comments on the hidden love of Palamon and Arcite for Emily, and 'links the Miller's Tale to a tradition of love stories that both provided mirthe for medieval audiences and served to show the inadequacy of that which is illicit and hidden' (p 174). [RCG] 156 Scheps, Walter. 'Chaucer's Use of Nonce Words, Primarily in the Canterbury Tales: NM 80 (1979), 69-77. 'Nonce words' are not proper nouns and occur only once or are always connected with the same character. In MilTmost nonce words are associated with Alison, which 'confirms our acceptance of Alisoun as a remarkable creature' (p 75). '[I]t is certainly appropriate that she be at the center of lexical, as well as more physically immediate, interest in the Miller's Tale' (p 75). In RvTnonce words often correspond to 'words or morphological forms which, more or less faithfully, reflect Northern usage' (p 73). However, even excluding these forms, the number of nonce words is high, and is seen as a deliberate attempt to set this tale (and also Thop which has a similarly high number) apart from the other tales: 'the artistic effect of each tale is the result, at least in part, of its unusual diction, but in both there is a sharp contrast between the illusion of conventional diction and the very different reality which the high frequency of nonce words illustrates. In other words, many of the nonce words in Sir Thopas and the Reeve's Tale may be conventional items in Middle English generally, but they are not at all conventional in Chaucer's writing' (p 74). [DJB]

50 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 157 Cooper, Geoffrey. '"Sely John" in the "legende" of the Miller's Tale.' JEGP 79 (1980), 1-12. Possible meanings of sely range from pitiable, innocent, pious, happy or blessed to insignificant, trifling, mean, poor or feeble. This contributes to irony within MilT although the 'appearances of the word in a more derogatory context. . . underline its more pejorative implications' (p 12). This 'seems to indicate a changing attitude toward the qualities of simplicity, innocence, and helplessness. On the one hand, such qualities may be commendable, especially in the idealized world of romance: on the other, in the harsher, more realistic world of tine fabliau, they may be equated with stupidity, a justifiably exploitable weakness if not a moral fault' (p 12). See also 120. [DPS] 158 Higuchi, Masayuki. 'Verbal Exploitation in the Reeve's Tale.' HSELL 25 (1980), 1-12. A philological and linguistic discussion of RvT which takes the form of a search for the tale's verbal 'integrator.' An 'integrator' is 'the word with which all the other words in a text are, primarily or secondarily, associated' (p 2). Higuchi concludes that the 'whole text of the Reeve's Tale is integrated by bigyle' which associates with 'milling,' 'stealing,' 'sex' and the deception of the cradle (p 11). [DPS] 159 Revard, Carter. The Tow on Absalom's Distaff and the Punishment of Lechers in Medieval London.' ELN 17 (1979-80), 168-70. Refers to MilT line 3774. Rather than meaning 'to have business on hand' the phrase 'to have tow on one's distaff. . . would have had a very sharp and particular meaning to Chaucer's London audience, for the carrying of a distaff with tow on it was statutory punishment for persons guilty of crimes of sex and violence' (p 168). [DPS] 160 Blake, Norman. 'Chaucer's Text and the Web of Words.' In New Perspectives in Chaucer Criticism. Ed. Donald M. Rose. Norman, Oklahoma: Pilgrim, 1981. Pp 223^0. Some of the northernisms of RvT were introduced in the process of copying out the manuscript, by scribes who 'were intent on improving Chaucer's rendering of the dialect and clearly knew enough about that dialect to be able to do so . . . . Nevertheless, when extra Northern forms were introduced into the tale, they consisted almost exclusively of variant spellingpronunciation forms; there were few new lexical items' (p 233). 'This suggests that the scribes did not regard vocabulary as an important regional marker. It may also suggest that they paid less attention to the choice of individual words than we do; we may try to read too much into Chaucer's choice of vocabulary' (p 234). [DPS] 161 Clark, Cecily. 'Another Late-Fourteenth-Century Case of Dialect-Awareness.' ES 62 (1981), 504-5.

Linguistic / 51

162

163

164

165

Makes brief reference to ^?v T where 'Chaucer made comedy out of the Northern speech he gave his Cambridge undergraduates' (p 504). After M. Stevens, Clark writes that some examples of dialect-awareness suggest that in a contemporary context dialect may have been viewed 'as a tool of deception' (p 505). [DPS] Davenant, John. 'Chaucer's View of the Proper Treatment of Women.' Maledicta 5 (19*\), 153-61. Davenant refers to MHT3216-9 and claims that CoghilFs translation [25], concluding: 'O God, I love you! Can't you see / If I don't have you it's the end of me?' 'smoothly obscures one of Chaucer's most precisely described amatory incidents' (p 153). He considers the interpretation of the word thakked (MilT3304) and concludes that it means 'smack' or 'spank' (p 155). [DPS] Donaldson, E. Talbot. 'Gallic Flies in Chaucer's English Word Web.' In New Perspectives in Chaucer Criticism. Ed. Donald M. Rose. Pp 193-202. See 160. RvT 3996-7 and 3975-6 may show traces of French idiomatic construction (pp 193-5). [DPS] Nicholson, Lewis E. 'Chaucer's "Com Pa Me": A Famous Crux Reexamined.' ELN 19 (1981-82), 98-102. Refers to MilT 3709. 'If ba is a playful adaptation of OF baisier or Latin basium, it is not unreasonable to suppose that Alisoun'spa may be a parallel reworking and shortening of the Latin Pax, the ceremonial embrace given to signify Christian love and unity, otherwise known as the kiss of peace, or simply "the kiss'" (p 101). [DPS] Roscow, Gregory. Syntax and Style in Chaucer's Poetry. Chaucer Studies, 6. Cambridge: Brewer, 1981. Roscow makes a number of brief references to lines within MilT and RvT viewed with respect to syntax and style. Longer references concern RvT 4292-312 (pp 125-6) and 'brevity and conciseness' within MilT(pp 83^). [DPS] • Review by Joyce Bazire, MAL 52 (1983), 131-2: 'the greatest value lies in his description of the effect of various syntactical points, more particularly when a wider context than a single line is provided; then it can be shown how far the effect is consonant with the mood prevailing at that point, or with the type of verse or tale (e.g. fabliau)' (p 132). • Review by Charles A. Owen, Jr., SAC 5 (1983), 200-2: regrets the absence of an account of Roscow's methods and consequent difficulties in using interesting materials. • Review by Mark Lambert, Speculum 58 (1983), 811-13: 'one is glad to have Roscow's ideas, but wishes he had written a series of articles and notes rather than a book' (p 813).

52 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 166 Ross, Thomas W. 'Astromye in the Miller's Tale Again.' N&Q 226 (ns 28) (1981), 202. The form astromye at lines 3451 and 3457 is not 'a malapropism, an acceptable variant, or a scribal error' for the usual form astronomye, but a deliberate Chaucerian usage which does much 'to delineate the character of the pretentious and anti-intellectual carpenter.' See 167. [DPS] 167 Huntsman, Jeffrey F. 'Astromye in The Miller's Tale Yet Again.' N&Q 227 (ns 29) (1982), 237. In reply to Ross [166], Huntsman refers to M/r3451 and 3457. Astromye is 'a legitimate dialectal variant that occurs frequently in the longer and more scholarly dictionaries as well as in schoolmaster's more modest working lexicons.' He concludes that 'Chaucer was not manipulating the language to demonstrate the Miller's illiteracy or stupidity, but was instead marking a social distinction, by having the Miller use a rather old-fashioned and countrified form.' [DPS] 168 Costigan, Edward. '"Privitee" in the Canterbury Tales.' SELit 60 (1983), 217-30. Costigan summarizes the plot of MilTand notes that 'the depiction of withdrawal from common life and activity is an essential part of the story. By way of contrast, the tale creates a vivid sense of community life' (p 225). He refers to lines 3163-6, 3201,3203-4, 3276, 3334-6,3492-5, 3557-8, 3603, 3611-3, 3622-3, 3840-2. The wordpryvetee occurs at CkT4334 where the 'Cook changes the moral that the Reeve has drawn (the fabliau moral that the trickster will be tricked) into a practical warning supported by a bit of proverbial wisdom' (pp 218-9). CkTis 'about a very public character, Perkyn Revelour, who is free-spending and free-living, "in place of pryvetee" (I, 4388)' (p 219). [DPS] 169 Kanno, Masahiko. 'Difference in Diction between The Miller's Tale and The Reeve's Tale.' The Bulletin ofAichi University of Education 1 (Aichi, 1983), 17-23. In Japanese, not seen. [DPS] 170 Tkacz, Catherine Brown. 'Chaucer's Beard-Making.' ChauR 18 (1983-4), 127-36. In RvT4\21 'by Seint Cutberd' refers not only to the idea of hospitality but also to beard-making (deception), 'so that St. Cut-Berd is, roughly, Saint Deceiver' (p 128). The pun 'is also apt for the Reeve himself,' because 'Symkyn intends to cheat the clerks but is himself cruelly cheated in the end, while Oswald intends his tale to "quyte" his fellow pilgrim the Miller, but the tale only exposes its teller' (p 131). [DPS] 171 Berkhout, Carl T. 'A Sixteenth-Century Allusion to Chaucer's "Soler Halle".' AN&Q23 (1984), 33-4.

Linguistic / 53

172

173

174

175

176

In RvT3989-90, Soler Halle may be Clare Hall, Cambridge, and not King's Hall as generally assumed. [DPS] Grennen, Joseph E. 'The Calculating Reeve and his camera obscura' JMRS 14 (1984), 245-59. There are 'punning allusions to simus, simia and simonia in the name Simon (with the diminutive Symkyn) and the adjective "camus",' because simia may be derived from the Greek simos (snub-nosed) (p 247). 'Isidore also records the ... opinion that it [simia] is from Latin similis (like) because apes seem to have a semblance of human reason' (p 247). 'Camus' may indicate not only coarseness but also an ape-like nature which would present the miller as 'a man who violates social order by "aping" his betters' (p 247). The shine on the miller's bald head relates to contemporary optical theory. [DPS] Hanks, D. Thomas. '"Goddes Pryvetee" and Chaucer's Miller's Tale.' C&L 33:2 (1984), 7-12. In MilT 3163-6, pryvetee and related words mock 'the orderly piety' of KnT, serve as a 'motif and are 'part of a continual contrast between Christian images and themes on the one hand, and profane actions on the other hand'(p 8). [DPS] Hanning, Robert W. 'Chaucer and the Dangers of Poetry.' CEA 46 (1984), 17-26. Hanning refers to MilT, lines 3163-5 and 3200-2. Nicholas violates 'John's marital, and Alison's sexual pryvetee' (p 21) and Absolon 'violates Nicholas's physical pryvetee' (p 22), turning 'a stereotypical social situation into a rousing and effective plot' (p 22). The Miller, responding to what he sees as the violation of God's pryvetee by the Knight's Theseus, parodies Theseus in the character of John; thus he violates the prvyetee of the Reeve who responds with a 'counter-tale of how two clerics violate the sexual pryvetee of a Miller's wife and daughter' (p 22). [DPS] Regan, Charles Lionel. 'Chaucer's Reeve's Tale, I, 4096 and 4127: More Word-Play.' AN&Q 22 (1984), 97-9. There may be a pun in RvT at line 4127 and 4096 on beard-making (deception). See 170. [DPS] Ross, Thomas W. 'Taboo-Words in Fifteenth-Century English.' In Fifteenth-Century Studies: Recent Essays. Ed. Robert F. Yeager. Hamden, CT: Archon-Shoe String, 1984. Pp 137-60. Ross examines some fifteenth-century manuscripts for words used by Chaucer, Dunbar and Henryson 'for comic effects—less often for their shock value' (p 137). He lists the words, commenting on their use in poetry or elsewhere, with line references to works of the three poets, including some to MilT, RvT and CkT. [RCG]

54 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 111 Gomez Solino, Jose S. 'La utilizacion humoristica de rasgos dialectales en The Reeve's Tale y The Second Shepherds' Play: Interpretation sociolinguistica.' In Serta Gratulatoria in Honor em Juan Regulo, I: Filologia. Bibliog. Ana Regulo Rodriguez and Maria Regulo Rodriguez. La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna, 1985. Pp 285-7. Not seen. [DPS] 178 Benson, Larry D. 'Chaucer and Courtly Speech.' In Genres, Themes, and Images in English Literature: From the Fourteenth to the Fifteenth Century. Ed. Piero Boitani and Anna Torti. The J.A.W. Bennett Memorial Lectures, Perugia, 1986. Tiibinger Beitrage zur Anglistik 11. Tubingen: Narr, 1988. Pp 11-30. Since 'bawdry is consequent to and dependent upon prudery' (p 30), Chaucer is the Father of English Prudery as well as of English Bawdry. Examples of Chaucer's use of bawdy words include titles in MilT, 'where it refers to an animal rather than a woman,' and the brestes 'of the Miller's unattractive daughter in The Reeve's Tale' (p 24). '[T]he highly developed prudery of the late courtly works is paralleled by the raucous freedom of works like the Miller's, Reeve's, and Shipman's tales' (p 25). [RCG] 179 Dor, Juliette. 'Chaucer and Dialectology.' SAP 20 (1987), 59-68. A survey of reactions to Tolkien's article [100] shows a reversal of critical opinion. Dor summarizes the comments of Elliott [135], Garbaty [224], Blake [153] and Burnley [A Guide to Chaucer's Language (London: Macmillan, 1983)]. She gives a close reading of GP and some tales 'to discover more about the dialectal, geographical and social distribution of the pilgrims' (p 62). Rivalry makes the Miller act as 'an anti-Reeve' (p 64), lacking the Reeve's ambition. There is migration to London from Baldeswell, in Norfolk, where the Reeve lives, but it is 'no longer a source of transformation of London English' (p 67). The Reeve shows contempt for Londoners, but 'is very likely to provoke laughter among a London audience' (p 68). Dialect shows the relation of characters to their places of origin and 'the process of Londonization' (p 68). [RCG] 180 Williams, David. The Canterbury Tales: A Literary Pilgrimage. Twayne's Masterwork Studies, 4. Boston: Twayne, 1987. The metaphor of a penitential pilgrimage controls CT, and the pilgrims must understand the implications of their confessional tales and the disorder of their worlds. In KnT order is reestablished through reason and nature after 'passion and misperception' (p 53). This provokes the Miller, who 'represents the overthrow of reason' (p 54), shown in his drunkenness, manner, coarse physical appearance and playing of the bagpipe. His 'poetic artifact' is a 'burlesque analogy to the Knight's ideal' (p 54), characterized by puns, chiefly on pryvetee, also involving queynte and sensynge. He answers KnT by insisting on 'limited experience, particularly

Linguistic/55 sexual experience, above thought and reason' (p 60). John has 'a primitive idea of the correspondence of language to reality, akin to magic,' but Nicholas 'knows that the power of language is quite other' (p 61). Absolon's comic humiliation has 'a strong didactic content' (p 62). In the world ofMUT, 'the burlesque deluge works as effectively as its model, Noah's flood . . . destroying a creation gone wrong and chastising its persona' (p 63). The Miller unwittingly represents himself in Absolon, in 'negative imagery of the mouth,' John 'in his campaign against intellectual understanding'(p 63), and Nicholas, 'out to goad and ridicule a Reeve,' and in 'misuse of philosophy and history,' and so becomes 'the butt of his own joke'(p 64). [RCG] 181 Blake, N.F. 'Literary and Other Languages in Middle English.' In Genres, Themes, and Images. Ed. Piero Boitani and AnnaTorti. Pp 166-85. See 178. The presentation of CT influences contemporary perceptions of the work as shown in the tales. The language of M//rmay have been influenced by idioms of popular poetry, but 'how far they [the fabliaux] might be described as popular remains uncertain' (p 168). The purpose of the use of Northern dialect in RvT is not clear since, although it points to a lack of sophistication in the clerks, the miller and his wife are still less sophisticated. [RCG] 182 Colmer, Dorothy. 'Chaucer, "Disparagement", and the "Middle English Dictionary".' In Lexicographical and Linguistic Studies: Essays in Honour ofG. W. Turner. Ed. T.L. Burton and Jill Burton. Cambridge: Brewer, 1988. Pp3-ll. 'Disparage . . . did not shed its legal connotations but continued to collocate with heritage, marriage and lineage right through the medieval period' (p 3). RvT satirizes 'the whole idea of disparagement' (p 9) and the legal terms and the Cambridge setting imply an audience with legal knowledge. Symkyn speaks only of Aleyn's disparaging of Malyne, but the term applies to his own marriage, where he was disparaged by marrying the priest's bastard daughter and she by her marriage to a tradesman. The priest may not have been 'of noble or even gentle birth,' and Symkyn's rank of yeoman was 'at best' that of'an upper servant' (p 10). He is enraged by Malyne's loss of her virtue 'to one he regards as her social inferior' (p 10). Worse still, '[djisparage carries the full connotations of social degradation, wrecked marriage-prospects, endangered heritage, and destruction of the fair fame and glorious destiny of Symkyn's whole lineage,' so that 'he does not pause to consider whether being cuckolded by John was also disparagement' (p 10-11). See also 113, 445. [RCG] 183 Cowen, J.M. ' The Miller's Tale, line 3325: "Merry Maid and Gallant Groom"?' In Medieval English Studies Presented to George Kane. Ed.

56 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales Edward Donald Kennedy, Ronald Waldron, and Joseph S. Wittig. Woodbridge, Suffolk and Wolfeboro, NH: Brewer, 1988. Pp 147-52. The description of Absolon as a myrie child is usually rendered as 'the neutral "young man", "youth", or the more colloquial sounding "lad'"(p 147). Cowen gives the various meanings for child, and compares them with all that can be known of Absolon's age, concluding that evidence for such meanings as 'young man' is scarce, and speculating that it could be used 'as a lightly scornful indication of Absolon's immaturity' (p 151). The tonal colouring could be identified 'not simply in terms of semantic definition and register, but in terms of literary allusion' (p 151), from its resemblances to Rom and Thop. Child could associate Absolon with Horn and myrie with Rimnild. [RCG] 184 Farrell, Thomas J. 'Privacy and the Boundaries of Fabliau in the Miller's Tale: ELH 56 (1989), 773-95. Characteristic of the fabliau genre is its 'insistence upon the private—the personal, the selfish, the secret, the hidden' (p 773), emphasized in MilTby such words as pryvetee, privy and prively, used in senses quite different from those of KnT. They are 'inherently unjust, since medieval justice is never private or secret' (p 775). Chaucer refers to justice and providence in Boece and to 'privy sins' in ParsT. Boethian and Christian ideas of order and providence are not in the private fabliau world; Farrell gives examples from Des .HI. BOGUS menesterels, De L 'enfant quifu remis au soleil, Berangier au Long Cul and Du Prestre crucifie. In MilT, Nicholas and Absolon seem to suffer appropriately, but this does not apply to John or Alison. Divine or natural justice is impossible in the fabliau, but can occur when action is open and public. Nicholas stages a fabliau, 'the relatively simple text which we might call Noel's Flood,'' but he is 'inscribed in Absolon's comically inept effort to compose a courtly romance, [and] will be unable to rewrite that text as a new fabliau' (p 781). The words nature, natural, kynde and kyndely are not found in MilT, in spite of the invocation of Goddes pryvetee. The private becomes public when Nicholas must urinate, 'in more than one sense a "privy" matter' (p 782), and 'not a wholly volitional question' (p 784). Just Providence, antithetical to the private world of fabliau, is argued in Theseus's 'First Mover' speech in KnT, which MilT is 'often thought to dismantle', but 'nature or providence acts in the perfect timing of Nicholas's need to piss,' (p 786). KnT, 'the grim and dubious battle against chaos' and MilT, 'the cheerful surrender to justice,' share much, and hence MilT 'cannot be a rebuttal' (p 790). Rather, they 'make statements which may be regarded as variant readings of the same text' (p 790). [RCG] 185 Lambdin, R.T. 'Chaucer's The Miller's Tale.' Expl 47:3 (1989), 4-6.

Linguistic/57 The hapax legomenon gnof'is usually glossed as 'churl,' yet John is not a churl, in occupation or manner. The meaning is important in creating the reader's conception of the character. The etymology suggested in MED seems questionable, and Lambdin proposes that the word is gnos rather than gnof, 'a derivative of the Middle English word "gnost"—a live coal or ember' (p 6). This would 'add irony to John's character and serve as a comic foreshadowing of the tale's bawdy conclusion' (p 6). See 193. [RCG] 186 Wasserman, Julian N. 'Both Fixed and Free: Language and Destiny in Chaucer's Knight's Tale and Troilus andCriseyde: In Sign, Sentence, Discourse: Language in Medieval Thought and Literature. Ed. Julian N. Wasserman and Lois Roney. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse UP, 1989. Pp 194222. The Miller's 'scatological punning' on pryvetee expands the meaning of the term used by the Knight, but also 'makes us aware of just how much . . . [he] has dealt away in choosing the meaning he has assigned' (pp 198-9). We appreciate the movement in meaning and also the loss. When Symkyn challenges the clerks to enlarge his house by argument, he parodies '[t]he ability of words to affect material things' (p 222). In Absolon's interpretation of the itching of his mouth there is a similar parody of 'the selective reading of signs by Palamon and Arcite in the respective temples of Venus and Mars'(p 222). [RCG] 187 Watson, Michael G. 'Variations on a Theme: Secrecy in Chaucer's Fabliaux: InGeardagum 10 (1989), 29-43. The theme of'secret love' occurs in many of Chaucer's works. MilT gives examples concerning illicit sexual feelings, often indicated by ironic wordplay involving various meanings of deerne, privee, secree and pryvetee, particularly Goddes pryvetee. His dealings with John and Alison show that Nicholas is 'master of a secret art, astrologye, and master of secret love' (p 34). In contrast, Absolon uses neither discretion nor secrecy when he displays his love for Alison, until his second visit and when he plans revenge. Allusions which suggest the secrecy of the Annunciation and God's instruction to Noah deepen 'the concept of secrecy, connecting again the mysterious theme of "Goddes pryvetee" with human frailty and deceit' (p40). [RCG] 188 Logan, Harry M. and Grace B. Logan. 'The Case of the Canterbury Pilgrims: Sentence Semantics and World View in Frag. I of The Canterbury Tales: L&LC 5 (1990), 242-7. A computer analysis of GP, MilP, MilT, RvP and RvT, using case grammar to examine the predication and modality of sentences. The verbs are examined according to their cases or semantic roles, and a concordance constructed. The Miller and Reeve can be compared and contrasted, and '[t]he contrast is

587 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales marked by the choice of verbs in characterizing them,' with the Miller 'largely described in physical terms of action and action-process as well as state' and the Reeve 'with action-process possession verbs of transfer' (p 246). Similarities and differences in the tales are noted; 'the Miller's tale seems better humored and the Reeve's more bitter and ironic' (p 246). MilT has 'a higher proportion of sensation verbs of action-process,' and RvThas more of possession; they have similar proportions of'experiential action verbs of impingement' (p 247), tending to be pleasant in MilT and violent in RvT. The action verbs used differ in sound, and the 'obscene sounds used by the Reeve may in part mock the Miller's emphasis on sound' (p 247). [RCG] 189 Silar, Theodore I. 'Chaucer's Joly Absolon.' PQ69 (1990), 409-17. Joly and its variants characterize Absolon. The first use suggests sexual friskiness, comparing Alison to a restless, spirited colt; in descriptions of spring mating it refers to the season and creatures, especially birds, although Absolon is too inhibited for 'simple, unrepentant "jolite," in the sense of animal-like sexuality' (p 412). His 'frequent tavern revelry' recalls associations of the word with 'the exhilaration of drinking' (p 413). Referring to Absolon's appearance, joly describes 'a prettiness of artifice, in contrast to the more natural, God-given prettiness of Alisoun' (p 413), and may also allude to his arrogant, foolish self-confidence. Joly wo paradoxically describes love. It may also suggest plumpness, and 'the ludicrous spectacle of a vain but overweight man' (p 416). Together the meanings give 'perhaps too grandiose a combination. His happiness becomes woe, his courtly amour is debased to a brutish nuzzle, his pride is insulted, and his prettiness is to no avail... the epithet "joly"... is ironic' (p 417). [RCG] 190 Goodall, Peter. '"Allone, Withouten Any Compaignye": Privacy in the First Fragment of the Canterbury Tales.' ELN29:2 (1991), 5-15. Nicholas was unusual in having a private bedroom and living in lodgings, rather than a college or hall. His desire for privacy, expressed concretely in his room, fits with his characterization as 'more than just a private person; he is a secret person'; his solitude and studies suggest a use ofpryvetee as 'secret, arcane knowledge' (p 10). Such abstract expression has links with the workings of Providence first mentioned in KnTand continued in Nicholas's 'conceited claim to master the secret knowledge of causality' (p 13). His punishment comes from bad luck, since Absolon's iron is meant for Alison, 'a classic case o f . . . poetic justice, revealing . . . a rational world, controlled by a just and merciful God, not a world of malevolent supernatural forces and arcane "pryvetees"' (p 13-14). See 194. [RCG] 191 Kanno, Masahiko. 'A Note on the Verbal Association in The Miller's Tale.' Studies in Foreign Language and Literature (Aichi University, Japan) 27 (1991), 301-17.

Linguistic / 59 Not seen. [RCG] 192 Whaley, Diana. 'Nowelis Flood and other Nowels.' In Language Usage and Description: Studies Presented to N.E. Osselton on the Occasion of His Retirement. Ed. Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade and John Frankis. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1991. Pp5-16. 'John's eccentric Nowel and Nicholas's correct Noe epitomise the thematic contrast between the carpenter's smug reliance on simple and superstitious faith . . . and the scholar's no less complacent cleverness' (p 6). John expresses the confusion and suspicion Nicholas converts to credulity in his 'deliberate and rather unusual' (p 7) malapropism. Nowel suggests 'a shout of rejoicing' (p 8), found in the burden of carols and associated with Christmas or news, a name, and perhaps 'one of the keyhole-shaped slabs of stone which make up a spiral staircase,' thus 'a punning subsidiary reference to John the carpenter's connections with the building trade' (p 11). Many religious references in MilT point to the significance of the allusion to Christmas, including the possibility that Absolon saw Alison at church at Christmas, and thoughts associated with Nicholas, especially of St Nicholas and his advances to Alison seen as a parody of the Annunciation. John resembles Joseph in occupation, age and fear of cuckolding. In references to the Flood and Nativity, '[t]he tale, lightly and without any insistence on systematic allegory or morality, works on more than one level, much like the Mystery Plays' (p 13). [RCG] 193 Carson, Ricks. 'Chaucer's The Miller's Tale.' Expl 50 (1992), 66-7. A reply to Lambdin 185, on gnof, contending that John is 'an old-fashioned fool' and 'not just any old churl, but a rich one who wants to be richer' (p 66). His virtues are 'those of many a simple man who does not perceive that he is being bitten by the mouth he is feeding' (p 66); he is 'a classic target for ridicule' (p 67). Gm?/describes him perfectly. See also 134. [RCG] 194 Goodall, Peter. 'Being Alone in Chaucer.' ChauR 27 (1992-3), 1-15. Chaucer's references to privacy are usually associated with the grief of a lover or secrecy: 'the primary meaning of "prive" and its cognates, "privily" and "privity," in Middle English is "secret"' (p 5). In M//rmany of the meanings are sexual, and the words are repeated, as is queynte. Nicholas's bedroom is an unusual example of privacy, and may be 'the first really personal room recorded in English literature' (p 7). It was unusual to be living outside a college or hall, and, in a time when people were rarely alone, private space for a student was more likely to be set aside for study. The connection between privacy and secrecy is particularly appropriate for Nicholas's arcane studies, and his 'portrait is rich in references to secrecy and related ideas like concealment' (p 9). '"[P]ryvetee," in the sense of

60 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales secret knowledge as well as personal privacy, is one of the m a j o r . . . themes of the tales of the First Fragment' (p 10). [RCG]

The Narrators of the Tales Considered as Characters

Studies which use the characters of the narrators to illuminate their tales may deal only with the pilgrim characters and their interactions or relate them to a wider social and political context. Some insights come from seeing the narrators as examples of stock characters, for instance stereotypes of millers and reeves as cheats, as in the allusions to the Miller's dishonesty (211) and the Reeve's dealings with his lord (238, 248,255). Stock features inform the characterization of these individuals. The coarseness associated with millers is demonstrated when the pilgrim Miller is disruptive and contentious, leading to his interruption of the order of telling, impressions enhanced by his playing of the bagpipes (207, 219, 241). The Reeve shows features commonly associated with ideas of Norfolk men (224,242), old age (214, 223, 240, 250), the Devil (244, 255, see also 710), and lechery revealed by its physiognomical signs (195, 255, 328). Stereotypes and noses are considered at 245. More specific findings hint at identification of the characters with particular people, eg of the Cook and Host (222, 729, 731, 736); the Reeve is linked to Baldeswell (196,197); the Miller may suggest Robert Grymbald, with the resemblance extending to the servant in MilTand Symkyn of RvT (203). A similar linking of narrator and character comes in the comparison of the Miller's talent for breaking doors with his head, noted by several critics (199, 200, 210, 213, 216); the connection of Robin the Miller with his namesake, the servant ofMUT, is further explored in 201, 203 and 206. The narrators as characters in the frame tale, and the consequent effects on their own tales have frequently been investigated. The Miller's interruption, his contempt for KnT, and the quarrel with the Reeve have been judged particularly significant in setting the tone of their tales, and often considered in comparative studies (195, 198, 212, 218, 220, 227, 229, 230, 231, 237, 239, 248, 249, 251, 252, 253). The frame tale has been extended (201 225, 232) to assert the Miller's appearance in MilTand connections between the Reeve and the Wife of Bath.

62 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales Individual characteristics of the narrators have attracted particular attention. The Reeve's age and its effects influence his personality and so his tale; this is expressed in the tone of the tale and powerful images such as those of the coals, wine cask and rusty blade (214, 246, 258). The Miller's voice, resembling Pilate's, is also of significance, through the references to mystery plays and the Devil (205, 215, 216, 256, 484, 490). The narrators are set in their wider context and seen to offer social comment by critics who discuss Chaucer's assessment of social and political conditions of his time, as in 233, 237, 238, 247, 248, 249, 251, 253, 254. See also 364, 379, 663, 668, 703, 727. 195 Curry, WalterClyde. 'Chaucer's Reeve and Miller.' PMLA 35(1920), 189209. MilT is 'not so much an attack upon carpenters as a class as ... a direct thrust at this particular Reeve' (p 194). The Miller seizes on the Reeve's weak spot, his old age, and the description of the carpenter draws on observation of the Reeve. In GP, the description of the Reeve shows him ostentatious in humility, 'doubtless a part of his general programme of hoodwinking his young lord' (p 190), and 'colerik,' thus 'a cunning, crafty rascal' (p 191). In RvP the emphasis shifts to his old age, and he is shown as a churl and a lecher. This apparent change is in accord with the emphasis in GP on the Reeve's small legs, which are a sign of lechery. The mildness of the Reeve's anger at MilT demonstrates timidity, as suggested by his physiognomy. He represses anger at MilT because of cowardice, and 'launches forth into a sermon on old age in general and on his own sad case in particular' (p 196). Only the Host's rallying forces his indignation to get the better of him, and he decides to tell his tale about the Miller. [DJB] 196 Powley, Edward B. 'Chaucer's Reeve.' 715(14 July 1932), 516. Powley connects Chaucer's service of Lady Elizabeth, wife of Lionel of Ulster, who was lord of the honour of Clare and hence of 'the land in and adjoining Baldeswell' with his placing the Reeve in Baldeswell. The description of the landscape (605-7) 'reads like a precise summertime observation.' This localization is carried to Symkyn's wife's invocation of the holy cross of Bromholm Priory, 'within reach of Baldswell.' He does not agree with Manly [285] that Chaucer portrays the Reeve as 'an unprincipled knave,' but owns that 'a Pembroke interest in Baldeswell is as easily demonstrable.. .asaClareterritoriality.' See 197. [RCG] 197 Redstone, Lilian J. 'Chaucer's Reeve.' TLS(21 Oct. 1932), 789-90. In reply to Powley [196], Redstone describes the indirect interest of lords of Clare in 'the two manors of Whitewell, which extend into Baldeswell' (p 789). Lionel of Ulster was mesne lord with respect to either of the Whitewells. She suggests that Chaucer's reference to the Reeve's lord could be to 'that

Narrators / 63

198

199

200

201

202

Earl of Pembroke who succeeded to the title as an infant in arms, came of age in 1368 and died in 1375 or 1376' (p789). It could not apply to lords of the manor of Whitewell held by the Roos family. Chaucer may have known Baldeswell through his connection with the Hurley family and Sir John Devereux. Identification of the manor—Foxley or Whitewell—in which the heath at Baldeswell lies would show if 'a summer visit to the Burley's home at Whitewell... gave the poet his opportunity for describing, with a spice of malice, the conditions in the neighbouring manor at Foxley which had so nearly passed to his friend Beauchamp' (p 790). [RCG] Coffman, George R. 'A Note on the Miller's Prologue.' MJV50 (1935), 31112. The Miller's drunken boast 'that he will meet the knight on his own ground' (p 311) when he tells 'a legende and a lyf (3141-2) also gives a challenge to the Monk, 'whom he has pushed into the background and whose place he is taking' (p 312). This is confirmed by the Monk's use of the phrase 'lyf of Seint Edward' (VII1970) when he is later invited to speak. [RCG] Whiting, B.J. 'The Miller's Head.' MJV52 (1937), 417-19. The Miller's 'most picturesque accomplishment' (p 417), his ability to break a door with his head, has been equalled by four individuals: George H. Devol, William Carroll, James Riley and Beezy Thomas. '[W]e may be sure that between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries stretch a long, thickset line of heroes whose pachycephaly was exploited to stir the wonder and respect of their less gifted fellows' (p 419). See also 200. [RCG] Wiley, Autrey Nell. 'The Miller's Head Again.' MLN53 (1938), 505-7. Augmenting Whiting's note [199] on recent exponents of the accomplishment of breaking doors with their head, Wiley describes 'a poor bald pate' (p 506) of the fourth century, described in Synesius's Calvitii Encomium, whose strength came from practice rather than nature. [RCG] Pratt, Robert A. 'Was the Robyn the Miller's Youth Misspent?' MLN 59 (1944), 47-49. Like WBP and the first part of CYT, MilTmay be one of the narrations of CT which are 'presented as actual events in which the teller played an actual part' (p47). The exchange between the Miller and the Reeve at lines 314143, 3146-48, and 3158 suggests that the two are 'old acquaintances' and that the events that take place in John the carpenter's house really happened to Osewold (p 48). See also 206. [DOM] Hulbert, J.R. The Canterbury Tales and their Narrators.' SP45 (1948), 56577. 'It has been recognized for some hundreds of years that one of the attractive features of the Canterbury Tales is the appropriateness of the tales to the pilgrims who narrate them. It has not been so positively realized, however, that Chaucer had hardly any precedent for making this relationship' (p 565).

64 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

203

204

205

206

207

Hulbert comments on G.L. Kittredge's view [277] that '"Structurally regarded, the stories are merely long speeches expressing, directly or indirectly, the characters of the several persons'" (p 566), and the critique of it by H. Ludeke (Die Funktionen des Erzdhlers in Chaucers Epischen Dichtung, Halle, 1928). Though Kittredge tends to exaggerate the closeness of the relationship, LUdeke's criticisms are also unbalanced: 'The matter is too important for an understanding of Chaucer's art to be left in its present condition' (p 568). In his reconsideration, Hulbert numbers MilTand RvT amongst those tales which 'are accepted by nearly if not absolutely all scholars as written for the pilgrims who now narrate them' (p 570). [DOM] Galway, Margaret. 'The History of Chaucer's Miller.' N&Q 195 (1950), 4868. Three characters of CT: Robin the pilgrim miller; John's knave, Robin; and the miller Symkyn of 7?vrresemble one another. The life of Robert Grymbald, 'a person known to Chaucer's court circle' (p 488), has features in common with all that we know of them and it seems possible that the 'four characters show a notable facility in fusing into one' (p 488). [RCG] Pratt, Robert A. 'The Beard of Chaucer's Miller.' N&Q 195 (1950), 568. The pilgrim Miller has a full beard, but 'the Virginian miller, Henry Colbert, "was clean-shaven—unusual in a man of his age and station'" since a beard would be '"powdered with flour-dust'" (Willa Gather, Sapphira and the Slave Girl [New York, 1940], p 4). Pratt asks: 'Was Robyn the Miller's beard exceptional and impractical? Did Chaucer in this portrait sacrifice slavish verisimilitude for artistic vividness?' [RCG] Ellinwood, Leonard. 'A Further Note on "Pilates Voys".' Speculum 26 (1951), 482. The phrase is a musical allusion, referring to inflections for the reading of the gospels in Holy Week, by 'the Deacon, the Celebrant and the Subdeacon, rendering the words of the Evangelist, Christ and the remaining parts, including that of Pilate.' The Subdeacon sang 'in a counter-tenor, i.e. falsetto, voice . . . in a "haulte voyx", a high characteristic manner which would be quite familiar to Chaucer's readers.' [RCG] Owen, Charles A., Jr. 'One Robyn or Two.' MJV67 (1952), 336-8. Replying to Pratt [201], Owen stresses differences between Osewold the Reeve and John the Carpenter ofMHT. The use of the name 'Robin' is merely a coincidence. [RCG] Block, Edward A. 'Chaucer's Millers and their Bagpipes.' Speculum29 (1954), 239-43. Opinions vary about the use of bagpipes by the pilgrims. The instrument had a military history, associated, in Chaucer's time, with wanton exuberance, gluttony and lechery, and so was well suited 'to emphasize the Miller's social origin and rural background' (p 240). In paintings such as those of

Narrators / 65

208

209

210

211

212

Brueghel and Bosch, it is a symbol for greed and lust. The pilgrim miller and Symkyn of RvTplay the pipes and share a 'common trait of lechery' (p 243). [RCG] Donaldson, E. Talbot. 'Chaucer the Pilgrim.' PMLA 69 (1954), 928-36. Rpt in his Speaking of Chaucer. See 103. In spite of pretended innocence, Chaucer the pilgrim narrator could 'recognize, and deplore, a rascal when he saw one' (p 932), including the Miller and Reeve. [RCG] Forehand, Brooks. 'Old Age and Chaucer's Reeve.' PMLA 69 (1954), 984-9. The Reeve's rusty blade seems an apt metaphor for his old age. Knowing that he will not use it, he wears it as a symbol because 'he likes to think of things youthful' (p 985), and 'clings to the blade which is a part of him, which represents that which he would most like to have again—youth' (p 986). Chaucer builds up the Reeve's character by suggestions, with the poet as speaker, and direct statements, with the character as chief speaker. For the latter, he uses the device of confession; the Reeve is 'wretched . . . (I 3862).. .sensitive and vindictive.. .(13918)'and'vivid'(p 989). The quarrel between the Miller and the Reeve is based on jealousy 'of the Miller's strength as much as any occupational conflict which may have arisen between the two on the manor' (p 986). Forehand contrasts the Miller's 'swerd and bokeler' with the Reeve's rusty blade and white hairs. [RCG] Whiting, B.J. 'Miller's Head Revisited.' MLN69 (1954), 309-10. Chaucer describes the Miller's head and his penchant for breaking doors with it. Whiting refers to Thomas Hay ward, mentioned in one of Trevisa's additions to his translation of Higden's Polychronicon, whose skull was unusually strong and who shared the Miller's accomplishment. He also notes the happy coincidence of the appearance of the name of Thomas Hayward as a witness to an indenture on the page of the Close and Patent Rolls carrying the letters patent for Chaucer's annual butt of wine. [RCG] Jones, George Fenwick. 'Chaucer and the Medieval Miller'. MLQ 16 (1955), 3-15. In appearance and character, 'Chaucer's miller outwardly conformed to the accepted medieval idea of a miller' (p 15), which included the traits of dishonesty and coarseness. His red beard was thought to denote untrustworthiness; and he wore clothes above his rank. Jones gives French, Scottish and German analogues which contribute to the commonplace of the grasping miller of dishonourable rank. Symkyn's marriage to the priest's daughter adds to this picture. [RCG] Madden, William A. 'Chaucer's Retraction and Mediaeval Canons of Seemliness.' MS 17 (1955), 173-84.

667 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales The Host censures the Miller for drinking when 'the Miller's condition threatens social order' (3134-5), (p 176). Professional hostility between the Miller and the Reeve also leads to a breach of seemliness (pp 176-7). The comments on marriage made by pilgrims of various social orders, and the language they use attract interest. '[T]he element of seemliness would arise only should a member of the upper class adopt in public the behavior or language of the lower class' (p 179). Madden distinguishes between such unseemly public use of indecent language and private aberrations. 'The "gentils" . . . do not object at any time to the gross stories told by members of the lower orders of society, though they themselves are impeccably "nice" in their own narratives' (p 179). Madden explores the relation between the seemly and the moral, commenting on the apology in the prologue to MilT(3136-40) and concludes that '[i]n Chaucer's age the seemly was subordinated ultimately to a religious view' (p 84). [RCG] 213 Owen, Charles A., Jr. 'Morality as a Comic Motif in the Canterbury Tales.' CE16 (1955), 226-32. The moral notions of the narrators of Crgive ironic insights to the portraits and the tales. Physical details, too, may epitomize the moral posture of the pilgrims (p 229). As an example 'the Miller breaks doors down with his head with the same brash recklessness and physical violence he later uses to break into the story-telling' (p 229). The Reeve turns from condemnation and rejection of the Miller's insulting ribaldry (3866) to 'a tale that attacks the Miller in his own churl's terms' (p 230). [RCG] 214 MacLaine, A.H. 'Chaucer's Wine-Cask Image: Word Play in The Reeve's Prologue.' MJE 31 (1962), 129-31. 'The powerful and morbid impression of senility which Chaucer here achieves results from the cumulative force of a series of vivid images, arranged in climactic order' (p 129). The images are those of the horse, hair, medlar, leek, live coals in the ashes, and the wine-cask (p 129). The last image gives 'a strikingly precise description of the physical facts, and at the same time, a brilliantly apt metaphor for the entire course of a human life from spirited youth to enfeebled old age . . . [It] is followed and strengthened by the subordinate image of the bell which itself interlocks ingeniously with the metaphor of the cask' (p 130). [RCG] 215 Mullany, Peter F. 'Chaucer's Miller and P Hates Voys. AN&Q3 (1964), 54-5. The reference to Pilate (3124) suggests the mystery pageants and details 'drawn from the Legenda Aurea, or some apocryphal account of popular belief (p 55). A story asserts that Pilate was the illegitimate son of a miller's daughter (Pilam, the daughter of Atus), and a king called Tyrus, and that his name was derived from those of his mother and grandfather, the miller. This detail, with his 'voice, his blasphemy, and his profession all make [the Miller] a "Pilate-like" figure' (p 55). [RCG]

Narrators / 67 216 Reiss, Edmund. 'Chaucer's Miller, Pilate, and the Devil.' AnM5 (\964l2\-5. Details of the Miller's appearance have associations beyond the realistic. Reiss refers to the work of Parker [484] and Harder [490] and to beliefs that Pilate was the son of a miller's daughter and a tool of the devil, 'the hammerer' (p 23). Robin the Miller uses his head as a hammer and the adjective 'piled' (3935) applied to the head of the miller of ^v7"may offer a pun, recalling Pilate. Demonic associations are extended in the pilgrim Miller's blasphemous cursing 'by armes, and by blood and bones' (3124) and his description of his tale as 'a legende and a lyf (3141), an ironic term for a tale which has been regarded as a parody of the Canticum Canticorum. Thus the pilgrim is associated with Pilate, 'a man apocryphally linked with millers—who was traditionally an agent of the devil' (p 25). This 'makes metaphorically functional many details in the Miller's portrait that have generally been thought to be realistic and nothing more' (p 25). [RCG] 217 Brown, William J. 'Chaucer's Double Apology for the Miller's Tale.' In University of Colorado Studies. Series in Language and Literature 10. Ed. J.K.Emery. Boulder: U of Colorado P, 1966. Pp 15-22. MilP introduces conflict between the Miller and Reeve which anticipates Chaucer's formal apology for MilTand RvT. Chaucer asserts that he merely reports the tales, that a reader may 'omit any tale offensive to his taste' and 'must exercise his own good sense and judgement' (p 16); he warns against making earnest of game. The tales of the first fragment are linked thematically, in the sequence of attitudes towards morality, and have the assumed approval of the audience, in spite of Chaucer's 'stylistic and rhetorical' warning and the dramatic objection which illustrates the Reeve's 'hypocritical use of morality' (p 19) to conceal revenge. The fabliaux cannot 'be justified as jokes outside a moral context, nor peremptorily rejected on a basis of morality' (p 21). The message is 'Take the fruit and let the chaff remain'(p 22). [RCG] 218 Harvey, R.W. 'The Reeve's Polemic.' WascanaR 2 (1967), 62-73. 'It is far more important to see the difference between the Miller and the Reeve, despite some similarities, than it is to see their similarity despite differences' (p 62). The 'Miller's characters are extraordinarily rich creations' (p 63). However, 'The Reeve is not a creative man. None of his characters attracts compassion or ever seems fully created; and his tale is not, after all, satisfying.' The Miller gives fabliau 'its highest justification, [but] the Reeve twists it from its natural bent and makes it an instrument of a narrow and rather ugly view of things' (p 65). Where '[t]he Miller is creative through a healthy, however low, spirit of love: the Reeve hates, for life is dead in him, and his impulse is to destroy. The polemic is his proper medium'(p 73). [DOM]

687 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 219 Scott, Kathleen L. 'Sow-and-Bagpipe Imagery in the Miller's Portrait.' RES ns 18 (1967), 287-90. An explanation for Chaucer's comparison of the Miller to a sow rather than to a male animal may be found in medieval carvings and manuscripts which show sows playing bagpipes, the instrument played by the drunken Miller, 'literally an emblem of the human stomach and of the male sexual organs' (p 288). He is depicted as a coarse glutton and lecher; '[h]is pipes sound like the squealing of a sow, and in his drunkenness his voice sounds like both sow and bagpipes' (p 290). [RCG] 220 Whittock, Trevor. A Reading of the Canterbury Tales. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1968. Pp 96-105. Whittock compares the Reeve and the Miller, showing them to be completely opposed characters. ' The Reeve's Tale then is almost an inversion of The Miller's Tale... the most important inversion is that of the way life is experienced' (p 98). The emphasis on the ugliness and nastiness of the characters is such that 'By the time the scene is set for the comic finale we can feel little respect for anyone' (p 100). But although the message of the tale seems to be that 'Life has its sordid and bestial side' (p 103), we must remember that 'Chaucer allows to each of the Canterbury pilgrims the kind of tale appropriate to his character' (p 102). So, knowing the Reeve's character, we realize he is 'jaundiced' and we do not simply share in his 'very bitter vision' (p 103). [DOM] See 349. 221 Spencer, William. 'Are Chaucer's Pilgrims Keyed to the Zodiac?' ChauR 4 (1969-70), 147-70. The general thesis is that an 'astrological pattern can be discerned in the sequence of pilgrims' in the GP (p 147), which is the primary concern of this article. There is a brief reference to the cry of the Miller in 'Pilates voys' (3124), consistent with his being a Leo (p 165). The 'sinister side' of the (nominally Libran) Reeve (3863-98) is attributed to the influence of the 'malign planet' Saturn (p 166). The Host's comments upon the poor quality of the Cook's food (4347-8) are taken as an indication that the Cook was an Aquarius. [HMcG] 222 Brodie, Alexander H. 'Hodge of Ware and Geber's Cook: Wordplay in the "Manciple's Prologue".' NM12 (1971), 62-8. This deals with the Cook as he is represented in MancP, and does not refer directly to CkT. However, there are brief references to RvT(4162-3), and MilP (3120-1), where, like the Cook in MancP, both the miller of RvTand the Miller himself have trouble staying mounted because of drunkenness. There are implications for knighthood and chivalry in these depictions of horsemanship. [HMcG] 223 Brown, Emerson, Jr. The Merchant's Tale: Januarie's "Unlikely Elde".' NM 74 (1973), 92-106.

Narrators / 69

224

225

226

227

Brown discusses aspects of old age exhibited in January ofMerT, giving comparisons with Boece and RvP. The Reeve 'deals with the poignancy of the lecherous old man driven to desire what Januarie will claim to possess' (p 105). [RCG] Garbaty, Thomas Jay. 'Satire and Regionalism: The Reeve and His Tale.' ChauR 8 (1973-4), 1-8. This exploits Eilert Ekwall's historical research on population movement [Studies on the Population of Medieval London (Lund, 1956)], which identifies Norfolk as a major source of London's immigrants during the fourteenth century, and the linguistic research of Angus Mclntosh and M.L. Samuels [ES44 (1963), 1-11 and 81-94]. Garbaty argues that coming from Baldeswelle would have tended to identify the Reeve as one who 'spoke a kind of backwoods patois' which would have been ludicrous and barely understandable (p 6). His mimicry of the northern accents of the two clerks would then become a considerable linguistic joke. [HMcG] Long, Charles. 'The Miller's True Story.' Interpretations 6 (1974), 7-11. The Reeve's outburst before MilT is told, his physical separation from the Miller and the Miller's knowledge of his name suggest a previous acquaintance, and that the Miller is about to tell a tale about him. Analogues of MilT have the motifs of the second flood, misdirected kiss and branding and a similar cast of characters. In MilT'a miller is not an active participant but the actual teller; and the smith is not a "participant" as such . . . . [t]he priest . . . becomes a young clerk, and the young girl is a respectable housewife, married to an old husband, a carpenter' (p 9). MilTis based on a story in the Miller's own life: 'Robyn the Miller is Old John's young apprentice... who would have been a near "eye witness" of the Nicholas-Alisoun-Old John triangle' (p 10). Discrepancies in descriptions of the Reeve and John may be attributed to the Miller's drunkenness and the passing of twenty years. The Reeve is 'no longer married to Alisoun,' but 'to a wife who demands more than he can provide' (p 11). MilT causes the Reeve to confess 'the disparity between his capabilities and desires, between his age and his "coltes tooth'" (p 12). He fears only the Miller and his drunken revelations, and shows no sign of recognizing the Wife of Bath as Alison of MilT. [RCG] Eckhardt, Caroline D. 'The Number of Chaucer's Pilgrims: A Review and Reappraisal.' YES5(1975), 1-18. Eckhardt notes that the Host's inability to prevent the Miller from intruding on his proposed order of telling is an indication that he 'is not really the successful manager of men . . . he would like to be'(p 14). She also notes that MilT and /^together do not balance KnT 'numerically' (p 16). [DJB] Economou, George D. 'Introduction: Chaucer the Innovator.' In Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. George D. Economou. Pp 1-14. See 139.

70 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales Economou notes the 'holding back of scholarly information out of a sense of decency' which characterized early criticism of Chaucer's fabliaux (p 9). He suggests that 'the prologues and tales of the Miller and the Reeve should occupy a special place in our view of the poem' (p 11). While having recognizable connections with the fabliau tradition, MilTand RvT 'depart significantly from that tradition' (p 11): 'characterization starts with types only to develop into specific individuals'; 'the circumstances of setting are directly relevant to the characters and plot'; 'the interdependence of character and plot is richly exploited' and 'bountiful biblical, liturgical and literary echoes and allusions extend thematic possibilities' (p 12). The 'Miller-Reeve match . . . is dense with details that reveal Chaucer's awareness of the artistic implications of the unique form he had sprung out of several literary traditions' (p 13). Correspondences in characterization and description of the Miller and the Reeve in the GP and their respective tales are examples of how 'Chaucer's larger fiction of the pilgrimage provides not only the occasion but also some of the specifics of the smaller fictions it contains' (p 14). MHT and RvT are both appropriate to their tellers, and are also 'well matched as a pair of tales in the social and moral qualities that bind together the two tellers and the characters in their tales' (p 14). [DJB] 228 Gallick, Susan. 'A Look at Chaucer and His Preachers.' Speculum 50 (1975), 456-476. RvT is not a sermon, but Harry Bailly identifies the Prologue as a sermon. It is seen as a sermon on age, since in MilTthe carpenter is deceived because of his age. Sermons on death and dying were popular in the Middle Ages, and RvP fits into this genre. The Host 'senses a sermon because of the Reeve's careful division of theme, his moral tone, the way he speaks from his own experience (especially lines 3867-83) and perhaps the haranguing tone he adopts which is frequently associated with preaching' (p 461). The Reeve is both like a preacher and like a person delivering a long lecture, and this is reason enough for the pilgrims to cut him short. The pilgrims are reluctant to hear sermons at all, and especially from someone as unworthy as the Reeve. RvP and the Host's reaction show some of the characteristics Chaucer found important in the medieval preaching tradition: 'in an age of preaching, any kind of long dilation with rhetorical figures and exempla could begin to sound like a sermon' (p 463). [DJB] 229 Hanning, Robert W. The Theme of Art and Life in Chaucer's Poetry.' In Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. George D. Economou. Pp 15-36. See 139. The Miller's intention to 'quite' the KnT(3\21) 'means to attack, via parody and scorn, art based on an antithetical view of life' (p 29). In his refusal to bow to the Host's imposition of order the Miller 'not only rebuffs the Host's artistic principle; he also presents a new model of art's relationship to life':

Narrators / 71 'through his intervention, one paradigm—art is order applied to the imagination and social reality in accord with principles of decorum, for the sake of pleasure and profit—gives way to another—art is the sphere in which, released from inhibition by inspiration, the artist can safely tell the truth about existence, no matter how offensive it may be to rival views of life' (p 29). Banning also notes that in his invitation for readers to Turne over the leef, and cheese another tale' (3177) Chaucer comments on the implications of the formation of'a large, middle-class reading public' through the production of inexpensive manuscripts (p 30): '[b]y choosing what part of a work he or she will read and in what order he or she will read it, the reader usurps part of the poet's function and becomes, in effect, a figure like the Host, ordering art for pleasure or decorum' (p 31). In using his tale to avenge himself on the Miller, the Reeve achieves through art what he could never hope to achieve in life. This is a 'statement . . . of art's relationship to experience: it is a wishful weapon of revenge for the indignities life inflicts on us' (p 30). [DJB] 230 Harrington, Norman T. 'Experience, Art, and the Framing of the Canterbury Tales: ChauR 10 (1975-6), 187-200. The Miller's interruption of the Host, and the subsequent self-assertion of the Reeve and Cook, show the 'strong sense of the flux of experience, of plans frustrated, actions incompleted, speeches interrupted, of groups forming, shifting, dispersing' in CT(p 191). Harrington also notes that the juxtaposition of style between M//rand KnT'makes a comment, not only on the way the Knight has told his tale, but also on what the tale stands for in social and philosophic terms' (p 195). The Reeve's unhappiness at the end of MilTmodulates into RvP with its 'disquisition on old age' (p 194). This speech shows the Reeve's own preoccupation with this subject, and although he cannot reconcile his own possession of sexual desire without performance, 'the fact that he has described the reality of his old age is an indication of an attempt on his part to comprehend it' (p 195). However, this link also serves to put into a new context the pleasures of Nicholas, John and Aleyn in MilT and RvT: 'for all their amorous heroics, [they] will decline surely into that same impotent rage that characterizes the baffled Oswald' (p 195). In this way, 'by reminding us of the condition of mortality in the midst of such unparalleled exuberance, the frame provides another dimension to the reality of the tales' (p 195). [DJB] 231 Scheps, Walter. '"Up Roos Oure Hoost, andwasOure AllerCok": Harry Bailly's Tale-Telling Competition.' ChauR 10 (1975-6), 113-28. Scheps identifies the Miller and the Cook as two of the pilgrims who take literally Harry's request for 'adventures that whilom han bifalle' and use the term 'whilom' in the first lines of their tales. The Friar and the Miller are both

72 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 'responsible in their tales for beginning altercations which threaten Harry's authority. The Miller, furthermore, challenges not only Harry's authority when he ignores Harry's choice of the Monk to follow the Knight, but that of the Knight as well, for "this nyce cas / Of Absolon and hende Nicholas" (A 3855-56) is, as E. Talbot Donaldson says [27,103], 'a deliberate perversion of the "cas" of Palamon and Arcite' (p 119). The Reeve, Summoner, and Parson do not comply with Harry's rules because they have other aims which can be fulfilled by not telling of 'aventures that whilom han bifalle'. The Reeve and Summoner are both precise in the setting of their tales in order to describe current events rather than tell old stories in their aim of showing the true nature of Robin and Hubert (pi 18). [DJB] 232 Long, Charles. 'The Wife of Bath's Confessions and the Miller's True Story.' Interpretations 8 (1976), 54-66. ' I f . . . the Miller's story is true, then Robyn the servant is Robyn the Miller, and Old John is the Reeve' (p 54). The Wife of Bath may be concealing her own identity in those of Alison of MilTand her niece and 'gossib' Alison. The Miller's drunkenness makes his tale 'very little more straightforward than the Wife's rambling account, both having varying degrees of exactness' (p 54) and disguise of the characters. The Miller merely changes the Reeve's name, but the Wife is more ambiguous. She admits to an affair with a clerk, and her fifth husband is a scholar from Oxford, like Nicholas. Both clerks seem meek as maids, but are hende and potentially violent lovers. We should not trust the Wife's remarks about her niece, or her estimates of her age and the clerk's. Both Alison of MilTand the Wife are described in equine terms, and do not welcome violent approaches. Alison is aware of Nicholas's plotting, and devises and stages 'the episode of the misdirected kiss' (p 59). In this scheming she resembles the Wife of Bath. The Wife's fifth husband's thought of going to the roof to avoid an angry wife is a 'rather direct reference to the troughs in the roof and the coming of the second flood'; his further 'reference to carnal and sexual knowledge of a woman . . . is obviously referring to his own wife's uninhibited behaviour' (p 62), which resembles Alison's. When the Wife mentions a singed cat, she may be recalling Nicholas's branding. Her pilgrimage to Jerusalem may have been a necessary response to the incidents of Mill, giving reason to hope for the death of her husband, a cause for 'extreme embarrassment and suffering' (p 65) for the Reeve. [RCG] 233 Pichaske, David R. and Laura Sweetland. 'Chaucer on the Medieval Monarchy: Harry Bailly in the Canterbury Tales.' ChauR 11 (1976-7), 179200. Harry Bailly's responses to the drunken Miller's interruption in MilP and his inability to restrain the Miller show his unfitness to rule the pilgrimage and

Narrators / 73

234

235

236

237

its story-telling competition. He manages only to antagonize the Miller, capitulate to him, and show his kinship with Robin rather than the Knight. The disintegration of the pilgrimage continues through MilT, RvTand CkT until 'the chaos that the Knight's Tale attempted so valiantly to wrestle into social order is ... reigning in the personages of the Miller, Reeve, and Cook, who see life as something that can be maintained only on an individual basis, each man grabbing for whatever he wants in whatever manner he sees necessary' (p 185). This disintegration is attributable to the Host's character, which is 'uncomfortably like the characters of Miller and Reeve' (p 185). Pichaske and Sweetland are 'tempted to see in this ascendancy of the bourgeoisie and the chaos that accompanies it an implicit commentary on the Peasants' Revolt of 1381' (pp 185-6). In RvP Harry's 'reactions are arbitrary, irrational, uncharitable, and unfair,' and the 'fellowship under his governance is degenerating to petty quarreling and minor squabbling'(p 185). See also 247,251. [DJB] Taylor, Davis. 'The Terms of Love: A Study of Troilus's Style.' Speculum 51(1976), 69-90. Stylistic analysis can be used 'to show how Chaucer changes his style to suggest the character of a speaker'. For example, 'the Miller's humorous semi-awareness of romance diction [is contrasted with] the Reeve's calculating use of an unromantic, northern dialect' (p 88). [DJB] Cespedes, Frank V. 'Chaucer's Pardoner and Preaching.' ELH44 (1977), 118. 'The Pardoner's eloquence is an essential aspect of his character', and hence PardT differs from M/77" where an ostensibly coarse and drunken narrator can tell a story with graceful ease and sober speed' (p 1). [DJB] Mandel, Jerome. 'Other Voices in the "Canterbury Tales".' Criticism 19 (1977), 338-49. 'Nothing in [MilT] itself indicates that the speaker is a Miller or a drunk or even a churl' (p 345). There is no indication of the tale's having been written or edited for the Miller's specific voice: the 'narrator is transparent... he could be anyone' (p 345). Therefore, unless other sources can be used to prove that MilT (or any other tale) was written or edited for CT, 'we may as easily assume that the version we have was written for some other purpose and that the original narrator was Geoffrey Chaucer, court functionary, entertainer, poet-performer' (pp 345-6). [DJB] Pison, Thomas. 'Liminality in the Canterbury Tales.' Genre 10 (1977), 15772. The pilgrimage frame of the Cris examined as a 'manifestation of the liminal phase' (p 160). This approach illuminates the 'interplay of opposing characters' (pp 161-2): '[t]he fact that the Miller and Reeve are both of the working class . . . or that the Manciple and Cook are equally food suppliers

74 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales does not prevent each member of these pairs from mutually reviling each other' (p 162). On the other hand, within their customary structure they must be supportive of each other. In this way, 'liminality reverses the ground for evaluation practiced by structure' in that the 'criterion for judgment becomes the person, not the profession' (p 162). Similarly, factors operable in society (such as rank) are not necessarily so in the liminality of pilgrimage. 'The old carpenter in the Miller's tale is a "riche gnof (3188), but this does not make him immune to ridicule' (p 165). Such distinctions are called into question by the churls telling dirty stories: while Chaucer may seem to imply that these 'are a subgenre especially favoured by the lower classes' (p 167), i\\Q fabliau seems to be originally a genre of the upper classes. Thus, 'fabliaux, written from the viewpoint of ranked security... were part of a typical impulse to impute vice and immorality to one's lessers. Chaucer gives an extra twist to the screw . . . when he puts this rich mockery into the mouths of the Miller and Reeve, thereby managing to make a point about the projection of faults' (p 168). [DJB] 238 Robertson, D.W., Jr. 'Some Disputed Chaucerian Terminology.' Speculum 52 (1977), 571-81. Robertson discusses Chaucer's yeomen in the light of social conditions and changes in medieval England, noting that the author would have had to make his rural characters general and traditional enough to be understood. Nevertheless, 'his attitudes might be highly colored by developments during his lifetime' (p 573). Robertson considers Oswald the Reeve, who appears to fulfil his duties efficiently, but is 'lacking in fidelity or "trouthe" to his lord and is a wilful oppressor of his neighbours' (p 575). This is not an attack on reeves in general, but rather an awareness of 'the weakness to which unscrupulous as distinct from inefficient reeves might be especially prone' (p 575). Oswald's efficiency 'serves to emphasise a moral weakness' (p 575), since Chaucer 'clearly admired ideals of community service and was contemptuous of those who, like the Reeve, selfishly disregarded them' (p 576). The portrait may be a response to developments following the Black Death which emphasized 'private initiative... at the expense of community spirit' (p 575). The ridiculous pretensions of Symkyn in /?v7'who married the illegitimate daughter of the local parson, whom he regarded as a girl of "noble kyn'" (p 578) demonstrate the special status of yeomen in fourteenth-century agrarian society. 'The stupidly vainglorious and avaricious parson of the Reeve's Tale, who "yaf many a panne of bras" to Symkyn with his daughter, was, in peasant terms, bestowing considerable wealth upon his "noble" son-in-law. Earthenware pots were cheap and plentiful, but a pan was valuable' (p 580). [DJB] 239 Ebin, Lois. 'Chaucer, Lydgate, and the "Myrie Tale".' ChauR 13 (1978-9), 316-336.

Narrators / 75 The prologue to RvT first raises the issue of 'the role of the poet's or narrator's "craft" in the telling of his tale' through the introduction of'a highly rhetorical set piece on age for questionable motives' (p 319). The Reeve tries to win the sympathy of the other pilgrims in his quarrel with the Miller by suggesting that he will not use his tale for vengeance, as the Miller has done, because of his old age (3864-75). He also uses his 'craft' in his tale for similar purposes of vengeance. These issues, once raised in RvP and RvT 'are reiterated in various forms throughout the Canterbury Tales' (p320). [DJB] 240 Gallo, Ernest. 'The Grammarian's Rhetoric: The Poetria Nova of Geoffrey of Vinsauf.' In Medieval Eloquence: Studies in the Theory and Practice of Medieval Rhetoric. Ed. James J. Murphy. Berkeley: U of California P, 1978. Pp 68-84. Gallo uses RvTto illustrate his opinion that 'rhetorical criticism will very likely emphasize formal and conventional elements at the expense of the realistic,' and may thus 'rescue us from tempting but erroneous approaches to medieval literature' (p 83). The Reeve, offended by the Miller, 'prefaces his tale with a sharp and disagreeable portrait about the vices, not of Millers, but of old men like himself (p 84). In real life this would demand an explanation in terms of the Reeve's character, but Gallo suggests that the text 'simply provide[s] us with a portrait of old age' and that 'the voice [is] really not that of the Reeve but that of Chaucer' (p 84). 'Perhaps we have here not the realistic baring of a soul, but a purely formal description, made because the medieval reader delighted in notatio' (p 84). Gallo contends that the charge that an approach such as his fragments the poem and treats the description as not organically related to its context is precisely his point: '[m]edieval poets never heard of organic form, and they did quite well without it' (p 84). [DJB] 241 Boenig, Robert. 'The Miller's Bagpipe: A Note on The Canterbury Tales A565-566.' ELN2\:\ (1983), 1-6. The medieval image of the bagpipe in literature, painting and stained glass is not always of an instrument which is 'loud, boorish, and emblematically obscene' (p 1) but sometimes depicts one which is 'celestial, ecclesiastical, and courtly' (p 3). This division opens the possibility of further irony within MilT. 'As Nicholas sings Angelus ad Virginem—the famous song about the Annunciation—and he plays his psaltery . . . he intends an annunciation of quite a different sort; and as Alisoun and Nicholas later make a decidedly secular "melodye" (MT 3652) in bed, Friars in a nearby chapel sing Matins (MT 3655-3656)'(p 6). [DPS] 242 Fletcher, Alan J. 'Chaucer's Norfolk Reeve.' M/£ 52 (1983), 100-3. Chaucer's locating of the Reeve in Norfolk may have been motivated not only by geographical considerations but also by the uses it enabled him to

76 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

243

244

245

246

make of stock beliefs about Norfolk. Thus '[i]n selecting a reeve, Chaucer already has to hand a ready-made type, that of the small-time oppressor and tyrant... in selecting a Norfolk reeve, he also introduces a ready-made expectation of avarice' (p 100). Evidence for this can be found in Descriptio Norfolciensium, Fasciculus Morum and Langland's portrayal of'Avarice as a Norfolk man' (p 102) in Piers Plowman. [RCG] Smith, Sarah Stanbury. '"Game in myn hood": The Traditions of a Comic Proverb.' SAw?9(1983), 1-12. Smith briefly refers to MHT3122-3 where the Miller's refusal to remove either his hood or his cap is evidence of his lack of humility. [DPS] Vasta, Edward. 'The Devil in Chaucer's Reeve.' AN&Q22 (1984), 126-8. The Reeve is modelled on the 'medieval stereotype of the Devil' (p 126) and his antagonism has its source in the 'common biblical idea of the Devil as Adversary' (p 127). His diabolical traits are part of his strategy for success. The Reeve 'indicates the direction in which Chaucer was exploring, in Fragment I, the capacities of humans to win over the fortunes of life. Those capacities can be rational, as in the Knight, or animal, as in the Miller, or diabolical, as in the Reeve' (p 127). [DPS] David, Alfred. 'An Iconography of Noses: Directions in the History of a Physical Stereotype.' In Mapping the Cosmos. Ed. Jane Chance and R.O. Wells, Jr. Houston, TX: Rice UP, 1985. Pp 76-97. David refers to GP lines 554-5: 'The Miller's nose in that portrait is not only a touchstone of Chaucer's art b u t . . . a turning point in the art of portraiture' (p 76). 'The reappearance of the Miller's nose in the Reeve's Tale .. . [is] a significant development in the history of style. Because Robin the Miller holds his nose too high, the nose of his surrogate, the arrogant Symkyn, gets broken . . . in the Canterbury Tales details of physical descriptions begin to have narrative consequences' (p 77). David discusses medieval 'stereotyped' views of social classes which find expression in physiological details. In referring to lines 3973-4, David notes that 'The last line is an epitome of what happens to the romance stereotype in the Canterbury Tales. In it ideal beauty and ugliness are conflated amusingly in a single description—the peasant nose with the noble eyes . . . Exactly that kind of comic relationship exists between the noses of the Prioress and the Miller in the General Prologue' (p 84). 'Chaucer understood that stereotypes are a way learned men, poets among them, have of leading people around by the nose'(p 97). [DPS] Harley, MartaPowell. 'The Reeve's "Foure Gleedes" and St Fursey's Vision of the Four Fires of the Afterlife.' MA 56 (1986), 85-9. The Reeve's metaphor of'four gleedes' contributes to his 'impersonation of a preacher,' and has a close correlation with St Fursey's vision of 'the fires of falsehood, covetousness, discord and injustice' (p 86), closer than that

Narrators / 77 with Jean de Meun's tisons. The association with St Fursey would appeal to the Reeve, since he was 'renowned as a pilgrim, a preacher and a teacher' (p 87), and as 'a saint of special significance in Norfolk' (p 88). A contrast is implied, because 'the Reeve's "afterlife" is his old age, since for him birth began the process of dying' (p 88). [RCG] 247 Patterson, Lee. '"No man his reson herde": Peasant Consciousness, Chaucer's Miller, and the Structure of the Canterbury Tales' SAQ 86 (1987), 457-95. The Miller and the Wife of Bath, who interrupt the order of telling tales, represent 'the aggressive rural economy that was threatening seigneurial / mercantile dominance' (p 466). Although some millers were 'agents of seigneurial control' (p 467), others were active in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. MilT presents the opposition of'natural freedom and social constraint . . . mediated by a moderation that bespeaks a calm confidence in the just workings of natural law' (p 469). In the characters of Nicholas 'the predatory seducer' (p 470) and Absolon 'the narcissistic inefficient dandy' (p 470-1) the Miller attacks the seigneurial and ecclesiastical establishments, particularly through Absolon's use of the Song of Songs and Nicholas's of astrology and mystery plays. MilT can be seen as a part of the peasants' struggle, and 'the Miller's rehabilitation of nature is part of a political program that turns against the governing classes one of its own instruments of ideological control' (pp 474-5). The stories of Cain and Abel and of Noah and his sons were used to justify oppression. MilT turns 'the myth of Ham against the clerical culture from which it originally arose' (p 477), but also gives self-criticism in the animosity against John and his severe punishment. The clerks' insistence that John is mad is 'typical of medieval commentators . . . on peasant behavior' (p 480), used in other instances of peasant resistance in CT. The 'claims of peasant class consciousness' are countered by disunity in the antagonism of the Reeve and the Miller and 'the Reeve's own betrayal of class interests' (p 482). The message of RvT'is not political or social but psychological and spiritual, thus undoing the reversal accomplished by the Miller' (p 482). C£rcompletes the stigmatizing of the Miller's interruption. The Wife of Bath's interruption is different, because she insists on her selfhood rather than the rights of her class. [RCG] 248 Arthur, Ross G. '"Why Artow Angry": The Malice of Chaucer's Reeve.' ESC 13 (1987), 1-11. Differences between 7?vrand its analogue, Pamfilo's story in the Decameron, may be related to the differences in the narrators. The Reeve wants to attack the Miller through his tale, and 'Pamfilo's ending, with the avoidance of public shame, would therefore not suit' (p 3). The host's wife in the Decameron is treated with 'sympathy and even respect' (p 3), but the miller's wife in RvTis treated harshly by the narrator and the young man.

78 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales There are contrasts 'in the depiction and treatment of the daughter' (p 4), in regard to her reputation, appearance and potential for marriage. There are similar differences in the treatment of the host and Symkyn, with RvT stressing the miller's 'penchant for robbery' and 'the family's misguided pride in its social pretensions' (p 6). The disgrace of his daughter and wife is used to degrade the miller. Chaucer ascribes the tale to a narrator who shows revenge 'as the young men's primary motive' and 'social pretension as the victim's major flaw' (p 7), unlike any analogues. Since the Reeve intends 'to tell a tale of "harlotrie",' it must be 'motivated by personal anger with the Miller,' because he 'identifies with one of the characters in The Miller's Tale' (p 7). The Reeve resembles John the carpenter in occupation and age, and 'intends to take his revenge by identifying with fictional victors' (p 8). Indicating the Reeve's characteristics through his tale, Chaucer shows 'an embezzling reeve attacking an embezzling miller,' and revealing his own pretensions 'simply by identifying with the clerks, who are his social superiors' (p 10). Chaucer uses the fabliau for comment on the genre 'and to show that its attitudes are potentially self-destructive and certainly inhumane'(p 10). [RCG] 249 Knapp, Peggy A. 'Robyn the Miller's Thrifty Work.' In Sign, Sentence, Discourse. Ed. Julian N. Wasserman and Lois Roney. Pp 294-308. See 186. Draws on the writings of H. Marshall Leicester, D.W. Robertson, Jr. and M.M. Bakhtin, particularly the latter's notion of'authoritative discourse.' In telling his tale, '[t]he unthrifty Miller is disrupting propriety and order by attempting to interfere with the authority fused to the Knight's lovely story' (p 298). MilThas the same form, but 'makes an entirely different point about the social world' (p 298), with Alison's beauty referred to the senses and the clerks' unruliness to lust and the desire for power. MilTs aggressiveness 'is aimed at unmasking the serene universal assurance that informs the Knight's Tale' (p 300). Gullible John may give 'a deliberately debased, noteasily-recognized image of the Knight himself,' although the Reeve appears superficially to be 'Robyn's satiric target' (p 300). KnTis 'thinly plotted, thickly decorated, fiction,' but in M/r'[t]he plot is intricate, careful, and yet surprising,' moving forward 'because of the cooperation and interference of one person's planning with another's' (p 301). Thus it is 'entrepreneurial and nominalist' (p 301). The characters interact as they break or are bound by rules such as those of courtly love, and words 'are irreverently pried loose from what they signify' (p 302). Nicholas diverts biblical and astrological discourses, appropriating authoritative language. The Miller too reappropriates language, as in the use ofqueynte. Except by the Reeve, the tale is received as a joke, which degrades and unmasks the characters and discourse. [RCG] 250 Moore, Bruce. 'The Reeve's "Rusty Blade".' M£58 (1989), 304-12.

Narrators / 79 The Reeve's blade is distinguished from most others mentioned in medieval literature by its rustiness, and the term 'reverberates far beyond the suggestions of social status or old age' (p 304). It may suggest the Reeve's vice of lechery, or be associated with rancour, revenge and hatred. The bawdiness of MilThas 'a healthy and generous vitality,' unlike the 'ugly, animal-like' bawdiness of RvT, which is 'motivated primarily by the instinct for revenge' (p 306). Similarly, the 'skeleton-like' Reeve is contrasted with the 'pastoral fatness' (p 306) from which he isolates himself, as he isolates himself from life. The images in a short poem, 'Envy' in London, British Library, MS Harley 7322 include that of rust on a knife, and the poem may be compared with the Reeve's account of his old age. The 'destructive burning force' of envy resembles the Reeve's image of 'burning coals of vice' (p 308) in the dying fire of his life, and other similes in the poem may be compared. The weapons borne by the pilgrim Miller may be satirized in Symkyn's, but they have 'none of the sinister connotations of the Reeve's seemingly harmless "rusty blade'" (p 309). Chaucer's Parson's reference to the rusting of gold may recall the abuse of 'hooly blood' by the parson who is Symkyn's fatherin-law. The Reeve's 'moral core is as corroded as the blade he carries' (p 310). [RCG] 251 Strohm, Paul. Social Chaucer. Cambridge MA: Harvard UP, 1989. Chaucer's poetry 'provide[s] an intersection for different, ideologically charged ideas about social relations' (p xi). Strohm's study explores these relations within Chaucer's works and in his implied audience. Chaucer divides the pilgrims 'on the basis of their social position—most noticeably into gentils and cherIs' (p 69). These contrasts are seen particularly in the juxtaposition of KnTand MilT. KnT gives glimpses of the eternal whereas M//r'is relentlessly temporal' and practical, with 'concrete details. .. and definitive actions' (p 134), so that all events occur coherently within a defined setting, to characters 'fully arrayed in traits that determine the choices they make' (p 135). Each tale 'may be seen to embody a view of human experience in time and a criticism of that view' (p 137) appropriate to its teller, with historical consciousness drawing on 'formations themselves saturated with ideologically based assumptions about hierarchy and community, the sacred and the mundane' (p 142), in a time of fading feudalism and growing capitalism and social upheaval, echoed in the Miller's disruption of the expected order of telling. The Miller's interruption ensures that the order 'will be supplanted by an entirely new and nonhierarchical set of criteria, with tellers either self-nominated or chosen according to the new perspectives or departures promised by their vocation or demeanor' (p 154). The most prominent quarrels among the pilgrims are vocational, such as that between the Miller and the Reeve. See also 233,247. [RCG]

80 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 252 Johnson, Lynn Staley. The Shepheardes Calender: An Introduction. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State UP, 1990. Briefly compares the 'relationship characterized by envy and scorn' (p 64) between Thenot and Cuddie with that of the Miller and the Reeve. 'The one is merely instinctive and provocative, the other premeditated and well-aimed. Where Robin is hot, Oswald is cool; where Robin is drunk, Oswald is sober; where Robin is boisterous, Oswald is malicious' (p 64). Old age is used to screen anger and envy of sexual prowess. [RCG] 253 Knapp, Peggy. 'Robyn the Miller's Thrifty Work.' In Chaucer and the Social Contest. New York: Routledge, 1990. Pp32^4. A later version of 249, considering M/7"as it opposes KnT. [RCG] 254 Walsh, Elizabeth. 'Upward Bound: The Socipolitical Significance of the King-in-Disguise Motif.' 55126(1991), 156-63. The characters of the Miller and the Reeve accord with their popular images, and 'take advantage of the world and mock the naivete of the proud' (p 158). They are mentioned briefly in this study of RaufCoilyear and other works incorporating the king-in-disguise motif. [RCG] 255 Ellis, Deborah S. 'Chaucer's Devilish Reeve.' ChauR27 (1992-3), 150-61. The Reeve is'a diabolized human'(p 151). His portrait exploits the audience's belief in devils; details associate him with the devil and 'the worst of the other pilgrims' (p 152) including his hair, lack of beard, slenderness, especially of his legs, his home in a shady place in Norfolk and his air of corrupt maturity. He is 'a thief and a liar, with a strong sense of pleasure in his "professionalism"' (p 154), as 'not only a guardian, or at least a governor. . . of all his lord's property, but. . . also the active principle that steals (reves) that property and translates it into his own' (p 155). His deceptive use of language invites comparison with the devil, with 'a special ambiguity' (p 156) in his portrait. Diabolical references abound in RvT, including Symkyn's recognition of an 'adversarial relationship between language and reality' (p 157). The story has a double moral, with justice but no salvation, and reference to the guiler beguiled recalls the devil, the archetypal guiler. Dread of the Reeve suggests that he is 'like the d e v i l . . . in effect death personified'; he knows everyone and 'is already recognized for what he is' (p 159). His riding last reminds us of the devil who will take the hindmost. [RCG] 256 Hanna, Ralph, III. 'Pilate's Voice/Shirley's Case.' SAQ9\ (1992), 793-812. The Miller's intrusion, 'in Pilates voys,' engenders annotation, generally a reference to Pilate as portrayed in the mystery plays and a manner of speaking: courtly and pompous, which does not fit with the Miller's oaths. John Shirley, a vagabond executed in 1381 for his'lies as well as silly and worthless talk' (p 797), resembles the Miller in being away from his home, associated with a tavern and indulging 'in a pernicious or unlicensed

Narrators / 81 speech' (p 796). Shirley's was a rebellious peasant voice, of the kind demonized by voices of authority. Chaucer's Miller in some ways corresponds to 'an estates type, the model bad peasant' (p 803). The demonized peasant voice was represented as 'nonconstructive, and likely even subhuman, orality,' although 'within a rich register' (p 804). Chaucer's apology / attack in MilP 'places the Miller's proffered tale outside the domain of writing, in the world of purely oral performative activity,' and deceptively gives the impression that fabliau, a courtly genre, 'represents the voice of the peasant underclass' (p 805), in which peasants act as their rulers expect them to do. The Miller 'proves thoroughly capable of manipulating writing, of instituting his own counter-literary tradition' (p 806). Thus earlier glossing of the phrase is 'profoundly overdetermined,' and 'the act of discontinuous glossing has converted such a Chaucerian fiction into a fiction of Chaucerians' (p 806) with ideological implications. [RCG]

This page intentionally left blank

The Tales Considered Together

Works gathered in this section deal with more than one of the tales. Some of these studies are comparative; others treat the tales discretely. Studies which examine the first fragment or CT'm general explore the connections between the tales giving particularly helpful insights into the frame tale, links between the tales, and comments made by individual tales on the others, aspects which have received increasing attention throughout the century. Many general studies deal with the tales at various levels, often concentrating on particular aspects of the work. Coulton 266 first refers to the 'downward slope of accelerating impropriety' in MilT, RvTand CkT; he is primly echoed by Chute 306. Such observations are illuminated by the study of recurring words with changing meanings, such aspryvetee and queynte. Cowling 286 considered the tales realistic, in contrast to the romance ofKnT, and this kind of comment is extended by Brewer in 311, 312, and 316. MilT, RvTand CkT are related to the tales nearest them or to the structure of CTas a whole, as in 308, 309, 315, 345, 389, 397, 412 and 439. The wish of the narrators to quit those who have spoken before them, first expressed by the Miller and shown also in the tales of the Reeve and Cook, is one of the threads running through the first fragment. Kittredge 277 argues for taking the Canterbury pilgrims as dramatis personae, stressing the importance of the interaction of teller and tale, thus setting the parameters of a continuing discussion. Similarly, Tupper 278, 726, 727 sees the tales as built around the seven deadly sins, with important roles played by characteristics of the individual pilgrims and their class. The notion is extended in Lumiansky's study 317, which adds speculation about unrecorded parts of the lives of the pilgrims to justify their hostility and rivalry (see also works in the section on narrators, especially 225, 232). The theme of rivalry is observed in 332, 394 and 449, and by many who have commented on the narrators The tales are also seen to comment on those preceding them, and the relationships have been explored recently in 372, 389, 397, 412, 419, 426, 431, 432, 434, 436, 438, 439 and 443.

84 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales Chaucer's varied treatment of the fabliau genre in the first fragment has caused much discussion (see Index, s.v. fabliau). Among numerous studies which have attracted critical attention, Muscatine's 324 tells of the elaboration of the fabliau in MilTand the contrasting tone of RvT; the genre and its modification are considered further by Pearcy 437. Lindahl 450 sees the tales as schwdnke rather than fabliaux. Robertson's study 330 refers particularly to allegorical associations and aspects of love. Chaucer's allegorizing impulse is tempered by his acute representation of life, and there are dissenting views, such as those of Utley 353. Patristic exegesis is considered further in 314, 404, 439, 498 and 499. Siegel 429 sees the First Fragment as a debate; Taylor 447 finds it linked by the fair chain of love; Kendrick 446 writes of aspects of literary play. Love and values are examined at 325, 367, 371 and 372. The tales are related to Chaucer's views on society in 251, 403, 436, 455, and seen from a feminist perspective in 456. Surveys of criticism are given at 304,350, 375, 440 and 451. 257 Ames, Percy W., ed. Chaucer Memorial Lectures. See 53. 'Readers who have made their first acquaintance with Chaucer by the "Milleres Tale" are naturally repelled by the coarseness of its broad humour, and may thereafter deny themselves the profit and delight of a fuller and truer knowledge of the poet' (xviii). Lectures in the collection are listed individually. [GDM] 258 Patrick, David, ed. Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature: A History Critical and Biographical of Authors in the English Tongue from the Earliest Times till the Present Day, With Specimens of their Writings. Vol 1. London: Chambers, 1901. The Miller and Reeve are churls, 'each seeking to discredit the other's craft by a knavish story, into the telling of which, more especially the Reeve's, Chaucer put all his skill' (p 64). Like the Friar and Summoner, they 'cast stones at each other's calling' (p 65). Symkyn's stratagem to frustrate the device of the two Cambridge students to prevent him from stealing their corn 'stands by itself, and is altogether delightful' (p 72). RvT, lines 402699 are given in illustration. [GDM] 259 Snell, F.J. The Age of Chaucer. Introduction by J.W. Hales. London: Bell, 1901. Rev. 1912. M/ris 'inexpressibly coarse, but its coarseness is, in some degree, redeemed by its superabundant humour' (p 206). There are allusions to mystery plays in MilT'm Absolon's performance as Herod (p 89) and Nicholas's exploitation of the story of the Noah. The wish of John the clerk to avoid being called a cockney is 'a not too patriotic allusion, if Chaucer was in fact a Londoner' (p 126). [RCG]

The Tales Together / 85 260 Hammond, Eleanor Prescott. 'On the Order of the Canterbury Tales: Caxton's Two Editions.' MP 3 (1905-06), 159-78. Discussing grouping and prologues to MilT, RvTand CkT, Hammond points out that both of Caxton's editions and Tyrwhitt omit lines 47 and 48 (3155, 3156) from MilP and Caxton I omits lines 579-86 (3765-3772) from MilT. Both Caxton editions and Tyrwhitt omit lines 27 and 28 (3881, 3882) from RvP. [GDM] 261 Tobler, Alfred. Geoffrey Chaucer's Influence on English Literature. Diss. Berne: Haller, 1905. Catalogues translations, modernizations and imitations of MilT, RvTand CkT from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. Tobler divides his dissertation into chapters with headings such as 'Poets Who Imitate Chaucer's Works,' 'Poets Who, In Various Ways, Use Chaucerian Materials,' 'Poets Who Modernise Chaucerian Works By A Free Translation,' 'Poets Who Modernise Chaucerian Works By Careful And Faithful Translation' and 'Authors Who Adapt Chaucerian Works For The Young.' [GDM] 262 Root, Robert Kilburn. The Poetry of Chaucer: A Guide to Its Study and Appreciation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906. The Miller's intrusion and altercation with the Reeve prepare the audience for MilT and RvT. They resemble each other in 'an indecency which cannot be wholly explained away as due to the frankness of a less delicate age' (p 175). Root regrets their inclusion, finds them not to be 'evidence of immoral character in their author' (p 176) and notes 'the brilliant characterizations and . .. consummate skill' (p 177) of the narrative of MilT. He gives an account of MilT, summarizing the climactic scenes thus: Absolon 'goes to Alisoun's window, where he is duped and has his revenge' (p 178). Sources of the tale are found in a tale of Valentin Schummann and a novelle by Massuccio di Salerno. The 'rough poetic justice in the discomfiture of the cheating miller' (p 177) offsets the immorality of RvT. CkT is merely a fragment, but likely to be 'of the same general type' (p 179). [RCG] 263 Hinckley, Henry Barrett. Notes on Chaucer: A Commentary on the Prolog and Six Canterbury Tales. Northampton: Nonotuck, 1907. Hinckley glosses goliardeys, line 560, as 'goliard' or 'teller of ribald stories' (p 41), explaining that goliards 'were frequently servants of students in the universities' (p 41). The Miller and Reeve both tell stories in the goliardic vein'(pp 41-2). [GDM] 264 Skeat, W.W. The Evolution of the Canterbury Tales. Chaucer Society Publications, Second Series. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1907. Employs the notation devised by Furnivall in his Six-Text edition [1877], with MilT, RvT, CkT and their prologues included in the first of nine sets, in an order which is never changed. Skeat discusses the authorized order of the

86 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales tales in the Harleian ms, and gives tables showing the relationship of the tales to various mss. Only the Hengwrt ms records the unfinished nature of CkT. Skeat comments on this and points to the allusion in ManTto a second Cook's Tale which was apparently never written. Some lines from MilP are omitted from the Hengwrt ms and lines from M/7"are included only in the Ellesmere and Cambridge mss (and in Thynne's edition). [GDM] 265 Tatlock, John S.P. The Development and Chronology of Chaucer's Works. Chaucer Society Publications, Second Series. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1907. Rpt Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1963. Chaucer's apology seems to refer to MilT and RvT, which must already have been written. Although 'Chaucer experienced a reaction against allegory' (p 176), he must still have enjoyed NPT, MilT and MLTin middle life. The scribes showed interest in 'adages or other pithy sayings in their texts' (p 190), eg the marginal note,'A proverbe' opposite MilP, line 3391 in MS Arch. Seld. The Merchant could have taken offence at ShT, as did the Reeve at MilT, a vestige of'Chaucer's original design for an exchange of hostilities, a polite quarrel between the Wife of Bath and the Merchant' (p 207), ShTbemg 'certainly written' (p 206) for the Wife of Bath. MilP, MilT, RvP and RvT are connected with ShT, WBP or MerTby parallel passages. Tatlock quotes the 'curious and unexplained innuendo about Greenwich' (p 139) from RvP, line 3907, and compares ShT, line 1417 with RvT, line 4264. [GDM] 266 Coulton, G.G. Chaucer and his England. London: Methuen; New York: Putnam, 1908. Illustrated with eight plates and other drawings in the text. Rpt New York: Russell, 1957. Coulton claims 'It is because Chaucer's speech ranges with absolute ease from the best talk of the best society, down to the Miller's broad buffoonery or the north-country jargon of the Cambridge students, that his characters seem to us so modern in spite of the social and political revolutions which separate their world from ours' (p 75). He refers to MilT in relation to the clergy-house at Alfriston, and to lines 3328-30 in partial explanation of the condemnation of dances in fourteenth-century England. Passages from MilP, lines 3120^41 to CkP, 4346-52 illustrate the course of the first day of the pilgrimage, and the reference to Greenwich in RvP 3907 suggests that Chaucer was living there at the time. RvT is 'as essentially "churlish" as its predecessor' (p 153); 'The Miller seemed to have let loose every riotous element, and to have started the company upon a downward slope of accelerating impropriety' (p 154). Coulton discusses the differences in mss at the end of CkT fragment. [GDM] 267 Gwynn, Stephen. The Masters of English Literature. London, New York: Macmillan, 1904. Rev. London: Macmillan, 1908.

The Tales Together / 87 Gwynn compares SqT, 'a high romance of marvels and enchantments' (p 11) with MilT, 'a gross ribaldry' (p 12); MilT 'unhappily does not bear repetition' (p 16). [GDM] 268 Saintsbury, George. 'Chaucer.' In The Cambridge History of English Literature. Ed. A.W. Ward and A.R. Waller. Vol 2. The End of the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1908. Pp 179-224. Saintsbury compares MilT and RvT \v\th KnT which precedes them with its 'high seriousness and variegated decoration' (p 181). One of the tales derives from a known fabliau; the other is possibly original, but both are of the fabliau type, which he defines as 'the story of ordinary life with a preferably farcical tendency' (p 181). The morals of the tales are not above those of the time, but the nature and manners 'of the towns and villages of [fourteenth-century] England' are portrayed 'with a vividness which makes their French patterns tame' (p 181). CkT, if completed, would have run along similar lines. [GDM] 269 Stephen, Leslie and Sidney Lee, eds. Dictionary of National Biography. Vol 4. Chambers-Craigie. London: Smith and Elder, 1908. J.W. Hales believes Chaucer's knowledge of Oxford and Cambridge shown in MilT and RvTmay have come from visits paid to the universities when he had a friend, 'the philosophical Strode' (p 156), at Oxford. RvT\vas influenced by Boccaccio's similar story in the Decameron. [GDM] 270 Mackail, J.W. The Springs of Helicon: A Study in the Progress of English Poetry from Chaucer to Milton. London: Longmans and Green, 1909. Mackail compares the song of Troilus in Book 1 of TC with Chaucer's parody of the contemporary lyric in Absolon's song in MilT: 'So strange is the accent [in Troilus' song], that one's first instinct is to think that Chaucer is at his favourite game of parody' (p 15). He uses Chaucer's term, harlotry (p 52), to describe MilT and RvT, and contrasts Langland's seriousness with 'the high seriousness of art': 'In [Langland's eyes] Troilus and Criseyde falls under the same condemnation with the Miller's Tale; both are mere worldly vanity' (p 63). Mackail, however, believes the distinction between these two works of Chaucer as poetry to be 'evidently profound' and addresses the question 'whether the Miller's Tale, and that whole body of brilliant work to which it belongs, be poetry at all, and if so, in what sense'(p 63). [GDM] 270A Aarne, Antti. The Types of the Folktale: A Classification and Bibliography. 1910. Trans Stith Thompson. 1928. RprNew York: Burt Franklin, 1971. Among the types listed in the category of "Stories about Married Couples" is number 1361, which mentions MilT as an explification of the motifs of the fictionalized Flood, as well as the misdirected kiss and burning poker. Number 1363 refers to RvT as an instance of the manipulation of the cradle. [TGH]

88 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 271 Pollard, Alfred William. Encyclopaedia Brittanica. llthed, 1910-11. Vol.6. Pp 13-17. A brief reference in the entry for Chaucer. MilT and RvTare among Chaucer's 'most important and distinctive additions' to the CT, and are examples of his 'sedulously cultivated' narrative skill. RvTis one of the 'great things in Chaucer' and adds to his 'width of range' (p 16). [DPS] 272 Ewald, Wilhelm. Der Humor in Chaucer s Canterbury Tales. Studien zur Englischen Philologie 45. Halle: Niemeyer, 1911. Chaucer is the first serious English writer, under the influence of the European Renaissance, to demonstrate the possibilities of comedy. The adultery of MilT is a serious matter, but much of the comedy of the tale lies in how it is plotted and the absurdities to which John the carpenter is subject (pp 27-8). Comedy follows from the external appearance of characters such as John (p 39) and Absolon (pp 37-8) and the fact that they are unlucky in love (p 49). Comedy in RvTis particularly evident in the appearance of Symkyn and his family (pp 39-40) and the remarks of Aleyn (p 29). In RvTand MilT comedy is generated by the triumph of mischievous evil over dumb honesty (p 42). [DPS] 273 Meyer, Emil. Die Charakterzeichung bei Chaucer. Studien zur Englischen Philologie 48. Halle: Niemeyer, 1913. Rpt 1973. The coarseness of some of the tales is an integral part of the art of Chaucer's characterization and demonstrates the breadth of his human understanding (pp 1-2). Symkyn's character is closely based on that of the pilgrim Miller (pp 119-20). [DPS] 274 Newbolt, Henry. 'The Poetry of Chaucer.' English Review 15(1913), 170-89. Has a brief reference to RvTand MilT: 'in spite of their coarseness, there is nothing in them tending either to sensuality or cruelty.' Chaucer avoids 'the least touch of magisterial or personal feeling' (p 180). [DPS] 275 Tupper, Frederick. 'Saint Venus and the Canterbury Pilgrims.' The Nation 97(1913), 354-6. Brief references to MilT, RvTand CkT. Tupper notes the 'external resemblance of the miller's wife in the "Reeve's Tale" to the Wife of Bath' (p 354). CkT is 'evidently intended to move on the lowest levels of illicit love'(p 355). [DPS] 276 Vockrodt, Gustav. Reimtechnik bei Chaucer als Mittel zur chronologischen Bestimmung seiner im Reimpaar geschrieben Werke. Halle: Hohmann, 1914. Gives a brief reference. Vockrodt tabulates changes in Chaucer's rhyme technique to establish a chronological order for the composition of his poetry. Under this technique RvTand MilTbelong to Chaucer's mature years. [DPS]

The Tales Together/89 277

Kittredge, George Lyman. Chaucer and his Poetry. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1915. Makes a number of references to the Miller, Reeve and Cook, as characters in a group within CT, stressing their interaction as dramatis personae. 'An anecdote always gains point if there is somebody present whom it may be thought to hit. Again and again is this principle expressly recognized by the Canterbury Pilgrims. The Miller's Tale concerns a carpenter, and the Reeve, who is of that trade, suspects that it is aimed at him . . . And so the saturnine Oswald returns the compliment in a tale of a miller. The Cook's Tale, fortunately a fragment, was to be of an innkeeper, and was avowedly a reply to the Host's attack upon the artifices of chefs and caterers ' (p 172). [DPS] • Review by H.S.V. Jones, JEGP 17 (1918), 622-5: 'Like him or not, we have here a rare instance of a literary critic who gives his author a chance' (p 623). • Review by W.P.K[er], MLR 11 (1916), 509-10:'Professor G.L. Kittredge has some right to speak about Chaucer; he has not got up the subject in a hurry; he knows what he has to say, and his knowledge goes far beyond the immediate scope of these lectures' (p 509). • Review by J.L.L[owes], MZJV31 (1916), 316-18: expresses admiration for the strong but unobtrusive scholarship on which the book is based. 278 Tupper, Frederick. 'The Quarrels of the Canterbury Pilgrims.' JEGP 14 (1915), 256-70. The 'chief quarrels of the Canterbury Pilgrims are alike in this—that each represents a clash between traditionally hostile classes, rather than the chance encounter of individuals—yet in details of treatment they vary widely' (p 270). 'The quarrel of Manciple and Cook, rich in typical elements, is supported only throughout the Manciple's Prologue and yields entirely in his Tale to the combined interest of popular theology—the perverse illustration of Sins of the Tongue—and the querelle desfemmes. And the professional hostility of Miller and Reeve, admirably sustained in the story of the second, not only invokes to its aid, in the tale of the first, the desperate makeshift of the carpenter's trade, but must there rely for its effect upon the ever-present problem of the sexes' (p 270). [DPS] 279 Watt, Francis. Canterbury Pilgrims and their Ways. London: Methuen, 1917. Refers briefly to RvTand MilT, some aspects of which 'deliberately . . . transgress' Chaucer's apology in GP 'which is clearly ironical' (p 78). Watt refers to RvT3906-3907 and notes that 'Harry Bailly had some reason to speak of their slowness' (p 88). [DPS] 280 Chesterton, O.K. Chaucer. London: Faber, 1932; 2nd edn 1948. Rpt 1949, 1959,1962.

90 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

281

282 283

284

Chesterton refers to the pilgrim Miller, the coarseness of his tale and the possibility of 'turning the Prologue and framework of The Canterbury Tales into the form of a modern novel' ( p 173). '[T]he Reeve's Tale is not so vivid as the Reeve' (p 164). Chesterton refers briefly to the Cook and doubts the authenticity of the tale 'specially called "Gamelyn"' (p 171). [RCG] Graves, Thornton S. 'SomeChaucerAllusions(1561-1700).' SP2Q(1923), 469-78. Nathaniel Whiting, in // Insonio Insonnadado, has a reference to RvT(pp 473-4). Thomas Forde in Familiar Letters, alludes to MilT(p 477). [RCG] Lawrence, C.E. The Personality of Chaucer.' Quart Rev 242 (1924), 31533. MHTand RvTare characterized as 'knock-about stories' (p 327). [DJB] Spurgeon, Caroline F.E. Five Hundred Years of Chaucer Criticism and Allusion 1357-1900. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1925. 3 vols. Vol. 1 has a comprehensive introduction (pp ix-cxliv), dealing with aspects of Chaucer criticism and allusion including his reputation, varying popularity of the poems, critics, and the evolution of criticism and scholarship. Texts of the allusions follow: Part 1, 1357-1800 (1: 1-504); Part 2, 18011850 (2: 1-288); Part 3, 1851-1900 (2: 1-152). Vol. 3 has three appendices: A, 'Additional English and Latin references' (pp 1-109; B, 'The Reputation of Chaucer in France' (pp 1-15), with 'French references' (pp 16-125); C gives 'German references' (pp 128-53), after an 'Introductory Note' (pp 126-7). A detailed Index follows (pp 1-89). [Vols. 2 and 3 have more than one sequence of page numbers.] [RCG] Manly, John Matthews. 'Chaucer and the Rhetoricians.' Warton Lecture on English Poetry. The Proceedings of the British Academy 12 (1926), 95113. Rpt in Chaucer Criticism: The Canterbury Tales. Ed. Richard J. Schoeck and Jerome Taylor. Notre Dame, IN: U of Notre Dame P, 1960. Pp 268-90. Techniques of rhetoric may be observed throughout Chaucer's works, most frequently in his earlier works. Manly contrasts rhetorical openings with the 'beginning used with such masterly skill in the tales of Miller, [and] Reeve' (p 275). Similarly, he compares the descriptions of Alison and Absolon with that of the Duchess Blanche. In MilT, 'rhetorical devices do not occupy more than 1 per cent, of the text' (p 284). Chaucer was not restricted by conventions of rhetoric, which excluded rhetorical ornament from humorous tales, where ' fsjententiae are reduced to single lines . . . exempla to passing allusions; apostrophes and exclamations to the briefest of utterances' (p 289). About 5 per cent, of the text of RvTis rhetorical, and the tale ends with a proverb (4319-21). [RCG]

The Tales Together 791 285

. Some New Light on Chaucer: Lectures Delivered at the Lowell Institute. New York: Holt, 1926. Rpt Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1959. The Miller is characterized as one of the characters of CT who was drawn from life. The Miller's 'hit' upon the Reeve is not accidental, but rather 'Chaucer had in mind two persons from the same district—perhaps from the same manor—who had a long-standing quarrel' (p 96). '[I]f there was no quarrel until the Miller announced the subject of his tale, why does Chaucer tell us that the Miller and the Reeve kept apart from the very first?' (p 96). Manly cites Thorold Rogers' suggestion of natural enmity between millers and reeves, and further suggests that the Miller and the miller of RvTmay have been drawn from the same original. [DJB] 286 Cowling, George H. 'The Novelist.' In Chaucer. London: Methuen, 1927. Pp 136-180. MilTis one of three realistic tales following the Knight's idealistic romance. The plot consists of the combination of two 'merry jests' probably first combined by Chaucer. 'Whether he invented i t . . . or not, Chaucer's narrative of the tale is masterly' (p 155). Chaucer's apology for the Miller is unnecessary, as the seventh day of the Decameron shows such trickery as a suitable subject for poetry. MilT surpasses such precedents: 'Granted the attractiveness of Alisoun, the simplicity of John her husband, and the cunning of Nicholas, the tale is as convincing as it is naughty' (p 155). RvTis 'equally brilliant and even more salacious' than MilT(p 155). Cowling notes similarities to Decameron 9,6 and Le Meunier et les II clers, but adds that the use of setting and dialect make it a parallel to MilT. 'His descriptions throughout are brief and vivid, and the narrative moves swiftly to the surprise of the climax and the rough-and-tumble ending' (p 156). CkTis a London tale which 'promises well,' but ends abruptly probably because it was 'the end of the first section of Chaucer's original manuscript' (p 156). [DJB] 287 French, Robert Dudley. A Chaucer Handbook. New York: Crofts, 1927 [cited]. 2ndedn. 1947. It is unlikely either that Chaucer had any specific original for MilT or that he invented the incidents of the story, but he may have made the original combination of plots. None of the stories analogous to MilT has been shown to antedate it. French describes two German analogues and one Italian, noting differences from MilT. On the basis of the quarrel between the Reeve and the Miller provoked by MilT, he assigns MilTio 'the period when the Canterbury Tales were well under way' (p 217), from 1387-90. RvTis 'undoubtedly derived from some fabliau' (p 217). French notes and relates two French analogues to the tale and notes two German versions and one Latin. He also notes similarities with Decameron 9.6, but suggests these derive from common use of a 'widely known and highly popular' tale

92 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales (p 218). A table is given of dialectic peculiarities in the speeches of the two Cambridge clerks' (p 218). Skeat's identification of the scene of RvTis noted, together with his suggestion that Chaucer learned of the neighbourhood from Lady Blanche de Trumpington. It is possible that Chaucer intended to suppress the fragment of CkT entirely. There is nothing to indicate the likely course of the tale. The second edition is 'a revision rather than a rewriting' which 'has attempted to take note .. . of studies that have appeared' since the 1927 edition (p viii). [DJB] 288 Bond, Richmond P. et al. 'A Collection of Chaucer Allusions.' SP 28 (1931), 481-512. John Ray F.R.S. explains 'a jack of Dover' in A Collection of English Proverbs (Cambridge, 1678), (p 486). Francis Burton gives 'a modernization in quatrains' ofRvT: 'One ofoulde Chaucer's tales put into better Englishe. Bodl. MS. Add. A.267, ff. 12-15v'(p487). [RCG] 289 Miners, Tom. 'Chaucer and the Cornish Cottage.' Old Cornwall 2 (1933), 34-6; (1934), 18-19. Miners notes echoes of the leek image ofRvP in a Cornish riddle and of Alison's dismissal of Absolon in a Cornish song (p 35). The metaphor of Perkyn as a goldfinch resembles a Cornish woman's description of her 'hum drum husband . . . "I flied over many a gold-finch and lighted on a yellow-hammer'" (p 18). [RCG] 290 De Selincourt, Ernest. 'Chaucer.' In Oxford Lectures on Poetry. Oxford: Clarendon, 1934. Pp 24^19. Chaucer's diction is 'everywhere vivid, nervous, racy—the language of prose raised to poetry by its vitality and by its music' (p 26). 'One of his most elaborate portraits is that of Alison' (p 27). The fabliau tales are 'frankly indecent' (p 45); Chaucer 'gave to his churls such tales as churls would indubitably tell' (p 45). However 'they amuse not only those who are coarse by nature but also those who have for themselves a lofty and irreproachable standard of life' (p 45). The comic effect comes from incongruity and the travesty or outrage of an ideal. [RCG] 291 Lowes, John Livingston. Geoffrey Chaucer and the Development of His Genius. Lectures delivered in 1932 on the William J. Cooper Foundation in Swarthmore College. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1934. English edn: Geoffrey Chaucer. Oxford: Clarendon, 1934. Rpt 1944, 1949, 1956, 1961. [cited] MilT, RvTand CkT exemplify the effectiveness of Chaucer's openings. Lowes calls the technique 'simply a glorified "Once upon a time'" (p 169), and compares it with biblical and folk-tale examples. The endings of the tales 'are only less suggestive than their openings' (p 172), and the endings of MilTand RvT, with others, are illustrations. Nicholas, Absolon and

The Tales Together / 93 Alison 'are described with a brilliance and abandon which the more staid depictions in the Prologue rarely attain' (p 176). Nicholas is an ironic variation on the theme of the Clerk of Oxford. Alison's portrait is 'a masterpiece' (p 176), given in similes from the English countryside. The details of Absolon's description make him 'an eternal type made individual through a local habitation and a name' (p 178). The setting of the carpenter's house is built up by the introduction of details to give atmosphere, including the night-spell. 'In none of the other tales is the weave of the piece so close and firm' (p 181). Chaucer describes Symkyn, his wife and daughter with 'the sureness of touch that marks his maturest art' (p 180). The two clerks who match their wits with the miller talk 'in good north country dialect' (p 180). The setting is 'steeped in local colour' (p 181). [RCG] 292 Thompson, W.H. Chaucer and His Times. London: Brown, 1936. Rpt Folcroft Library Editions, 1975. The description of Alison (3235^40) exemplifies Chaucer's colourful descriptions of costume. Thompson mentions John's beliefs and Nicholas's knowledge of astrology (p 104), and the miracle plays recalled in allusions to Pilate's voice (3124), Noah (3539-40) and Absolon's playing of Herod (3384). He refers briefly to the quarrel between the Miller and the Reeve (p 65) and to the Host's impatience with the Reeve, quoting lines 3903-6. Chaucer's use of honey dear (3617), parlous (3961), / is (4239) and two pigges in a poke (4278) (p 125), are examples of Northern folk speech. Thompson alludes briefly to the description of Perkyn Revelour, quoting the lines 4375-9 and 4402 (p 130), in a chapter on Chaucer's London (pp 128-35), and notes the Cook's approval of the coarse tale told by the Reeve (p 68). [RCG] 293 McCormick, William, with the assistance of Janet E. Heseltine. The Manuscripts of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Oxford: Clarendon, 1937. The aim of the study is to collate the contents of manuscripts of CT, using the method of Greg, showing variations by omission, addition and alteration. Those in the links between A^rand A/i/71, MilTand RvT, and RvT and CkTare noted and detailed (pp xv-xvi). Fifty-seven complete or practically complete manuscripts, and twenty-eight defective manuscripts, single tales or fragments are examined. [RCG] 294 Haselmayer, Louis A. 'The Portraits in Chaucer's Fabliaux.' RES 14 (1938), 310-14. Fabliaux had their origin in the twelfth-century comcedia, which used rhetorical tropes, including formal portraits in stylized and stereotypical form; but the Old French fabliaux gave meagre portraiture, with 'concentration upon plot rather than character' (p 311). Those portraits given use 'a

94 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales rhetorical, artificial vocabulary' (p 312), giving an apparently incongruous lack of realism. Chaucer, however, gives realistic portraits in his fabliaux, using effictio, formerly 'reserved for ladies and knights of outstanding beauty,' transforming it 'from a bit of verse embellishment into a realistic portrayal and true characterization' (p 313). This breaks down the 'old incongruity of style and situation,' establishing harmony 'between realistic situations and the literary medium' (p 314). Haselmayer refers to the portraits of Alison (3233-70), Nicholas (3199-220) and Absolon (3312-38). He notes the portraits of Symkyn (3925-41), his wife (3942-68) and his daughter (3973-76), contrasting the 'most unattractive account' (p 314) of Malyne with the brief allusions to the beauty of the daughter in De Gombert et des II clers and Le Meunier et les II clers. Haselmayer comments briefly on the portrait of Perkyn Revelour in CkT (4365-88). [RCG] 295 Patch, Howard Rollin. On Rereading Chaucer. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1939. Rpt 1948, 1959. Patch illustrates Chaucer's feelings for humanity and his characters: 'he even seems to like that rascal of the Miller's Tale, "hende Nicholas," for his very impudence' (p 179), and, excepting Alison and Criseyde, 'to notice character even before the loveliness of women' (p 144). The portrait of Alison (3233 ff), shows that her virtue 'consists mostly . . . in her beauty and agility' (p 182). Chaucer deals 'chiefly or most convincingly with ladies marked with Criseyde's weakness' (p 182). He presents 'the Miller's foul talk . . . as part of life,' as he does 'the more violent satire in ... the Reeve's Tale" (p 217). 'Chaucer loves human beings' (p 184). [RCG] 296 Shelly, Percy van Dyke. The Living Chaucer. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1940. Rpt New York: Russell and Russell, 1968. These three young people [Nicholas, Absolon and Alison], in their gayety and high spirits, belong to a brighter and better day. They all dance and play and sing. They are thoroughly English, and they go far toward convincing us that in olden times there was veritably a Merry England' (p 246). The opening of RvTplaces the action with precision. 'We believe it absolutely and are prepared to believe all the subsequent details the story gives us ... Such is his command of explicit detail that the story-teller, whether Chaucer or the Reeve, convinces us once and for all that all he says is "verray soth'" (p 247). Though the tale 'is perhaps less rich in character interest than the Miller's Tale . . . it too makes vivid and real a whole menage' (p 248). CkT gives 'a memorable character-sketch and a fascinating glimpse of the low life of London in Chaucer's day' (p 250). Though Perkyn is a wild character, and clearly about to come to no good, 'there is something about

The Tales Together / 95 him to admire after all. His wildness is so obviously that of a vigorous young animal, incapable of thought, given only to play! . . . And as the tide of life is full and strong in Perkyn, so is it in the London revealed here . . . If Chaucer had finished the Cook's Tale, it would almost certainly have been another masterful fabliau and one that would have given us, in all probability, an incomparably full and rich picture of London life in his day' (p251). [DOM] 297 Whitbread, L. 'Two Chaucer Allusions.' N&Q 183 (1942), 157-8. Absolon's shoes bear designs reminiscent of the windows in St Paul's (3318), but a wider reference may be to the 'shoe a lapoulaine attacked and condemned by clergy and by royal ordinances far and wide in medieval times because they were made to terminate in a phallic shape . . . By recalling these immoral poulaines and making the window design a window of St. Paul's Cathedral, Chaucer produced a neat play of words' (p 158). On the confusion over the Cook's name, Whitbread says that 'Chaucer was making a notable wordplay with it which included all the other names the Cook is called, "hog" and "swine." . . . the word "rasher," a fried slice of bacon . . . derives by popular association from the Christian name of "Friar" Roger Bacon, the famous scientist of the thirteenth century' (p 157). Though the earliest examples of this are Elizabethan, one 'direct pun' occurring in Jonson's 'Everyman in his Humour', 'Roger Bacon's fame was widespread in Elizabethan England, and Jonson with his great interest in the terms and expressions of popular slang and dialects may well have given not merely a pun but the true popular derivation of the word' (p 158). Chaucer knew Bacon's story, and may have used his writings; with the Cook, he may be punning on Roger Bacon. 'In this sense Chaucer would indeed have a real personage in mind.' (p 158). [DOM] 298 Speirs, John. 'Chaucer (III): The Canterbury Tales (II).' Scrutiny 12 (1943), 35-57 [cited]. Rpt in Speirs, John, Chaucer The Maker, London: Faber, 1951. Chaucer excels in the fabliau form, through his mastery of characterization, climax and surprise. The imagery of the descriptive passages conveys impressions of rural vitality for Alison and foppishness for Absolon. Similes are characteristic in Chaucer in his allegorical and non-allegorical writing, such as the description of Alison, in which the similes 'differ from those of the personifications only in having more vigour and immediacy than usual as being nearer to popular speech than to books' (pp 53-4). 'Absolon . . . is scarcely less vivid . . . though he is nearer to the personifications—the Youthe and the Mirthe—of the allegories' (p 55). RvP deals with the theme of age, and RvT almost matches MilT'm its strength and subtle, vivid characterization.

96 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales The name Revelour in CkTsuggests an allegorical personification. But 'Chaucer has evidently observed the London apprentices' (p 55), and his 'realistic observation . . . is guided, and enriched, by the traditional figures and images with which his mind was stored and with which as an artist he was practised' (pp 55-6). [DOM, RCG] 299 Cline, Ruth Huff. 'Four Chaucer Saints.' MLN60 (1945), 480-82. 'Skeat remarks in his edition of Chaucer [1] that the carpenter who lived at Oxford would naturally swear by St Frideswide (A 3449) since the priory of St Frideswide was at Oxford' (p 480). But there is further significance in the carpenter's oath. The saint 'was celebrated in the time of Chaucer for proficiency in the art of healing' (pp 480-1); in lines 3442-52, '[t]he carpenter thinks that Nicholas is i l l . . . . Therefore, he does not simply express his excitement by calling out the name "Frideswide," but he calls directly for aid: "Help us, Frideswide."' (p 481). The 'study of the saints by which the pilgrims swore indicates that the choice of oaths was not entirely haphazard' (p 480). 'John in thanking the miller before suggesting that they are hungry, swears by St Cuthbert,' a saint who once entertained angels and was rewarded by the miraculous supplying of food. So in swearing by him, 'John suggests to the miller the idea that hospitality is rewarded. When the rewards gained by the miller are remembered, the irony of the use of the expletive here becomes apparent'(pp 481-2). [DOM] 300 Coghill, Nevill. The Poet Chaucer. London: Cumberlege-Oxford UP, 1949. The Home University Library of Modern Knowledge. Ed. Gilbert Murray, G.N. Clark, G.R. de Beer. 2nd edn. OPUS 23. Oxford Paperbacks University Series. Ed. Michael Abercrombie, A.D. Woozley. London: Oxford UP, 1967 [cited]. In the voices of the Miller, Reeve and Cook 'we hear the churl-style on the theme of cuckoldry' (p 98). The fabliau analogues to MilTand RvT 'for their clumsiness and lack of gaiety seem dull and dirty by comparison' (p 99). M/rhas portraits as vivid as those of GP, and the clerks of RvT 'have a twang of Northern dialect with half a dozen peculiarities of speech' (pp 99-100). C^ris 'unfortunately no more than a brilliant beginning' (p 100). [RCG] 301 Lawrence, William Witherle. Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales. New York: Columbia UP, 1950. The offence given to some readers by the coarse fabliau tales has resulted in 'refusal to consider them as worth the same attention as the rest' (p 13). In his introduction, Lawrence describes attitudes towards the fabliaux and their place among other tales. In Ch 3, The Fabliau Tales,' (pp 64-89), he considers the fabliau form in general and particular examples in CT. [RCG]

The Tales Together / 97 302 Mroczkowski, Przemyslaw. 'Chaucerowkie "Fabliaux" Jako Zwierciadlo Rzeczywistosci Spolecznej I Dzielo Sztuki.' Prace Polonistyczne 9 (1950), 255-80. Not seen. [RCG] 303 Tatlock, J.S.P. The Mind and Art of Chaucer. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 1950. 'According to the paradox of imaginative literature while the coarseness of the incident fits the Miller's personality, the skill of the planning and the brilliance of the descriptions and skill of the style show the poet at his best . . . Out of the mouths of churls come wisdom and beauty' (pp 98-9). The young men of the tale are essentially undiscriminated and finally foiled by their lack of caution, but John's concern for his wife makes him a rather pathetic figure. The Reeve is vividly described, 'competent, crafty, suspicious and tight in physique and personality' (p 99). His prologue reveals 'the moralizing loquacity of his years' (p 99), but his language is appropriate to his rustic life. The use of northern dialect is skilful, giving 'only a flavour and hint, not a tiresome phonetic record of the speech' (p 99). Tatlock finds RvT almost more brilliant than MilT, 'with its constant reversals of fortune, its poetic justice, its bitter sarcasm, its balanced Ovidian couplets,' and its 'even keener' characterization (p 99). The characters in CkTare vividly introduced, 'but there is no hint of what is to happen, except that it is likely to be minor crime such as abounds in late medieval popular literature . . . There is justification for the surmise that he was trying his hand at invention' (p 101). [RCG] 304 Baugh, Albert C. 'Fifty Years of Chaucer Scholarship.' Speculum, 26 (1951), 659-72. In commenting on the study of Chaucer and his works in the period 19001950, Baugh refers briefly to the device of the quarrel between the Miller and the Reeve. He considers it a part of the framework of CT, together with the quarrel between the Friar and the Summoner and the discussion of marriage. [RCG] 305 Bowers, R.H. 'Brathwait's "Comments" Upon Chaucer.' N&Q 196 (1951), 558-9. Supplementing Spurgeon's observations in her edition of Brathwait's Comments on Chaucer's Tales of the Miller and the Wife of Bath (1901), Bowers finds the Comments 'wholly unaffected and unpretentious,' 'a detailed, line-by-line scrutiny' and 'surprisingly accurate' (p 558), but Brathwait comments little on social and personal relations between the pilgrims, and only briefly on the antagonism of the Miller and the Reeve. [RCG]

98 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 306 Chute, Marchette. Geoffrey Chaucer of England. London: Hale, 1951. Rpt many times. MilT is 'really two dirty stories held together by the thinnest of connectives' (p 240); but only the Reeve objects to its telling. The characters of the tale are vividly portrayed and the settings described in great detail. After a lapse into 'maudlin self-pity on the subject of old men in general' (p 242), the Reeve tells a story which is enlivened by detailed descriptive passages and close observation of the speech of the clerks. He has a 'sewer of a mind'(p 244). CkT was 'obviously going to develop into the same sort of scurrilous anecdote as the Reeve's Tale . . . and there is a limit to how much of this sort of thing can be read with pleasure by even the most sympathetic reader'(p 243). [RCG] 307 Green, A. Wigfall. 'Chaucer's Clerks and the Mediaeval Scholarly Tradition as Represented by Richard de Bury's Philobiblon.'' ELH 18 (1951), 1-6. The scholarly traditions of the love of books rather than gold, women or other worldly temptations, exemplified in the life of Richard de Bury, recall the Clerk of Oxford more than the other clerks of Chaucer's tales, in particular Nicholas. John and Aleyn of RvTdo not share the characteristics noted in Richard de Bury's Philobiblon. [RCG] 308 Owen, Charles A., Jr. The Plan of the Canterbury Pilgrimage.' PMLA 46 (1951),820-26. The journey of the Canterbury pilgrims took five days. The tales of the first fragment were told on the first day, with those of the Knight and Miller told by 7:20. 'The first day, I(A), opens with a strong presentation of the chivalric ideal in love and war. Then the theme is inverted as the disorderly Miller presents his version of how men really love and the choleric Reeve shows in his tale and in his conduct two versions of how they fight' (p 825). The position of the Pardoner and the Parson on the last day balances 'the equally striking but secular conjunction of the Knight and Miller on the first'(p 826). [RCG] 309 Stokoe, William C., Jr. 'Structure and Intention in the First Fragment of The Canterbury Tales? UTQ2\ (1951-52), 120-27. Fragment I is a masterpiece of artistic integrity—a debate between the gentils and cherls, which raises other issues in the clash of attitudes it provokes. MilT gives a cynical picture of marriage to contrast with the idealism ofKnT. The Miller 'begins with a leering hint that marriage is not at all as the Knight has conceived i t . . . . [His] description of the wife, Alisoun,. . . conveys his contempt for the Knight's idealization of Emelye and his own lusty delight in the reality of a nubile woman' (p 122). In all respects, MilT seems more realistic than KnT. It is another tale of two

The Tales Together / 99 young men in love with the same young woman, and the astrology and prophecy practised by Nicholas correspond, in distorted form, to the mythical aspects of KnT. The conflicts in attitudes seen throughout the fragment bind it into a whole. Responding to MilT, the Reeve 'tells an improper story with more spleen than art... The Miller is ill-mannered, but the Reeve is ill-natured... it is the Reeve's angry blindness to what the Miller was replying to the Knight that proves that the first tale by a cherl is not and cannot come to good' (p 126). The Cook is unprincipled; and his response to the issues of the first fragment resembles the responses of the other cherls, 'less choleric perhaps but just as rude and tasteless' (p 126-7). See 315. [RCG] 310 Preston, Raymond. Chaucer. London and New York: Sheed and Ward, 1952. Rpt New York: Greenwood, 1969. 'Chaucer did not descend to the fabliau; he raised it' (p 191). MilT comments on KnT, and '[t]he difference . . . is an illustration not of obscenity but decorum' (p 190). Alison's description (3247-64) gives freshness and reality; Nicholas is 'an undergraduate of mystifying charm' (p 191); and 'Chaucer parodied himself in the second half of his description of Absolon' (p 192). The worlds of the 'courteous-gentle' and the 'churlish-lewd' are mingled in the juxtaposition of fabliaux and KnT, and 'their inhabitants show themselves oddly unable to tell which is which' (p 193). Chaucer's source for MilT was probably a lost French version, but Preston also finds echoes of'fifteenth-century Italian ribaldry' (p 194), when Chaucer mentions the friars (3653-6). Only the Reeve is offended by MilT, and his grumbling becomes moralizing of intense emotion (3883-98) which shows the Reeve's 'choleric temperament and sense of persecution' (p 195). Northern speech is skillfully used for the Reeve and the two clerks. Symkyn is no doubt intended to be a caricature of Robin the Miller. The Reeve gives him 'the comic social pride of the Five Guildsmen, and a display of physique and armoury nearly as formidable as ... that. . . of. .. Sir Thopas' (p 196), (3925^1). Symkyn's wife, too, is vividly described (3942-50). The fragment of CkTcomes directly from London life, where a 'career of Perkin Reveller the idle apprentice was published daily, in Chaucer's lifetime, at the pillory on Cornhill' (p 197). Joyful and sordid images remain. 'Chaucer goes as far as the door of the brothel and then turns. He has had enough, for the time being, of low life' (p 197). [RCG] 311 Brewer, D.S. Chaucer. Men and Books series. London: Longmans Green, 1953. 2ndedn 1960. MilT gives a refreshing contrast to KnT, with lively characters and realistic detail, and 'the unrestrained comic absurdity of the basic p l o t . . . helps to

100 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales make the tale innocuous' (p 141). Alison's description (3233-70) conveys both allure and vulgarity, and there is similar realism in the characterization of Absolon and John. MilTis rich in the aesthetic pleasures of qualities of the story, creation of situation, character and setting and the pleasures of vivid speech. Thus we may consider it poetry with 'no lapses into frigidity; no inharmonious shifts into another mood' (p 145). MilTis 'a comedy about love-making', but RvTis 'a comedy of pride and trickery. The sexual element enters into the latter because the miller's pride is tenderest there—he is hit where it hurts most' (p 146). Although the social pretensions of Symkyn and his wife are exposed, we think less of their particular situation than of'a general human satire' (p 146). CkTbegins promisingly but 'finishes abruptly, though strikingly' (p 147), in telling of Perkyn Revelour. [RCG] 312 . Chaucer. 3rdedn. London: Longmans, 1973. (1953,1960.) Rpt 1977. Ch 10, 'The Canterbury Tales' (pp 117-54) gives a general introduction to CT. MilTgives a refreshing contrast to KnT, made realistic and lively by the details of its characters and setting. In the character of Alison, 'Chaucer avoids the mistakes of the analogues' (p 118). He describes her as carefully as he did the Duchess Blanche, 'though with infinitely greater art, and to vastly different effect' to create 'a village popsy, with a well-washed, luscious, vulgar (and genuine) allure' (p 119), and 'one counterpart to Emily' (p 183). She is 'amusing in action' (p 119), in her response to Nicholas. Absolon is described 'with similar amused care and satire,' and John's character 'is as remarkable for what is left out as for what is put in' (p 119), because we must not think of him with sympathy. The characters are 'carefully controlled' because MilT is 'comic fantasy' (p 120), and it is poetry. It is a feminist fabliau (p 175). RvTis 'told against the Miller, but it is no contrast to the latter's tale' and '[n]either tale is sordid' (p 121). Both tales are comedies—MilT of love-making and RvT of pride and trickery and 'the biter bit' (p 175). Although MilThas 'some knockabout farce . . . it is not quite such uproarious fun as the fight in the miller's bedroom in The Reeve's Tale' (p 122). CkT seems 'to be starting that comedy of City life which Chaucer could have written so well' but it 'finishes abruptly' (p 122). [RCG] 313 Francis, W. Nelson. 'Chaucer Shortens a Tale.' PMLA 68 (1953), 112641. Chaucer often claims that he is abbreviating his narrative, but the frequency of doing so varies. Some abbreviations represent condensation, but there is 'no way to tell. .. whether a claim by Chaucer that he is shortening his tale is a true statement, a mere translation of an abbreviation already in the source, or a deliberate misrepresentation' (p 1131). Most condensations 'are motivated by artistic considerations' (p 1132). In MilP, Chaucer abbreviates

The Tales Together /101 once in 82 lines, and in M/7Tive times in 668 lines. In RvT, he abbreviates once in 404 lines. [RCG] 314 Makarewicz, Sister Mary Raynelda. The Patristic Influence on Chaucer. Diss. Catholic University of America, 1953. Washington DC: Catholic U of America P, 1953. MilT echoes the Canticum Canticorum (pp 79-90 and 111-12), and is a variation of the theme of MerT, with John as a husband who did not heed the advice of St Jerome. Both MilT and /?vrshow cupiditas, where 'a man obeys the demands of passion . . . and turns towards things which are mutable and perishable' (p 225). RvT, like MilT, is an exemplum of the dangers of cupiditas. [RCG] 315 Owen, Charles A., Jr. 'Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: Aesthetic Design in Stories of the First Day.' ES 35 (1954), 49-56. There are patterns of parallelism in the tales of the first fragment and in contrasts in the tellers and their tales. 'The parallelism and paradox of the Knight's Tale are reflected . . . in the rivalry of Nicholas and Absolon for Alisoun' (p 55). 'The dominance of character over accident in the Knight's Tale, as opposed to the reverse pattern in the other tales, is only one side of the paradox' (p 56). Owen refers to the development and treatment of the characters and themes throughout the first fragment, as chivalric ideals are expanded through earthy examples. The Reeve's 'choleric and vindictive nature finds expression in the bitterly satirical portraits of the miller and his family . . . To the frank sensuality of the Miller, he opposes a sapless and efficient hypocrisy' (p 54). CkT suggests a pattern in the fabliaux of the first fragment. 'As the Cook points out, the Reeve's Tale illustrates the dangers of taking a lodger into your house. So does the Miller's Tale . .. The three tales taken together—a realistic triptych of life in the town, life in the country, and life in the city—were perhaps to give a threefold reiteration to the themes of betrayal and deception and to balance the impressive if somewhat abstract idealism of the Knight's Tale' (p 55). See also 309. [RCG] 316 Brewer, D.S. 'The Ideal of Feminine Beauty in Medieval Literature, Especially "Harley Lyrics", Chaucer, and some Elizabethans.' MLR 50 (1955)257-69. There is a fixity in the conventional formal descriptions of heroines. Alison's description is 'partly a rhetorical joke, the point of which is the absurdity of describing a carpenter's wife, a wanton village wench, as //she were a heroine, a noble and ideal beauty' (p 267). The references to her forehead (3310), eyebrows (3245), eyes (3244), hue (3256), breath (3261), body (3234) and voice (3257) produce 'an amusingly incongruous literary and social pattern . . . [with] an element of parody, burlesque, which a firm

102 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales literary tradition always makes possible.. . The quality of the humour of this portrait of Alison can only be fully realized in the light of the tradition which it employs, and subtly inverts' (p 268). Malyne's description varies significantly from conventions for those of medieval heroines. '[W]e have clearly a pretty wench, rather than a lady; she is right fair (I(A) 3976), with eyes like the Prioress's, grey as glass, and with round high breasts (I. 3975). But her nose is "camus" (1. 3974), which is not merely too short, b u t . . . betrays an amorous nature. She is thick and well-grown (1. 3973), with buttocks broad (1. 3975), like the old woman in Sir Gawayn and the Green Knight... the antithesis of youthful beauty' (pp 268-9). [RCG] 317 Lumiansky, R.M. OfSondry Folk: The Dramatic Principle in the Canterbury Tales. Austin: U of Texas P, 1955. Chaucer's characters are actors in a play. The tales and their tellers are suited, some with an externally motivated dramatic situation, including MilTand RvT. 'The Miller worked years ago as servant boy in the Reeve's household at the time when the Reeve, then a carpenter, was made a cuckold by a cleric' (p 51). Lumiansky speculates on parallels between MilTand events in the lives of the Miller and the Reeve, finding significance in the repetition of the name 'Robin' for the Miller and John's servant. 'The Narrator, a separate person from Chaucer the author of the Tales, can only conclude that the Reeve's displeasure stems from the fact that old John was a carpenter' (p 53). The Reeve's motive for his tale of a cuckolded miller is revenge on Robin the Miller. Lumiansky also writes of Aleyn, John (clerk) and Symkyn. Antagonism between the Cook and the Host may be based on that between Harry Bailly, an innkeeper, and Roger Ware, a cook. Lumiansky summarizes the fragment ofCkT, speculates on its abrupt end, and writes of the moral. [RCG] 318 Schaar, Claes. The Golden Mirror: Studies in Chaucer's Descriptive Technique and its Literary Background. Skrifter Utgivna Av Kungl. Humanistiska Vetenskapssamfundet I Lund. Acta Reg. Societatis Humaniorum Litterarum Ludensis. 54. Lund: Gleerup, 1955. Rpt 1967. An exhaustive study of descriptive technique in all Chaucer's works, and analysis of the influences of many classical and other sources. Includes a study of the portraits in MilT, RvT and CkT (pp 219-22), and a section on 'The Problem of the Portraits in the Miller's, The Reeve's, and the Cook's Tales'(pp 333-43). [DOM] MilT describes the characters in varying portraits. Nicholas's tells of his 'profession, habits, and to some extent his character' (p 219), (3190-3220); but Alison's combines 'objective description, particular and general

The Tales Together/103 idealization, and objective characterization' (p 220), (3233-3270). In contrast to the 'capricious disorder' of this description, the portrait of Absolon shows 'organized structural unity' (p 220), (3314-38). Some French fabliaux have drastically realistic portraits, but Chaucer's have 'a fairly strong element of idealization' (p 335), for which Schaar proposes the term 'pastoral rhetoric' (p 337). Parallels are found in the Middle English lyric, Greek bucolic poetry and the pastoral novel of Longus (p 492). Reactions of characters in RvTare noted. Symkyn's portrait is 'a piece of objective description framed by two brief sections of accounts of his habits and character (11. 3926-3941)', (p 220-1). His wife is described in terms of her 'status and objective characterization (11. 3942-3968)', (p 221); there are 'a few lines of objective description and idealization (11. 39693976)' for Malyne, and the clerks are 'only briefly characterized' (4004), (p 221). Although Malyne seems less attractive than her counterpart in the French analogue, 'she has undoubtedly a certain rural charm' (p 336). Almost half of the fragment of CkT describes the apprentice who is expected to be the main character of the tale: his appearance (4365-9) and habits (4270-88). 'There is no known source' (p 222). The portrait uses, to some extent, the style of pastoral rhetoric ascribed to Alison's description inMilT. [RCG] 319 Stillwell, Gardiner. 'The Language of Love in Chaucer's Miller's and Reeve's Tale and in the Old French Fabliaux'. JEGP 54 (1955), 693-9. Studies by Members of the English Department, Illinois University, in memory of John Jay Parry. There is 'grotesque contrast between language and situation' (p 697) in the use of the language of courtly love in the unseemly contexts of Chaucer's and several Old French fabliaux. Stillwell cites analogues and suggests that Chaucer may also have known oral versions, and was 'intensifying and enriching the themes and values that he found in his sources' (p 699). [RCG] 320 Coghill, Nevill. Geoffrey Chaucer. London: Longmans Green, 1956. Rpt in The Collected Papers of Nevill Coghill, Shakespearian and Medievalist. Sussex: Harvester, 1988. Coghill describes Chaucer's use of the attitude to love found in 'the fabliau, the low-life oral tale of animal grab that in all ages circulates from mouth to mouth, like a limerick' (p 47). In MilTand RvT, Chaucer rescues it from dullness and shows 'clerical students of Oxford and Cambridge, happy-goluckies of a saucy sexuality . .. aping the adulteries of the aristocracy with all the cant of courtly love on their tongues' (p 47). He gives life to the stories and characters, 'of whose portraits Alison's is the most convincingly fresh and seductive that Chaucer, or anyone else, ever painted' (p 47). He offers a parody of courtly love and humiliation to priests and millers, 'the

104 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

321

322 323

324

most powerful and therefore the most-to-be-humiliated men in the village', by clerks, 'at the bottom of the social scale' (p 47). [RCG] Kleinstiick, Johannes Walter. Chaucers Stellung in der Mittelalterlichen Literatur. Britannica et Americana, Band 1. Hamburg: Cram and de Gruyter, 1956. The conception of pride in the Middle Ages was more comprehensive than the modern notion, and Kleinstuck defines it as 'an immoderate emphasis by the individual ego' which prevents humanity from 'truly seeing others and respecting them' (p 118). In MilT this 'arrogance' causes Absolon to ignore Alison's rejection and leads to his 'fall' (p 120). Similarly, Nicholas's successes with Alison blind him to the possibility of Absolon avenging himself; thus his pride too 'comes to a fall' (p 121). The common denominator is 'superbia' (p 121). Both clerks forget the boundaries set for them by natural law and morality. The theme of pride relates just as much to the narrators of MilTand RvT. The Miller tells his tale purposely to offend the Reeve, and thus experiences a 'catastrophe' (p 138) by having his likeness depicted in RvT, a catastrophe similar to the humiliation of his character Nicholas. Symkyn is explicitly called 'proud' (3926), and his fall resembles Nicholas's. He, Nicholas and Absolon experience a fall resulting from a 'falling away from the essence of what it is to be human' (p 128). The falls are not a punishment, because they 'prepare their ruin for themselves' (p 129). Chaucer, unlike Boccaccio, extracts the 'problematic of pride' (p 129) from his reading of the French fabliau of the miller. [RCG, GDM] Magoun, Francis P., Jr. 'Chaucer's Great Britain.' MS, 16 (1954), 131-51. Gives extensive note on places and descriptive details found in MilT, RvT and CkT, later included in Magoun's A Chaucer Gazetteer, 329. [RCG] Schlauch, Margaret. English Medieval Literature and its Social Foundations. Warsaw: Polish Scientific; London: Oxford UP, 1956. The fabliaux were anti-romantic and improbable, but Chaucer's 'imply and convey a critical social commentary while not ostensibly aiming to do more than entertain' (p 271). In RvT an unlikely situation is developed with realistic details. MilT has 'a farcical plot laid against a setting of highest realism' (p 271). CkT gives only a description of the young apprentice. [RCG] Muscatine, Charles. Chaucer and the French Tradition: A Study in Style and Meaning. Berkeley: U of California P, 1957. Rpt 1964. Form and style contribute to the 'complex whole' of Chaucer's meaning, balanced with 'the traditional preoccupation with "content" alone' (p 1). In CFeach tale 'by analogy and by contrast, takes meaning from others' (p 222). Although MilT resembles A^rin plot and character grouping, its

The Tales Together/105 courtliness is 'never a norm, always an idiosyncrasy . . .juxtaposed to a naturalism of exceptional force and vitality' (p 223); MilTh 'fabliau at the stage of richest elaboration' (p 224). Muscatine shows Chaucer's means of achieving the 'extraordinary solidity' (p 224) of the tale, through the richly detailed mixed style, contrasting this with the spare explanations and settings of the typical fabliau. Among examples, Absolon's name '"explains" his blond beauty and his femininity' (p 225); John's wealth 'explains his securing a pretty, young wife' (p 225); the implications and properties of the door show that each detail is significant in subsequent action. Chaucer translates descriptive conventions to the setting of the poem, instanced in the description of Alison and its comic nature: 'In Oxford it is a brunette rather than a blonde, plucked brows rather than natural, embroidery of black silk rather than of gold, pearls of latten, not precious stones' (p 229). Exposition of the style of the tale reveals strength in Chaucer's elaboration of the form, 'affording the fabliau a mordantly pointed comment, from below, on the futility of \O\Q paramours' (p 230). In RvT, Chaucer invests the naked fabliau jest with richly specific tone and image. The Reeve is cold and bitter in response to the Miller's lusty, openhanded vulgarity (3913-17), and he tells of a miller with preposterous social and intellectual pretensions which are crudely deflated. There are many differences in appearance and nature between the pilgrim Miller and the Reeve, and the Reeve's 'narrative is fairly curdled with an unrelenting irony' (p 200), seen particularly in descriptions of Symkyn (3925-41), his wife (3942-50) and daughter (3969-79). The northern speech of the clerks shows their social inferiority, and 'gives them a superficial appearance of rustic simplicity' (p 202), as in the incident of watching the grinding of corn (4036^5), while Symkyn smugly steals some meal (4046, 4094-8). Such factors prepare for his intellectual deflation. He ridicules the clerks' learning (4122-6), but is sarcastically ridiculed himself in the description of the sleeping family (4162-70). Reversals of fortune give the fabliau its rowdy climax. Aleyn's tender farewell to Malyne, a 'mock-recognition of her station . . . [is] significantly marred by the odd-sounding vowels of the Northern idiom' (p 203) (4234-9) and proximity to his rousing of John (4262-3).] 'The miller is chagrined, not at what has been done to his daughter, but that it has been done by someone of lower class!' (p 204), (4268-68). The naturalism of the tale renders 'a particularly bilious view of life'(p 204). [RCG] • Review by J. Burke Severs, Speculum 33 (1958), 308-10: although there is some danger of 'super-subtlety and tenuousness' in Muscatine's interpretations, 'this is a very able book by a very able critic' (p 310). • Review by J. Norton Smith, FS 13 (1959), 57-9: 'Muscatine has managed to create an historically unverifiable concept of French style . . . Every

106 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales point at which one might expect to be shown Chaucer's attitude to a work of art is excluded' (p 57). • Review by J.A.W. Bennett, RESn.s. 12 (1961), 70: 'Self-consciously modern—not least in his search for multiple meanings—Mr Muscatine rightly minimizes Chaucer's modernity and rightly deprecates the tendency to describe conventions wholly in organic terms. He notes that the realism of the fabliaux is no less conventional than courtly epic . . . whenever he attends to detail... he is as illuminating as he is modest.' • Review by John Burrow, EIC 10 (1960), 202-7: gives an account of Muscatine's assumptions and techniques, with some expression of uneasiness about his treatment ofRvT. However, 'There is a great deal of concrete observation and illuminating criticism . . . Chaucer and the French Tradition certainly deserves reading' (p 207). 325 Slaughter, Eugene Edward. Virtue According to Love—in Chaucer. The Bookman Monograph Series for Modern Language Studies. New York: Bookman Associates, 1957. Enumerates the love relations, virtues, vices and sins ofMHP and MilT. The love relations ofMilP are in terms of the religio-political system: 'The drunken Miller declares that he will tell a tale of adultery; the Reeve warns him against harlotry and defamation' (p 202). The virtue is gentilesse, (3179); the vices and sins are drunkenness (3120 f), adultery (3142 f), harlotry (3145, 3184), defamation (3146 ff). In MilT, The story o f . . . Nicholas and Alice . . . is told with a few allusions to religio-philosophical notions; but most of i t . . . is unmoral' (p 202). Virtues are not enumerated; the vices and sins are jealousy (3224, 3404, 3851), lust in marriage (3590 f) and lechery (3244, 3345). The Reeve 'speaks from the religio-philosophical point of view concerning the sins of old age' (p 202): lechery (3878), avaunting (3884), lying (3884), anger (3884) and covetousness (3884). 'Except for a few religiophilosophical concepts, The Reeve's Tale is unmoral' (p 202). Virtues are not enumerated; vices and sins are pride (3926, 3450), theft (3939, 3995 ff), jealousy (3961) and scorn (3965). ' The Cook's Prologue is unmoral except for the inferred concept of honesty which is religio-philosophical' (p 202); thus the vice is dishonesty. 'Although his point of view is unmoral, the Cook uses religio-philosophical virtues and vices in his tale' (p 203). The virtue is truth: the vices and sins dicing, riot, theft and lechery. [RCG] 326 Baum, Paull F. Chaucer: A Critical Appreciation. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1958. Although Chaucer collocates ernest and game only seven times, 'the juxtaposition of the two moods is persuasive' (p 173). In MilP, he apologises for the harlotry of the Miller and Reeve, warning that 'men shall

The Tales Together /107 nat maken ernest of game' (3186). The good and bad qualities of the characters are shown impartially, so that the Miller is seen to be a vulgar cheat and the Reeve as a highly accomplished one. [RCG] • Review by M.M. Crow, MP 58 (1960-1), 53-5: regrets that '[l]ittle effort is made to present Chaucer as the product of literary, social, and philosophical concepts of his age, although the conventions of medieval rhetoric and courtly love are allowed to have their bearing, and some use is made of the biographical approach. The final result is a stimulating, provocative, and at the same time irritating appraisal of Chaucer's life and works, written by one who has read widely and thoughtfully and who frequently delights the reader by his penetrating and aptly worded observations' (p 55). • Review by John Burrow, EIC 10 (1960), 202-7: finds Baum 'sees Chaucer as a natural comic poet, with no real interest in tragic themes or philosophical ideas, whose work is frequently imperfect because "he satisfied himself too easily "' (p 202). • Review by Howard R. Patch, MLN 75 (1960), 50-3: 'a book written with malice toward all and with charity for almost none' (p 50). 327 Dent, A.A. (communicated by A.C. Cawley). 'Chaucer and the Horse.' PLPLS-LHS 9 (1959-62), 1-12. There are many references to horses and equine equipment in CT. The trave, 'a wooden frame used when shoeing restive horses' (p 3), (3282) is mentioned in the description of Alison. Lathe for 'stable', is 'a deliberate Northumbrianism put into the mouth of the Northern student of Soler Hall' (p 3), (4088). The manciple's horse is a palfrey, Bayard, 'once called a capul, but only by the North-Country undergraduate John, who perhaps would not use the word in a derogatory sense, although the Miller of Trumpington might do so' (p 6), (4088, 4015). John and Aleyn try to catch their horse with 'the mysterious words stand! stand! jossa, warderere' (p 7), (4101). [RCG] 328 Curry, Walter Clyde. Chaucer and the Medieval Sciences. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1926. Rpt 1942. 2nd edn, London: Allen and Unwin, 1960. 'Chaucer was in his poetical works first an artist and secondarily a philosopher or a scientist' (p xii). The modern reader who wishes to 'secure the full flavor of Chaucer's work . . . must reconstruct' (p xviii) Chaucer's background of'despised pseudosciences' (p xix). Physiognomy is evident in descriptions of the Reeve and Miller. The Reeve is 'choleric . . . cunning and crafty' (p 73), (587-92 in GP}\ RvP also shows him as 'a lecher of the worst sort' (p 73), (3878-83), foreshadowed in the early observation of his small legs. In MilT, 'the Miller in his description of the carpenter of the Tale is drawing material from personal observations of the Reeve' (p 76). The Reeve is timid, also shown by his small legs, and so afraid of the

108 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales Miller, whom he avoids. However, in his tale, he gives to Symkyn 'items taken directly from the man who stands before him' (p 78). Curry notes characteristics common to Symkyn and the pilgrim Miller, and that 'a man of the Miller's build is known to be shameless, immodest, and loquacious . . . apparently bold and easily angered' (p 80). The Miller's head and forehead show 'a bully, a coward at heart' (p 83); his large mouth brands him 'a glutton, a swaggerer, a sensualist, and an impious fornicator' (p 84); his camus nose has a significant wart. Chaucer presents much of his character by physiognomical suggestion. [RCG] 329 Magoun, Francis P., Jr. A Chaucer Gazetteer. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell; Chicago: Chicago UP, 1961. The gazetteer conflates geographical information in Magoun's papers: 'Chaucer's Ancient and Biblical World,' MS 15 (1953), 107-36; 'Chaucer's Great Britain,' MS 16 (1954), 131-56; and 'Chaucer's Medieval World outside of Great Britain,' MS 17 (1955), 117-42. Numerous places and descriptive details from MilT, RvTand CAT1 are mentioned. [RCG] 330 Robertson, D.W., Jr. A Preface to Chaucer: Studies in Medieval Perspectives. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1962. This general study refers to MilT and RvT'm chapters dealing with medieval art, style, allegory and doctrines of love. MilT treats comically themes taken seriously elsewhere. The idea of dying for love in MilT differs from that of TC, and is 'a theme devised to stimulate thought rather than emotion' (p 48). Robertson comments on the miller's piping, the talents of Nicholas (3303-6), and musical metaphors associated with lovemaking (3650-52, p 133). Alison's description evokes many associations and appeals to all the senses. Robertson explains the play ofprimerole (daisy, day's eye) and piggesnye (pig's eye), concluding that she is 'neither a "realistic" reflection of the times nor a "character" in the modern sense; rather, she is an elaborately and amusingly conceived manifestation of the woman who is an object of lust' (p 249). Descriptions of settings are vague, 'except for the location of the window in John's chamber' (p 258). Alison's startling threat to cast a stone 'may be an ironic reference to another story of a woman taken in adultery' (p 258). [See also 626.] MilT illustrates the sins of lechery, pride and avarice (p 269, pp 384-5). The theme of marriage, introduced first in KnT, is amusingly treated in MilT(p 375), and doctrines of courtly love are similarly distorted. RvT enlarges on themes introduced in KnT and distorted in MilT. Robertson notes the metaphor ofhooly chirches blood (p 269, pp 375-6), the aube, and the 'inflated courtly language' used when Aleyn takes his leave (pp 469-70). The Reeve himself comments on old age (pp 379-80), and is a figure for those who are '"old" in spirit... associated with the old law . . . and belong to the "lineage" of the bondwoman . . . When the reeve

The Tales Together/109 tells a tale about how this lineage, masquerading as "hooly chirches blood" is "bigiled," he is in a very real sense talking about himself and the fate of his own antiquity' (p 380). [RCG] 331 Payne, Robert O. The Key of Remembrance: A Study of Chaucer's Poetics. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1963. Like the other fabliaux, MilTis more stylistically elaborated than its conventional models; showing the lower (animal) order of love, rather than the courtly or divine varieties, it ranks among the handful of best tales. The work ' lets us see enough of a form so that we can infer the rest of it' (p 148). Although RvT, like MilT, shows love of the lower, animal order, 'it is not the exclusive or primary motif (p 161). [RCG] 332 Corsa, Helen Storm. 'Modes of Comedy in the First Fragment.' In Chaucer: Poet of Mirth and Morality. Notre Dame, IN: U of Notre Dame P, 1964. Pp 73-120. The First Fragment 'is dominated by the quiting concept that makes the pilgrimage tense with hostilities barely held in check' (p 109). MilT parodies the world of KnT: 'Love in the one instance may be something of the spirit, and in the other something of the flesh, but in both instances it is contained in an ordered and just universe' (p 110). Thus 'the joyous cavorting of the village at the end of the tale signifies the restoration of disorder to order, the exposure of the private defiance of public good to the eyes of all' (p 114). The comedy of RvT, 'created by the Reeve's enraged and paranoiac response, is the most complex of the first fragment' (p 115). Chaucer exploits the comedy of stereotypes in the Reeve, a choleric old man who tells a tale full of vitality, about justice which is '"retributive" rather than "distributive"' (p 117). Symkyn the miller is elaborately described, and 'is the Reeve's idea of the Miller who has so enraged him' (p 117). The spleen of the tale is exhausted in its conclusion; 'what might have been a bitter and even a cynical attack becomes, before it is over, a tale exuberant in its celebration of the triumph of right over might, even though that "right" is simply the cause of those who have been wronged' (p 120). [RCG] • Review by D.S. Brewer, N&Q n.s.12 [210] (1965), 83: Corsa 'gives a sensitive reading of Chaucer's poetry in terms of a novelistic dramatic realism, whereby each tale is said to reveal the teller's character. It is not very new, but there are fresh observations here and there.' • Review by T.W. Craik, MLR 60 (1965), 423^1: finds some overstatement of poetic justice, especially in comment on MilT. The work is 'an unequal book, containing some good matter, but suffering . . . from the author's attempt to apply her thesis to all Chaucer's poetry' (p 424). 333 Craik, T.W. The Comic Tales of Chaucer. London: Methuen, 1964.

1107 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales Dismissing excuses for telling a coarse tale, Craik shows how Chaucer uses details to create plausibility of character and action. He compares RvTwith MilT, offering an explanation for the order of their telling. 'The story of a jealous carpenter's gullibility would have been a poor rejoinder to the story of a miller's pride and greed. Symkyn's faults are heavier in themselves than John's; and moreover, whereas John's work is not related to his faults but merely to the plot, Symkyn's work is necessarily related to both' (p 31). [RCG] • Review by John Burrow, CQ 6 (1964), 180-1: stresses Craik's pleasure in the tales and fresh, interesting comment on Chaucer as a story-teller. • Review by Valerie Edden, MLR 62 (1967), 306-8: the book conveys Craik's 'enjoyment of the variety, liveliness and narrative skill of Chaucer's tales . . . There are no unjustified generalizations, and where there is controversy, this is indicated' (p 307). • Review by Nevill Coghill, N&Q n.s. 11 [209] (1964), 96-7: acknowledges Craik's stress on enjoyment of the tales, but regrets the lack of discussion of theoretical, source and analogue study. 334 Howard, Edwin J. Geoffrey Chaucer. Twayne's English Authors Series. Ed. Sylvia E. Bowman. New York: Twayne, 1964. A general study with brief criticism. MilT is a parody ofKnT, and a fusing of two fabliaux, structurally rather weak, although the portraits 'rise to greatness' (p 132). RvTis as improper as MilT, but not as funny, and it begins with fine portraits. The fragment of CkT 'is not long enough to enable us to tell what direction the plot would have taken had Chaucer completed it, but the cast of characters indicates that it would not have been a morally uplifting tale' (p 134). [RCG] 335 Bowden, Muriel. A Reader's Guide to Geoffrey Chaucer. London: Thames and Hudson, 1965. Rpt 1982, 1988. Bowden's section on C7"(pp 17-140), deals with the relation of individual tales to aspects of the culture of Chaucer's day. She contrasts the treatment of costume in different tales, noting the fullness of description of Alison's dress and lack of description of the dress of Emily in KnT, Constance in MLT and Dorigen in FranT(pp 116-7). Other aspects, such as the nature of clerks in Chaucer's time, are also dealt with (pp 61-2). 'Chaucer's independence from his literary environment is present in the naturalistic way in which human beings speak . . . The raciness of the dialogue in the Reeve's Tale is enhanced by the colloquial dialect which the poet has obviously heard in the everyday northern speech of his own times' (p!40). In writing of the celebrations and amusements of the Middle Ages, Bowden notes that Chaucer 'does write of the pleasures to be found after

The Tales Together /111

336

337

338

339

medieval marriages'; Perkyn '"wolde synge and hoppe" at every bridal feast'(pi 32). [DOM] Hussey, Maurice, A.C. Spearing and James Winny. An Introduction to Chaucer. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1965. A.C. Spearing, in 'Chaucer the Writer,' notes that coherence between tales 'may take the form of contrast or parody as well as debate' citing the relation ofMilTto KnTos an example (p 151). Discussing Chaucer's language, Spearing notes that the two clerks 'speak an idiom which accurately represents that of fourteenth-century Northumberland or Durham and includes many words not used elsewhere in his work.' This speech is used as a 'source of comedy,' but 'it also seems likely that Chaucer knew of the alliterative poetry of the north' (p 91). [DOM] Josipovici, G.D. 'Fiction and Game in The Canterbury Tales' CQ1 (1965), 185-97. PardP and PardT stand at the centre of CT because they are a paradigm of the whole poem. 'All the tales, and the poem as a whole, can be seen as an effort to bring to the consciousness of the reader the fact that it is easier to lay down rules for others than to abide by them oneself, easier to invoke the game when it is oneself who is making the jokes than when one is the victim of a joke. This is the theme of the tales of the Miller, the Reeve, the Merchant, and the Nun's Priest. But it is also the theme of the debate between the Miller and the Reeve, the Friar and the Summoner' (p 195). [DOM] Mulvey, Mina. The Canterbury Tales: Analytic Notes and Review. Woodbury, NY: Illustrated World Encyclopedia, 1965. Gives a brief introduction to fabliau and a paraphrase ofMHT. RvT 'leaves a bitter taste in the mouth; it has less humor and more satire than the tale which precedes it, and its characters have fewer redeeming qualities. The tale, however, is appropriate for its teller, who is characterized as a sly, scheming, bitter old man' (p 34). A paraphrase follows. '[I]t is evident that the story [of CkT\ was to be of the same earthy kind as that of the Miller and the Reeve . . . Social historians may regret [sic] the picture of fourteenth-century low life which Roger of Ware's tale promised, but it is true that a third tale in a ribald vein would not have suited the variety of form and subject toward which Chaucer was clearly aiming' (p 37). [DOM] Ruggiers, Paul G. The Art of The Canterbury Tales. Madison WI: U of Wisconsin?, 1965. M/r'is written with such perfect control of the nuances of character and the intricacies of situation that on the surface it seems an end in itself, pure play and diversion for the poet' (p 56), and the synthesis of the plot

112 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales elements 'reveals the artist at the height of his power' (p 62). Despite the comedy of the tale, '[i]t would be a grave error to fail to see that the Miller's Tale .. . has some very serious things to say about the human situation and about human character in action' (p 65). 'Chaucer's embellishment and handling of his sources [of RvT] beautifully disguises the triteness of the originals. The strict motivation flowing from the tight personality of the teller, the clever handling of northern speech, the subtle play of the miller's anti-intellectualism against clerkish mirth and revelry, the amorous sympathy between the young, the richness of folk wisdom in the proverbial element, all point to an elevation of the banal and stock situations of old fabliaux into a story rich on its own merits, but richer by far when considered as a dramatic element in the quarrels of the pilgrimage' (p 72). [DOM] 340 Jackson, W.T.H. Medieval Literature: A History and A Guide. New York: Collier, 1966. Pp 198-297. 'The miller's tale . . . seems almost a satire, for it tells of love in highly indelicate and immoral terms. Everyone is either stupid or vicious. Yet the story is very funny and very much alive. It is the earthy answer to courtly love' (p 205). 'The reeve follows [MilT] with a tale against millers, again on illicit and very unspiritual love affairs, there perpetrated in the miller's house by two students. Chaucer makes ample use here of traditional rivalries and enmities' (p 205). [DOM] 341 Muscatine, Charles. 'The Canterbury Tales: Style of the Man and Style of the Work.' In Chaucer and Chaucerians: Critical Studies in Middle English Literature. Ed. D.S. Brewer. University, AL: U of Alabama Press, 1966; London: Nelson, 1966. Pp 88-113. '[I]t is not simply concreteness of detail that is Chaucer's great innovation, but rather complexity of structure . . . no other medieval writer begins so well to introduce a second and third (or more) related systems of connotations into the portrait,' as in the portrait of Symkyn (pp 96-7). 'The ultimate style' of the Tales 'the "mixed style" is the result of his management of the two traditional styles at once' (p 106). Thus, '[e]ach of his realisms is different. The style that supports ordinary fabliau comedy in The Shipman 's Tale is made specially acerb in The Reeve's Tale' (p 105). [DOM] 342 Grose, M.W. Chaucer. London: Evans, 1967. Pp 121-53. 'It is these "cherls' tales" [the fabliaux] that have the most appeal today both because of their content, which tends towards the indecent, and their style, which is economical and realistic. The Miller, Reeve, Cook . . . tell tales after the style of the medieval French fabliau. The fabliau is characterized by a spareness and directness of plot and expression: description is

The Tales Together/113

343

344

345

346

347

kept to the functional—few objects are singled out that are not used in the plot later on. Furthermore, these items tend toward the everyday, the homely and the practical' (p 144). [DOM] Braddy, Haldeen. 'The French Influence on Chaucer.' In Companion to Chaucer Studies. Ed. Beryl Rowland. Pp 143-59. See 62. Twenty-one of the twenty-four Canterbury Tales 'have literary associations with France.' MilT, RvTand CAT are noted among the ten tales which show only a slight French influence (p 133). [DOM] Lawlor, John. Chaucer. London: Hutchinson University Library, 1968. Lawlor challenges the traditional view that the raison d'etre of the tales 'is the revelation of character in action' (p 108), and that 'dramatic realism, a thorough-going appropriateness of tale and teller, is Chaucer's substantial achievement' (p 107). Concluding that 'close congruence of teller and tale is relatively rare,' he sees 'type-casting by professional rivalry'—such as that between the Miller and the Reeve—as one of the mechanisms of the tales (p 115). He pays attention to the two tales as fabliaux, and their vocal effects (pp 115-18). [DOM] Owen, Charles A., Jr. 'The Design of The Canterbury Tales.' In Companion to Chaucer Studies. Ed. Beryl Rowland. Pp 22\-42. See 62. Stating that '[d]esign in series of tales other than the marriage group has been the subject of recent critical concern,' Owen summarizes some views which have linked MilT to its surrounding tales (p 195). 'The three fabliaux come into being in defiance of the Host's control' and '[t]he first four stories in fact set some of the thematic limits for the work as a whole' (p 196). [DOM] Ramsey, Vance. 'Modes of Irony in The Canterbury Tales.' In Companion to Chaucer Studies. Ed. Beryl Rowland. Pp 352-79. See 62. There are several categories of irony in C71, the first of which is the '[m]ost familiar and pervasive . . . irony of the mode of expression (verbal irony)' (p 293). 'Several articles have demonstrated the value of background studies in illuminating the comic irony of The Miller's Tale' (p 294). 'The claim that Chaucer's increasingly more realistic and ironic style is attributable to Italian influence has been countered by discussions of the various types of French literature which may have been known to him' (p 294-5). In this context, Ramsey notes several studies on the relation of RvT to the French influences. [DOM] Rowland, Beryl. ' Chaucer's Imagery.' In Companion to Chaucer Studies. Ed. Beryl Rowland. Pp 117-42. See 62. Rowland refers to several commentators on MilT, including E.T. Donaldson [103] on the use of hende for Nicholas, (p 106), R.E. Kaske [498] on 'the verbal echoes of the Song of Songs' in the tale (p 109) and Earle Birney's study in irony [496] (p 111).

1147 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales Chaucer's 'imagery [has] a general quality'; and contemporary allusions such as that in ATT line 3394 and C^Tline 4402 exhibit a 'kind of particularization [which] is rare' (p 115). [DOM] 348 Wagenknecht, Edward. The Personality of Chaucer. Norman, OK: U of Oklahoma?, 1968. To construct a notion of Chaucer's personality, Wagenknecht draws on passages suggesting the poet's background and interests (Ch 2, pp 14-49), including Symkyn's description (3925-8), the hole for the cat in Nicholas's door (3441), animal imagery in Alison's portrait (3233-70), hunting terms (4134), mystery plays (3538-40, 3384-5, 3124), music (3216-17, 332832), learning (3191-2, 3208-10, 4122^). He discerns Chaucer's views on love and virtue in Ch 4 (pp 79-118), in references to Alison (3245, 331011), the Cook's drunkenness (p 80) and the Reeve's frustrated sexuality (p 81), but balks 'at [Williams's] notion that Chaucer himself was the original o f . . . "hende Nicholas'" (p 106). [See 514.] He deals with 'the "problem" of the fabliau tales' (pp 109-18), referring to the narrator's comments on Mill(3167-86, 3855-63), John's concerns (3522-3, 3425-7) and the conclusion of RvT (4313-17). [RCG] 349 Whittock, Trevor. A Reading of the Canterbury Tales. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1968. See 220. The realm of the tale [MilT] is the bounty of God, the injunction of the tale is that it is there to be enjoyed, the purpose of the tale is to celebrate it' (p 88). Whittock examines the bawdiness of the tale, and the relation of such bawdiness to the authority of the Church, concluding that ribald tales 'may be regarded as a literature of protest' (p 91), and if the tale 'affirms that the lust of the goat is the bounty of God . . . the glory and challenge of Creation [is] not diminished' (p 95). He explores the 'close connection' MHThas with KnT, and examines in detail the characters of the tales' four protagonists, referring to 'a cold opportunism' in the character of Absolon, and 'Nicholas's cynical self-sufficiency' (pp 84, 85), and concludes that 'The positives of The Miller's Tale are largely embodied in Alisoun' (p 86). Whittock compares the Reeve and the Miller, showing them to be completely opposed characters. ' The Reeve's Tale then is almost an inversion of The Miller's Tale . . . . the most important inversion is that of the way life is experienced' (p 98). The emphasis on the ugliness and nastiness of the characters is such that 'By the time the scene is set for the comic finale we can feel little respect for anyone' (p 100). Although the message of the tale seems to be that 'Life has its sordid and bestial side' (p 103), we must remember that 'Chaucer allows to each of the Canterbury pilgrims the kind of tale appropriate to his character' (p 102). So, knowing the Reeve's character, we realise he is 'jaundiced' and we do not simply share in his 'very bitter vision' (p 103).

The Tales Together /115

350

351

352

353

Enough of CkT exists 'to show that the tale would have been another fabliau, and that it would have dealt with a theme or themes raised by the two preceding tales' (p 106). [DOM] Burrow, J.A., ed. Geoffrey Chaucer: A Critical Anthology. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969. This wide ranging collection of essays is divided into three sections, 'Contemporaneous Criticism,' 'The Developing Debate,' and 'Modern Views.' It draws on Chaucer's own opinions in the first section as well as those of Gower, Thomas Usk and Eustache Deschamps. The large second section deals with material from Hoccleve to W.P. Ker, and the last from Kittredge to the most recent writings. There is frequent reference, in various of the essays, to MilT. [DOM] Elliott, R.W.V. 'Chaucer's Reading.' In Chaucer's Mind and Art. Ed. A.C. Cawley. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1969. Pp 46-68. Elliott examines the development of the Chaucer canon in the light of Chaucer's extensive reading in English, Latin, French and Italian, seeing Cras 'much more than a final depository of Chaucer's lifetime's reading.' In them 'not a few of the preoccupations of the earlier poems are resolved' (p 63). His 'interest has shifted from allegory and abstraction to actuality, from books to real life, from fine amour to the whole gamut of love and sex which extends from the courtly romance of "The Knight's Tale" to the "harlotrie" of the Miller's and the Reeve's.' (p 65). [DOM] Loomis, Dorothy Bethurum. 'Chaucer and Shakespeare.' In Chaucer's Mind and Art. Ed. A.C. Cawley. Pp 166-90. See 351. Contrasts between Chaucer and Shakespeare are more striking than influences, and one of the things that makes 'Chaucer's fiction far from dramatic . . . is the extent to which it relies on description . . . . Chaucer is at his most brilliant in the portraits at the beginning of "The Miller's Tale" and "The Reeve's Tale", and we get the flavour of the action because of the careful characterisation of the dramatis personal (p 174). Loomis compares 'the impression made by the vulgar black-and-white of Alison's shining dress or by Absolon's abundant hair' with 'Hamlet's black cloak and Richard II's gold' (p 175). RvTis further used as an example in comparing Shakespeare's and Chaucer's comic figures (pp 184,188). [DOM] Utley, Francis Lee. 'Chaucer and Patristic Exegesis.' In Chaucer's Mind and Art. Ed. A.C. Cawley. Pp 69-85. See 351. Utley attempts to assess Robertson's A Preface to Chaucer 330 evenhandedly; in the course of his review he says, representing Robertson's view, "The Knight's Tale" laughs at Palamon and Arcite's love and "The Miller's Tale" laughs at Absalon; the point of "The Reeve's Tale" is much the same. We had thought that the three represented a striking example of

1167 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

354

355

356

357

Chaucerian ironic contrast; instead they are identical in purpose' (p 77). [DOM] Alderson, William L., and Arnold C. Henderson. 'A Collection of Chaucer Allusions.' In Chaucer and Augustan Scholarship. University of California Publications English Studies 35. Berkeley: U of California P, 1970. Ppl89241. A study of Chaucer allusions including some items from the period 15511957 not listed by Spurgeon 283. John Minsheu (1617) is briefly mentioned. [HMcG] Joseph, Gerhard. 'Chaucerian "Game"—"Ernest" and the "Argument of Herbergage" in The Canterbury Tales.' ChauR 5 (1970-1), 83-96. Fragment I illustrates the way in which differentiation of tales of jest and seriousness is paralleled by a division of human space: 'Tales informed by the spirit of "ernest" have at times another conception of space, the "herbergage" or lodging of this world, than those told in "game"' (p 83). Thus Fragment l i s a paradigm for CT as a whole. Further to the conventional wisdom that MilT, parodies the elevated sentiments ofKnT, it is argued that MilT, RvT and CkT offer 'the possibility of unrestrained "pley"' (p 88) in a space radically different from that conceptualized in the enclosed 'Boethian prison' (p 86) ofKnT. In MilT, John the Carpenter's attempt at enclosure results in the opening of a space for 'sexual game' (p 89). RvT, in elaboration, allows 'for the infinite expansiveness of space within such enclosures.' Although the possibility of the continuation of this theme in CkT is purely speculative, CkP provides both the evidence that the Cook 'understands the spatial emphasis' (p 90) of RvTand the name to this 'argument of herbergage!' (4329). [HMcG] MacDonald, Donald. 'Chaucer's Influence on Henry son's Fables: The Use of Proverbs and Sententia>: MM 39 (1970), 21-7. Henryson follows Chaucer in using the 'comic misapplication' (p 21) of proverbs and sententice. In MilT we see 'Nicholas' cynical misuse of proverbs to accomplish the gulling of John the Carpenter' which shows shrewdness, and 'John's use of proverbs, sententice and exempla in his discussion of Nicholas' supposed illness' (p 22). The fox of Henryson's The Fox, the Wolf and the Husbandman repeats a maxim used by the Wife of Bath and Aleyn of RvT: 'With emptie hand na man suld halkis lure.' [RCG] Pearsall, Derek A. The Canterbury Tales.' In History of Literature in the English Language. Vol.1. The Middle Ages. Ed. W.F. Bolton. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1970. Pp 163-94. Although satisfied to a point with those dramatic readings ofCTin which each tale is 'taken primarily as a display of its teller's character,' Pearsall rejects this as an absolute. Some of the tales are simply didactic exercises

The Tales Together/117 that would have been appreciated as such by Chaucer's audience (p 170). Although the 'impression of dramatic unity is overwhelming' (p 167) in the first fragment, the parodic juxtapositions are more important. The function of MilTis not to illustrate the Miller's character; the tale is in its essentials an 'orthodox fabliau' (p 188), with the Miller as a 'flawed frame,' appropriate to the manipulations of Chaucer's art (pp 175-6). Although the Miller's moral pronouncements provide a frame consonant with the tale's outcome, this morality is a 'red herring.' It is the detailed 'authenticity' of the narrative that is crucial: 'The events of the story are both nasty and false: the art of the telling is everything.' (pp 188-9). The Reeve has about his character 'a warped moral rectitude . . . which makes his Tale narrowly purposive and vindictive, in contrast to the sense of largesse' (p 189) in MilT. The Reeve's description of his miller, Symkyn, precisely targets each character flaw that is punished in the tale, but with a view to the destructive humiliation of the other Miller, his fellow pilgrim. However, the 'clinical vindictiveness of the narrator . . . recoils' when it becomes apparent that the 'nastiness of the Tale is the Reeve's nastiness' (p 190). [HMcG] 358 Richardson, Janette. Blameth Nat Me: A Study of Imagery in Chaucer's Fabliaux. Studies in English Literature 58. The Hague: Mouton, 1970. Deals with Chaucer's development and use of imagery. In Part 1, the chapters 'Chaucer and the modern interest in imagery' (pp 11-17) and 'The medieval concept of imagery' (pp 18-54) explain Chaucer's familiarity with rhetoric, in particular the writings of Geoffrey of Vinsauf. Part 2 has an 'Introduction to a Chaucerian technique' (pp 57-62) on his use particularly of effictio, notatio and irony, and chapters on selected tales, including RvT(pp 86-99) and MilT(pp 159-69). In RvT imagery 'create[s] an ironic parallel which tightens the unity of the action as a whole' (p 86). It is integrated more tightly than Le Meunier et les II clers, exemplified in the recurring and varied significance of the imagery used. Chaucer uses effictio and notatio in portraits of Symkyn, his wife and daughter, and ironic associations abound in the tale 'whether or not the reader is aware of the artistry which has created it' (p 99). Symkyn's portrait is related to the allegorized Physiologus. MilTis 'a supreme achievement of Chaucer's art' (p 159). Richardson describes the development of imagery in detail, showing that 'Chaucer chooses formal figurative images which have ironic relevance beyond their immediate appropriateness, and these serve to reinforce the inevitability of the final scene and supplement the establishment of the essential natures of the four characters' (p 160). Alison 'seems essentially a creature of nature' (p 162). Absolon is described in cliches 'customarily lavished upon medieval heroines' (p 164), but Nicholas has 'direct physical appeal' (p

118 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 165). The figures used to describe John 'ironically foreshadow his ridiculous fate' (p 166). The 'Conclusion' (pp 170-76) summarizes Chaucer's technique, 'in which figurative comparisons are given ironic ramification which extends their meanings beyond the immediate points of reference and causes them to function organically within the aesthetic whole of the narrative' (p 170). Through ironic correspondences, Chaucer asks for an intellectual response to his imagery. The use of rhetorical theory shows his realization of its limits, and 'he transcends the traditional even as he adheres to its basic forms' (p 174). The apology and warning in MilP 'points out the double standard of his narratives,' and show 'that these tales contain more than first meets the eye' (p 175). See also 523. [RCG] • Review by John V. Fleming, Speculum 47 (1972), 797-9: finds the chapters on MilTand RvT 'discrete critical essays . . . intelligent, readable, and illuminating' (p 798), and the book 'attractively modest... lively, fluent, and economically developed,' although the examination of poetic language is not 'consistently appropriate to the stylistic and aesthetic realities of Gothic narrative' (p 799). • Review by Betty Hill, M/E41 (1972), 270-2: Richardson gives detailed comment on obscure words and phrases. Although she notes some inaccuracies, Hill considers the work 'one of the most stimulating books [she] has ever read' (p 272). 359 Woo, Constance, and William Matthews. 'The Spiritual Purpose of the Canterbury Tales: Comitatus 1 (1970), 85-109. In the context of Matthews's argument that CTis 'in its entirety one persistent sermon with one pious objective' (p 108), there is a brief description of MilT as 'predictable' lechery (p 100). RvT is a reply to MilT, in both of which the moral theme is lechery. Matthews argues that CkT 'was to be a fabliau involving an old husband and a young wife, the old man akin to one of the Cook's masters and the young wife very like young Alice of Bath' (pp 98-9). The target of this would have been the lechery and materialism of the aldermen. [HMcG] 360 Burgess, Anthony. ' Whan that Aprill.' Horizon 13:2 (1971), 44-59. A brief introduction to CTfor the general reader. A highly stylized drawing by Zevi Blum, inspired by MilT, is given (p 52-3). 'In transforming ... the tubs in the Miller's Tale, into strange mechanical devices, Blum seems to suggest the intricate machinery of melodrama in the tales of the Canterbury pilgrims' (p 48). 'The high romance of the Knight's Tale is balanced by the coarseness of the Miller's Tale' (46); MilT follows KnTas 'a kind of leisurely dirty story' (p 57). The plots of MilTand RvT are summarized; they present 'a conflict of character . . . a humorous dialectic in counterpoint to the stories' (p 57). [DPS]

The Tales Together /119 361 Gradon, Pamela. Form and Style in Early English Literature. London: Methuen, 1971. Examines the historical context of medieval literature and the various levels of the linguistic structures of literary imagery and meaning. The starting point in arguing against the assumption that the 'apparent disregard of naturalism . . . is what marks medieval art as naive, and inferior to the art of later ages' (p 3) is the distinction between symbolic and imitative modes. There are a number of references to MilT(pp 283,284,287,292,295,316) and RvT(pp 283,284,292) where the primary concern is with the 'rhetorical amplification' of a 'picturation' which differentiates these tales from the more conventionally generic fabliaux and KnT, both of which tend to idealized descriptio rather than graphic, individualized embellishment. [HMcG] 362 Hill, Betty. 'On Reading Chaucer.' PLPLS-LHS 14 (1971), 209-20. Among examples used to 'separate the threads representative of the poet's general practices' (p 210) in Hill's exposition of a passage of TC are some taken from MilT and RvT. She comments on the use of proverbs by John the carpenter, jingling auditory effects and stock descriptive phrases. Verbal repetitions are associated with some characters, eg hende Nicholas; and the repetition of a line may associate particular tales, eg 'Allone, withouten any compaignye,' which links KnT and MilT. Absolon's pleading gives a parody of love lyrics and the Cantica Canticorum. Chaucer has 'inherited an oral tradition and reinterpreted in part the literatures of other tongues and races in his native dialect to the delight of succeeding generations' (p 217). Hill comments on implications of stock comparisons for eyes and noses, including those applied to Malyne, and on the effect of shouting suggested by repetition such as 'Keep! keep! Stand! Stand!' (4101). [RCG] 363 Rowland, Beryl. Blind Beasts: Chaucer's Animal World. Kent, OH: Kent State UP, 1971. A general study of Chaucer's use of animal imagery, with many examples in MilT, RvT and CkT. Both millers resemble the sow, fox and ape, with the ape also seen as a dupe. The comparison of Alison to a weasel has many implications [see 512]. There is an extended analogy between the characteristics of Perkyn the apprentice and those of the goldfinch (pp 58-9). Aleyn and Symkyn resemble pigs in a poke as they struggle, and swynesheed is a term of abuse for John's supposed lethargy. Symkyn refers to the fable of The Wolf and the Mare, 'congratulating himself on outsmarting the two young clerks' (p 110). Horses are frequently mentioned, and their various mounts are used to characterize pilgrims and characters in the tales. Bayard, the clerk's horse in RvThas a mock-heroic name. In figurative references 'the implications are unflattering to both man and

120 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales beast' (p 125). Symkyn's snoring, like the sound made by a horse about to copulate, keeps the clerks awake and prompts them to seduce his wife and daughter. The colt's tooth image used by the Reeve suggests wistfully lustful impulses. A variant of the horse and rider figure is used to describe Alison, 'the young, mismated wife with an importunate lover . . . like a colt in a farrier's frame' (p 139). MilT has two references to sheep: Absolon mourns like a lamb outside Alison's window, and John talks of the story of Noah, his wife and his black wethers in the apocryphal Book ofNoria. The Miller mentions his oxen at the plough. [RCG] 364 Andersen, Jens Kr. 'An Analysis of the Framework Structure of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales".' 0127(1972), 179-201. Andersen analyses the connections of the framework and tales of CT, considers the Decameron and finds little evidence that Chaucer was influenced by it. It is characteristic of the narrative frame of CT that the tales are presented as authentic. The Reeve assures his listeners of the truth of his tale (3924). He knows the setting of his story (3921-3), as do the Miller (3187) and the Cook (4343). The quarrel between the Reeve and the Miller adds to the 'creative dynamics of the framework' (p 181) and finds expression in references to the professions of carpenter (MilT) and miller (RvT). The fact that MilT, RvT and CkTare written in heroic couplets is typical of those stories in Crthat tend towards 'amusement' as their primary object. [DPS] 365 Fisher, John H. 'Chaucer's Last Revision of the "Canterbury Tales".' MLR 67(1972), 241-51. Mir and its headlink were written before Fragment I, in which 'Chaucer capitalized on the lessons of tone and point of view that he had learned in writing Fragments VI-X' (p 247). The Miller gives 'the universal reaction of vulgarity against refinement' (p 248) to KnT; Chaucer alludes in the link 'to the intention of the narrator in the poem, to the reactions of his pilgrim audience, and to the attitudes both of the poet and of the reading public' (p 248). RvT gives 'even more direct commentary on the quarrel between the churls and the gentils', but the fabliaux 'actually reveal their churlish tellers as the losers' (p 248). The series of attempts of these boors 'to outdo the others in vulgarity' (p 248) is ended by the interruption of CkT. [RCG] 366 Kean, Patricia M. Chaucer and the Making of English Poetry. London and Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972. 2 vols. Vol. 2, The Art of Narrative. Pp. 53-114. In the context of the relationship between frame and tales, Kean's chapters on CT examine the question of what narrative poetry meant to Chaucer, and how he would have expected it to be understood. Although he acknowledged and exploited classical and medieval models for the long narrative

The Tales Together /121 poem, Kean contends that for Chaucer the best poetry imitated nature, not art. [HMcG] 367 Eliason, Norman E. 'Chaucer the Love Poet.' In Chaucer the Love Poet. Ed. Jerome Mitchell and William Provost. Pp 9-26. See 371. Discusses Chaucer's treatment of allegorical, courtly, philosophic, and Christian love' (p 10), and the persuasiveness which comes from his experience, honesty, sense and 'long and careful thought' (p 22) about love. Two features of Chaucer's poetic technique are his treatments of gratification of passion and of love talk. The former is a feature of the fabliaux; here Chaucer wanted 'not to titillate his readers, or shock them, or disgust them but to set them laughing' (p 23). He uses 'two time-tested devices' of writing of'fornication with someone else's wife,' occurring 'in a ludicrously impossible place' (p 23) as 'in a bedroom with the husband present, or in separate tubs hung from the ceiling, although this last feat, to be sure, proved beyond Chaucer's imaginative powers' (p 24). The tales 'involved no regrets' and provoked 'general laughter' (p 24). [RCG] 368 Fisher, John H. 'The Three Styles of Fragment I of the Canterbury Tales.' ChauR 8 (1973-4), 119-27. The first three tales of Fragment I are stylistically consistent with the distinctions set forth by John of Garland in his Poetria (ca. 1250). His original discrimination of styles appropriate to courtly, civil, and rural decorum has been partly obscured by later commentators who reduced the differentiation to that between the court and the bourgeoisie. Garland's three-part system gives a hierarchical discrimination, being able to separate the predominantly scatological humour of MilTfrom a more dubious, overt, sexual ribaldry in RvT. [HMcG] 369 Hill, Betty. 'Chaucer: The Miller's and Reeve's Tales.' NM 74 (1973), 665-75. Refers to Richardson 358, with additional observations on Chaucer's handling of images, primarily in the portrait of Alison, and 'motivation and poetic justice' in MilTand RvT(p 665), with special reference to divergences in RvTfrom 'the analogous Le Meunier et les Deux Clers" (p 672). In Alison's portrait, the aristocratic imagery of the gold coin, 'the noble yforged newe' (3256), a 'depreciative hyperbole' suggests an artificially 'round yellow metallic face . . . indicative of Alisoun's worth to her rich husband' (p 666). The image of Alison as weasel vivifies the stale conventionality of 'hir body gent and smaP (3234) with the 'sexually-attractive attributes of this sinuous animal' (p 667). In common with other images of 'uncessating nature, which require a sensuous response,' it is 'clinched' by the metaphoric apposition of 'She was a prymerole, a piggesne,' to express 'Alisoun's total qualitative effect,' and the lines 'For any lord to leggen in his bedde, or yet for any good yeman to wedde' (3269-70). The doubtful

122 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales sense ofprymerole and piggesne is pursued through a detailed discussion of identifications made by various editors, with comment on syntax and alliteration. Hill's identification of piggesne with hyophthalmos supports the inference that' Alisoun, though firmly rooted in English soil, is a French daisy . . . and in summer a classic Greek remedy for any lord or any good yemarf (p671). [HMcG] 370 McCann, Garth A. 'Chaucer's First Three Tales: Unity in Trinity.' BRMMLA 27 (1973), 10-16. The tales have a symmetrical relationship in which love is seen in KnTin terms of feeling, in MilTas both emotion and action, and in RvTas 'devoid of mental attraction, but replete with physical satisfaction.' In MilT, Nicholas and Absolon are opposites, but in both there is a 'blending of the psychological and the physical,' and 'Nicholas really does love Alisoun.' In RvT, however, love is replaced by anger and revenge. [HMcG] 371 Mitchell, Jerome and William Provost, eds. Chaucer the Love Poet. Athens, GA: U of Georgia P, 1973. A collection of four papers presented at the University of Georgia, April 12, 1971, at the South Atlantic Graduate English symposium, including a panel discussion with the presenters: Norman E. Eliason, Robert E. Kaske, Edmund Reiss and James I. Wimsatt (pp 91-106), with an introduction by William Provost (pp 1-8) and an afterward by Edgar H. Duncan (pp 10711). The criticism 'takes as its explicit, basic assumption the idea that Chaucer, in nearly all his writings, is primarily a love poet and a surpassingly excellent love poet' (p 1). Provost surveys critical attitudes to Chaucer's poetry, seeking those which see him as a love poet, but finds few references to this aspect of Chaucer's art, except in relation to courtly love. [See annotations of individual works: 367, 372, 550.] [RCG] 372 Reiss, Edmund. 'Chaucer's Parodies of Love.' In Chaucer the Love Poet. Ed. Jerome Mitchell and William Provost. Pp 27-44. See 371. Love is 'the most pervasive theme of the Canterbury Tales' (p 37), and parody may be seen in the tales of the first fragment. Divine love is parodied in KnT, and the inadequacy of the Knight's view of marriage 'allows his tale to be burlesqued in the ensuing Miller's Tale,' which gives a 'barnyard version of courtly love' (p 40). Nicholas's dealings with Alison show his proficiency in deerne love, and satirize the courtly lover. A carpenter and his wife suggest Joseph and Mary, reinforced by Nicholas's singing ofAngelus advirginem and Absolon's parody of the Song of Songs, and other biblical allusions. '[T]he holy love, mystical love, and cosmic love suggested by these biblical references disappear, or rather are subsumed under earthly desire,' and are shown 'as unadulterated adultery' (p41).

The Tales Together /123 In RvT, when Aleyn and John seek redress, love comes from revenge, and is 'a means of justice' (p 42), suggesting the Old Law, not that of Christianity. Aleyn's farewell is 'a burlesque of the literary aube . . . a parody of. .. a true clerk's affirmation,' since he 'does not serve the Virgin [and], he is instrumental in making sure that his lady is not a virgin' (p 42). CAT, although incomplete, would still be about love, and here 'love is depersonalized . . . the equivalent of money . . . far from its ideal celestial form'(p 43). [RCG] 373 Rutledge, Sheryl P. 'Chaucer's Zodiac of Tales.' Costerus 9(1973), 117-43. The astrological pattern of the zodiac 'served as the hidden motif of The Canterbury Tales' (p 117). Rutledge assigns signs of the zodiac to the first tales of CT, and relates MilTio Cancer, connected with the moon, water and the month of June. Clusters of images include those associated with grain and agriculture; hence the pilgrim Miller, water and the predicted flood, references to the moon and Monday, Diana and Mary, and uses of the adjective 'white' are all connected in various ways with Alison, John, Nicholas and Absolon. RvT is associated with Leo, July, agriculture and the sun. It is a tale of a miller, with fire imagery in RvP, telling of pride, attributed to those born under Leo. Symkyn's description suggests leonine appearance and disposition. Both the miller and his wife wear red, associated with the sun and fire. CAT is linked to Virgo and August, the month of harvest, and Roger the cook prepares the products of the harvest. Mercury is associated with this sign, and Roger shows '"bad" mercurial tendencies,' telling of Perkyn 'who appears to be a caricature of Mercury, badly placed' (p 127). Sexual allusions suggest 'Chaucer's perversion of Virgo's symbol, the virgin' (p 127). [RCG] 374 Bennett, J. A. W. Chaucer at Oxford and at Cambridge. The Alexander Lectures, University of Toronto, 1970. Oxford: Clarendon, 1974. Chaucer gives most detail of the setting in two tales of students 'told by two of the most vividly drawn of all his narrators' (p 18). The tales are tied to their settings and each other, through 'parallels and contrast, verbal echoes and reflections (p 19). Bennett augments scholarship on the lives and backgrounds of characters of MilT and RvT, with examples from rolls, records, place names and literature, including maps and plans which place the settings in their contemporary context, and relates the information to Chaucer's life. The four chapters are 'Life and Learning in Rolls and Records' (pp 1-25), Town and Gown' (pp 26-57), 'The Men of Merton' (pp 58-87), 'A Jolly Miller' (pp 88-116). There are three appendices: 'Poor Scholars' (pp 117-19), 'Mills and Milling' (pp 120-23), 'Merton and Cambridge' (pp 124-5). [RCG]

124 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 375 Benson, L.D. 'A Reader's Guide to Writings on Chaucer.' In Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. Derek Brewer. Pp 321-51. See 376. In this survey of Chaucer scholarship, partitioned by major categories of literary and historical interest, general remarks and observations often implicitly touch on the tales of the first fragment, though specific citations (eg, p 337) are rare. [RCG] 376 Brewer, Derek, ed. Geoffrey Chaucer. Writers and Their Background. London: Bell, 1974. A collection of twelve essays, considering aspects of Chaucer's life and work in their context, including a reader's guide to criticism and bibliography. Essays which refer to MilT, RvTand CkTare individually annotated. [See 134, 375, 377, 380, 559, 742.] [RCG] 377 'Gothic Chaucer.' In Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. Derek Brewer. Pp 1-32. See 376. Brewer describes Chaucer as a Gothic poet, and surveys aspects of medieval culture offering analogues to English Gothic literature and such conflicts as the presentation of courtly and lower classes, images of women and, in literature, the balance ofsolaas and sentence. Laughter results from 'the juxtaposition of incongruous elements; in particular in Chaucer from juxtapositions of official and unofficial aspects of culture' (p 19). MilT offers solaas, an unofficial feminine image in Alison and the clash of courtly and uncourtly, RvTthe clash of 'the learned against the ignorant' (p 20). Alison's portrait amuses because she is 'a ridiculous, low-class imitation of a great lady of romance' and a parody of 'the rhetorical abstractions of formal descriptions' (p 20). The folk-tale plots of MilT and RvTmay be told 'in a way characteristic of courtly "folk", that satirizes class inferiors' (p 24). Unintellectual or anti-intellectual cultures suffer 'like the miller in "The Reeve's Tale," who despises clerks' (p 27). [RCG] 378 Dillon, Bert. A Chaucer Dictionary: Proper Names and Allusions Excluding Place Names. Boston: Hall; London: Prior, 1974. An alphabetical list of proper names and allusions in Chaucer's works, with line references. Names are given in 'normalized, modern spelling' (p xvii), with variants in parentheses. Thus 'Absolom' includes 'the handsome but rebellious son of DAVID' and 'the love-sick admirer of Alysoun' (p 1). Malyne is incorrectly listed as 'the wife of the miller Simkin' (p 146). [RCG] 379 Engelhardt, George J. 'The Lay Pilgrims of the Canterbury Tales: A Study in Ethology.' MS36 (1974), 278-330. Deals with aspects of evil seen in CT. The Miller, Reeve and Manciple are false servants (p 293). A cluster of images of Pilate, justice, theft and Satan the sifter relate with the pilgrim Miller, whose name 'Robin . . . a diminutive of Robert' (p 306), can be associated with robber and Robin

The Tales Together/125 Goodfellow. KnTis requited by 'a churl's tale that displays once again, though much more mockingly, the ordered disorder that punishes the disorder of human iniquity' (p 306). Saturn becomes the Miller, with Arcite, Palamon and Emily 'transmogrified into Absolon, John and Alison' (p 306), while the Miller transfers 'the mischievous proclivities of the incubus and puck from himself to the clerk Nicholas' (p 307), whose name has associations and paronomastic implications. Alison is 'deprived of her humanity from the outset' (p 308); since she is inculpable and irrational, she is not punished. She is 'not so much an object as an instrument of Satanic vengeance' (p 308). In Nicholas's punishment, 'the Miller is requiting iniquity with confusion, for the colter is no less misdirected than the kiss' (p 308). Engelhardt discusses implications and associations of Absolon's name, particularly with Absolom and David (pp 308-9). He relates the tale to 'the anagogical relationship between anomia and SheoF (p 309). The Reeve shows signs of old age, avarice and irascibility in his appearance and character (pp 309-10). He is a 'consummate thief (p 310), more proficient than the Miller, and aggrieved by him. He tells his tale methodically and 'in the confusion that supervenes upon the misplacement of the cradle, the Reeve consummates his demonic vengeance: he contrives that the proud w i f e . . . smites her proud husband' (p 311). The Miller and Reeve 'serve the function of the anomos nemesis apotheosized in the morose Saturn' and dispense demonic justice, the Miller exuberantly 'and the Reeve for revenge' (p 311). [RCG] 380 Kolve, V.A. 'Chaucer and the Visual Arts.' In Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. Derek Brewer. Pp 290-320. See 376. Chaucer enriches his work with 'a language of sign potent to embody within the delightful lies of fiction a vision of truth' (p 292), such as Absolon's shoes, cut in the shape of the window of St Paul's. He gives 'incidental, characterizing detail' (p 292) including the description of Nicholas's room. Some images in their context give 'essential "meaning"' (p 309) to the narrative, for instance the runaway horse in RvT. 'No one . . . has ever argued that Chaucer wrote the Miller's and Reeve's tales only in order that we should skip them' (p 316). [RCG] 381 Norton-Smith, John. Geoffrey Chaucer. Medieval Authors. Gen. eds. Roger Fowler and John Norton-Smith. London: Routledge, 1974. The ironic warning against choosing the churls' tales anticipates Sterne's moral warnings (p 98). Rivalry established between the teller and Host in CkP could destroy 'the comic impartiality and wonder of the Host' (p 98), and 'Chaucer very early must have had second thoughts about including the Cook at all' (p 98). Norton-Smith gives a section on MilT(pp 136-45). The worlds of Mill and KnT share only ' folk wisdom about the unexpected mutability of all moments of reality' (p 137). The Miller wishes to 'quit'

126 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales both the Knight and the Monk with his 'legende,' and also has a quarrel with the Reeve; his 'active, irrational, malicious imagination maintains a constant satiric course' (p 138). Chaucer uses 'complementary comic rhythms . . . [of] mutable . . . momentary reality . . . and comic retention' (pp 138-9), shared by the male characters of the tale, but Alison is exempted. John, Absolon and Nicholas 'undergo simple, painful reverses of fortune' (p 140). The comic rhythms are opposed, 'so that the more cunning and constructing of the characters are outwitted by the world which they seek to dominate' (p 142). The relief of comic retention 'has the sequential movement of a parody version of a romantic courtship' (p 143). Such invention is beyond the Miller and '[t]his impersonating virtuosity belongs to Chaucer, not his persona. The tale is not a "fableau" or even a parody of a fabliau' (p 144). Aspects of style and language make MilT 'a subtle blend of Chaucer and the persona which yields a rich comic philosophy and comic narrative' (p 145). The Reeve is 'the self-exposure of a mood, a mood of intense anger'(pi 45). [RCG] 382 Scott, A.F. Who's Who in Chaucer. London: Hamilton; New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, Inc., 1974. Part 1, concerning CT, gives brief notes, in alphabetical order, on the pilgrims and characters of the tales (pp 1-64). Animal characters are similarly described (pp 65-8). Characters are also listed, tale by tale (pp 69-77). [RCG] 383 Severs, J. Burke. 'Chaucer's Clerks.' In Chaucer and Middle English Studies. Ed. Beryl Rowland. Pp. 140-52. See 68. Nicholas (and possibly Absolon) of MilT and Aleyn and John of RvTare clerks: students who have received the tonsure and the immunities of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Nicholas would have been one of the small minority of chamber-deacons, as clerks who lodged away from the university colleges were called. [HMcG] 384 Brewer, D.S. 'Structures and Character-types of Chaucer's Popular Comic Tales.' In Estudios sobre los generos literarios I: Grecia clasica e Inglaterra. Ed. Javier Coy and Javier de Hoz. (Acta Salamanticensia, Filosofia y Letras, 89) Salamanca: U de Salamanca, 1975. Pp 107-18. [Rpt417.] M//ris one of Chaucer "s fabliaux, along with RvT, FrT, SumT, MerT, and ShT. Brewer gives an outline of MilT, noting 'how much the persons are roles or types' (p 109). The story is 'the articulation of deliberately fantastic insult... "Kiss my arse'" (p 109). This articulation of a deliberately fantastic story 'turns it into a classically comic structure' (p 110) through parody of the normal act and meaning of kissing. 'The story is a general lowering of the pretensions of the men,' and 'a comic assertion of natural physical reality, though not justice' (p 110). However, Chaucer's

The Tales Together/127 telling of the story is not anti-feminist despite the wife's getting off scot-free and the anti-feminist origin of the tale. Brewer notes other comic and poetic effects of MilT such as its parody of mystery plays and the mockery of 'oldfashioned provincial love-language' ( p i l l ) . MilT'does not fit the central learned definition of comedy, found in both the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance' ( p i l l ) since it is about sex rather than love, and has no happy ending. The tale is 'about an absurd sexual misadventure, elaborated as a fantasy of gross insult, as a holiday sport' ( p i l l ) . RvT 'is a story of the biter bit,' and 'the Cambridge equivalent of The Miller's Tale' ( p i l l ) . It is similar to Boccaccio's sixth story of the ninth day of the Decameron, but Chaucer's telling is more vivid, and results in 'a placing of fantasy within reality, or reality within fantasy, that gives much more fun, and much more human interest, than is found even in Boccaccio's version' (p 117). [DJB] 385 Clogan, Paul M. 'Literary Criticism in William Godwin's Life of Chaucer.' M&H 6 (1975), 189-98. Godwin describes MilT and RvT as 'filthy, vulgar and licentious' (p 195). [DJB] 386 Deligiorgis, Stavros. 'Poetics of Anagogy for Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales.' In Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. George D. Economou. Pp 129-141. See 139. Notes Chaucer's 'collocation of the amusing or farcical with the familial and domestic' in MilT and RvT (p 131). [DJB] 387 Kiernan, Kevin S. 'The Art of the Descending Catalogue and a Fresh Look atAlisoun.' ChauR 10(1975-6), 1-16. Chaucer uses the technique of 'travel over a woman's body' (p 3) in his description of Alison in MilT. Comparing variations seen in some other Middle English poems shows that 'most serious poets opt for abbreviation' (p 5), although amplification may be used. Chaucer violates the reader's expectations of the descending catalogue in his descriptions of Emily, Criseyde, the Prioress and the Wife of Bath. Incongruous use can give amusing effects, achieved by Chaucer when he describes Sir Thopas and Chauntecleer. The description of Alison in MilT (3233-70) is an example of 'the description of a woman by a person who is unequipped to provide a proper rhetorical description, because of his own personality, or the particular qualities of the lady he describes, or both' (p 14). The Miller diverges from the conventional order of description, and his description of Alison's attire keeps the reader's eye 'coursing over Alisoun's body' thereby implicating the audience in the Miller's lechery (p 14). Through tracing elements of clothing the Miller is able to revert consistently to that part of Alison's body which most interests him—her loins.

128 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales Chaucer's description of Malyne in RvTlines 3973-76 is a catalogue which simultaneously descends and ascends: 'the effect on the reader is to leave him wondering where his eye is supposed to be' (p 13). Chaucer is true to convention in 'eyen greye as glas' and 'brestes rounde and hye', but a beautiful lady never has a pug nose, and 'the buttocks, as Geoffroi de Vinsauf says, should be described by the mind, not the tongue' (p 13). [DJB,RCG] 388 Palomo, Dolores. 'Chaucer, Cervantes, and the Birth of the Novel.' Mosaic 8:4 (1975), 61-72. Even the best characterizations of CT, such as those in MilTand especially of Alison 'depend upon consistency and simplicity' (p 67). Success in the narratives of CT 'depends on how skillfully the writer fulfills our expectations, on his ingenuity and wit' (p 67). 'In a sense we know how the unfinished Cook's Tale should end, just as we know very early in The Miller's Tale that the doting old husband will be cuckolded by the handsome young clerk and the luscious young wife' (p 67). [DJB] 389 Howard, Donald R. 'The Tales: A Theory of Their Structure.' The Idea of the 'Canterbury Tales.' Berkeley: U of California P, 1976. Pp 210-332 M/'/rlooks back to KnT'm parody, but it 'is given a further dimension by its forward-looking reference to the Reeve's Tale' (p 239); just as MilTcasts new light on KnT, so RvT does on MilT. As the Miller and Reeve are contrasted as characters, so their similar plots have different characters: in contrast to Emily and Alison, '[t]here is nothing spiritually or sexually desirable' (p 239) about either the Miller's wife or daughter. The emphasis in the clerks' behaviour 'is not on healthy pleasure, as in the Miller's Tale, but on the vindictiveness of the situation' (p 240). Parallels in plot structure between KnT, MilTand 7?vremphasize the different motives of the characters and tellers. In MilT 'civility is a mask for earthier... motives' while in RvT 'civility is pure sham masking meanness and guile' (p 240). The two tales also contrast views of intellect: the Miller sees it as a way of furthering sexual interests; the Reeve sees it as trickery. Both views contrast with the respect for wisdom and intellect in KnT. The wealth of puns in MilT also contrasts with a much lesser number in RvT. Howard summarizes scholarly accounts of references to religious traditions and knightly lore in MilT, concluding that the artistry here is 'unimpersonated': 'it is in the tale but could not be put there by its teller' (p 243), rather it is put there by Chaucer. In contrast to this, Chaucer removes himself from RvT, making it 'realistic in a straightforward way' (p 244). We do not know what CkT would have contributed to the sequence of Fragment I of the CT. It may have been finished but suppressed, either by Chaucer or transcribers, as 'too scurrilous' (p 244). What we have suggests a similar plot to MilT and RvT, possibly with Perkyn Revelour and his

The Tales Together /129 'compeer,' the lady's husband, as rivals for the 'wife's' hand. As the Cook says he will tell a story of a hosteler (A 4360), the older man may be 'the master vitailler described at the beginning' (p 245). It is possible that the story was to be London low-life from Chaucer's own experience, since there is no known source for the tale. Given that the wife 'swyved' for her living, and the two men 'are not clerks but riotous servants,' it is possible that the story was 'more unsavory than the Reeve's' (p 245). [DJB] • Review by Charles Blyth, 'Heigh Fantasye,' EIC21 (1977), 162-70: although there are valuable perceptions, 'the admirable larger intent is vitiated by the author's inept mode of presenting his arguments, by a predominantly coarse prose style which makes the expression of insights difficult, and by an attraction to unsubstantiated and unfit conceptions which have struck his fancy' (p 163). • Review by Robert Cook, JEGP 77 (1978), 419-23: 'Reading him is like listening to a monologue poured out by a well-informed, fertile, and stimulating mind as it thinks and re-thinks nothing less than . . . the "idea" of The Canterbury Tales—by which he means something comprehending form, intention, unity, structure, style, and "world"' (p 420). • Review by Stanley B. Greenfield, CL 30 (1978), 72-7: notes Howards's new perspectives and insights, but finds his style misleading, leading to 'more factual misstatements and thesis-ridden distortions than a major study can be allowed' (p 72). 390 Ruggiers, Paul G. 'A Vocabulary for Chaucerian Comedy: A Preliminary Sketch.' In Medieval Studies in Honor of Lillian Herlands Hornstein. Ed. Jess B. Bessinger, Jr. and Robert R. Raymo. New York: New York State UP, 1976. Pp 193-225. Ruggiers seeks to give a vocabulary for handling Chaucer's comedy, concentrating on plot and character. MilT and RvT are drawn on for examples of many of the categories and terms. [DJB] 391 Thundy, Zacharias. 'Chaucer's Quest for Wisdom in The Canterbury Tales: NM11 (1976), 582-98. In MilT John the carpenter 'sins against practical wisdom by choosing young Alison' (p 593). Nicholas, Alison, and Absolon successfully pursue 'earthly, pagan, amoral wisdom' to some extent, 'but in the process they abandon the practice of heavenly, Christian, moral wisdom' (p 593). All the characters eventually suffer retribution. In RvT, 'the worldly, practical wisdom of Simon is insufficient and impermanent and . . . Alain and John pervert their clerical wisdom by seducing the Miller's wife and daughter' (p 593). 'Chaucer seems to imply that all the characters of this tale need conversion to the holy wisdom of penance' (p 593). [DJB] 392 Burlin, Robert B. Chaucerian Fiction. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1977.

130 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales The pilgrim storytellers slip into 'a prefabricated role that allows them enormous freedom to magnify and project the most energetic parts of their psychological make-up' (pp 160-61). Burlin relates this role to the Miller and Reeve and their tales. He compares the portraits of the pilgrims, their characters, the settings and the 'poetic liberties [taken] with the dramatic context' (p 156). [RCG] 393 Frese, Dolores Warwick. 'The Homoerotic Underside in Chaucer's Miller's Tale and Reeve's Tale.' MichA 10(1977), 143-50. Even modern critics have 'left largely unexplored' Chaucer's homosexual comedy. MilT 'lustily' announces its 'homosexual or homoerotic underside' which is but 'feebly answered by the Reeve' (p 144). Anal and oral references in MilT are cited (pp 144-5). At the climax of MilT we find a 'satiric imagery of sodomy'. Absolon is 'more "ladylike" than the countrybred girl whose favor he seeks' (p 145). RvT is less erotic than MilT because vengeance has displaced sexuality. [DPS] 394 Gardner John. The Poetry of Chaucer. Carbondale & Edwardsville: Southern Illinois UP, 1977. In following the Knight, the Miller defies the social order, Providence and Fortune. Indeed, MilT is a comic parody of A^rand contemporary readings of The Aeneid. '[U]p to a point [MilT] comically and unwittingly . . . supports the Knight's opinions,' but 'the Knight and Miller do not agree about the universe' (p 254). The Knight believes Providence is generous, but the Miller considers a man gets only what he has earned. MilT is derived from fabliaux elements, with the Middle English song 'Old Hogan's Adventure' as source of the window scene. Comic incongruity, characterization and neatness of construction make the tale 'the funniest Chaucer ever wrote' (p 255). Lines 3276-78 demonstrate comic incongruity as Nicholas's actions deny his own courtly language. In the characterization of Alison and Nicholas MilT differs from the fabliaux: 'emphasis is on the cunning of the trickster; and the f o o l . . . is treated with sympathy' (p 256). The tale is both comic and moral—all characters being 'from a sober Christian point of view' fools (p 256). Neatness is seen in the aptness of reference to Noah's flood and the relevance of vocations. The catastrophe is brought about by the same sins as Noah's flood, although judgement is softened by recognition that characters are 'caught in a cosmic plan they cannot see' (p 256). Each character's vocation relates to his place in the plot of the tale, often through parody. MilT is about 'order and disorder, justice and injustice' (p 258). The characters attempt to work their own providence, but slip unwittingly into a larger plan. Their plots all backfire (so to speak), and 'however ludicrously, God's order reasserts itself, making one plan of the characters' several schemes concocted "in privetee'" (p 259).

The Tales Together /131 The Reeve tells his tale to get even with the Miller. It is 'a comic tale of irascibility,' fitting the allusion in lines 3919-20 to a passage treated 'in medieval biblical commentaries as a figure of irascibility overruling reason' (p 259). Like MilT, /?v7"backfires on the teller, discrediting him in his attempted revenge, as demonstrated by J.L. Baird [689]. Although less complex than MilT, RvThas 'some fine moments of comedy' (p 260). The violent ending of the tale demonstrates the Reeve's different view of justice from both Knight and Miller: in KnT people get better than they deserve; in MilT they get what they deserve; in RvT they get worse than they deserve. The key to this justice is in lines 4181-82, and '[v]erbal innuendoes underscore the relationship of the two kinds of theft,' grinding meal being 'common fourteenth-century slang for sexual intercourse' (p 261). In CkT, the universe of RvT, which 'seems about as bad as a universe can g e t . . . was apparently to get still worse' (p 261). 'The tale was apparently to have dealt with total perversion of the tripartite human soul. The central character in the tale "haunteth dys . . . riot, or paramour" (439). Wisdom as the Knight understood i t . . . is reduced to blind dependence on chance (dice); irascibility is reduced to "riot" . . . and concupiscence, good or bad, is reduced to whoring' (p 261). [DJB] 395 Herzman, Ronald B. 'An Approach to the Miller's Tale and the Reeve's Tale.' EngR2$:2 (1977), 18-21,26. Traditional criticism shied away from the raw humour of Chaucer's fabliaux. However, this humour be can a useful aid to teaching in the classroom provided it is fitted 'within the larger contexts of Chaucer's pilgrimage in particular and medieval aesthetics in general, so that the humor can be seen in delicate balance with the high seriousness of Chaucer's larger purposes' (p 18). The inverted world of MilT and RvT is discussed in the light of examples of a manuscript illustration, medieval church carvings, and aspects of the work of St Augustine and St Paul. [References are primarily to RvT.] 'Augustine makes explicit the connection between flesh and spirit, old and new' within the context of RvT: 'Whether you live as an old man or a new man, whether you live according to the flesh or the spirit, defines whether your life is a true or a false pilgrimage' (p 20). 'For P a u l . . . oldness was not primarily a matter of chronology but of interior disposition' and the Reeve has the Pauline signs of age (p 19). The idea of age links to the religious imagery of the flour mill which sees the corn of the Old Testament ground to produce the flour of the New Testament. The notion of grinding also picks up the sexual imagery of RvT. [DPS] 396 Miller, Robert P. Chaucer: Sources and Backgrounds. New York: Oxford UP, 1977.

1327 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales A collection of extracts and illustrations to give background to study of Chaucer's works. Those related to MilT and RvTare in 'Medieval Literary Theory' (pp 39-89), 'Selected Narrative Sources' (pp 93-137), 'The Three Estates' (pp 153-253), 'Modes of Love' (pp 269-361), 'Marriage and the Good Woman' (pp 363-96) and' Antifeminist Tradition' (pp 397-469). [RCG] 397 Owen, Charles A., Jr. Pilgrimage and Story telling in the 'Canterbury Tales': The Dialectic of 'Ernest' and 'Game.' Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1977. 'The parallelism set up in the Knight's Tale is carried forward on two levels—in the Miller's Tale, where Nicholas and Absolon vie for Alisoun's favours and in the world of the pilgrimage, where the Miller and the Reeve fling stories rather than challenges at each other' (p 99). The Miller mocks the Knight through verbal echoes, eschews 'any pretense that love ennobles,' and in presenting 'a set of characters driven by instinct' (p 99) demonstrates 'a pleasure in "Goddes foyson" quite apart from the ulterior motives being served' (p 100). The centrality of Alison in MilT criticizes Emily in KnT; Alison is much more a presence than Emily, and the tale indicates the 'troubling impact she has on men' (p 101) by its inability to sustain proper description of her. The two lovers of MilT are in blatant contrast, unlike the subtlety of KnT; Nicholas and Absolon are contrasted as characters, and in their fates. 'The Miller opposes to the idealism of the Knight's Tale a crude realism . . . As Palamon and Arcite meet equivalent fates in the ideal world of chivalry, Nicholas and Absolon ignobly and unwittingly fight each other in a crudely realistic world and receive in their moment of contact equivalent checks' (p 104). MilT comments on learning through John's dread of the unknown and his opinion of scholars as impractical. In the end, his own superstitious ignorance outwits him, while his 'pride in handling practical details . . . makes it easy for Nicholas to brand him as the mad instigator of the precautions against flood' (p 106). 'The quarrel [of the Miller and Reeve] reflects a natural antipathy in their characters, and forms an unconscious extension of the parallelism set up in the Knight's Tale and consciously imitated in the Miller's' (p 105). The Miller 'lives in a world whose highest intellectual attainment is the practical joke' (p 106); the Reeve 'presents in his tale the world of spiritual corruption and economic manoeuvre in which he himself lives' (pp 106-7). 'To the frank sensuality of the Miller, he opposes a sapless and efficient hypocrisy' (p 107). Further, whereas John in MilT is concerned for others and the Miller delights in his humiliation because of this, Symkyn 'gives no occasion for divided feelings' but is an 'ignorantly presumptuous bully' (p 107). MilTs cruelty is contrasted with RvTs vindictiveness in its poetic justice. 'The Reeve understands what the Miller does not, the attractiveness of virtue to others' and is hence 'careful to make the ultimate victim of his

The Tales Together /133 tale the aggressor and the villain' (p 107). However, his acceptance of what he sees as a challenge from the Miller causes him to expose himself. The choice of a tale in which the young win out over avaricious elders places him, on account of his earlier discourse on old age, in Symkyn's camp. The young give the tale its life and amusement, but the clerks as heroes 'throw unintended reflections on their putative creator the Reeve' (p 109). Their sexual encounters please the 'colt's tooth' part of his mind, but reflect on the Reeve in that they are 'carried out in reprisal and compensation' (p 109). 'The Reeve imagines a world where sex is not so important as economics, and where the young, indistinguishable from one another except by name, run roughshod over their elders' (p 109). CkT demonstrates the emergence of a new pattern in the first day's events: 'the chivalry of the Knight's Tale with its abstract idealism, balanced by a realistic triptych of life in the town, life in the country, and life in the city, giving threefold and intensifying reiteration to the themes of betrayal and deception.' (p 110). [DJB] • Review by Earl F. Guy, ArielE 9:2 (1978), 94-7: Owen perceives a two way journey. The 'analysis of the tales deals with the art of story-telling, characterization, and self-revelation on the part of the pilgrim narrators' (p96). • Review by A.C. Spearing, A^€48 (1979), 142-6: 'In the fabliaux particularly, many points of interest are noted for the first time. Owen observes how, in The Miller's Tale, both the portrait of Alisoun and the account of Nicholas's first approach to her convey sex-appeal heightened by a show of repression' (p 145). • Review by Robert P. Miller, ELN 17 (1979-80), 48-51: Owen's analysis of effect is 'often exquisite' (p 50), but we do not 'sense the pleasure and delight of the artist in playing such literary games' (p 51). 398 Patterson, Lee W. 'The "Parson's Tale" and the Quitting of the "Canterbury Tales.'" Traditio 34 (1978), 331-80. 'The total effect. . . of the Miller's Tale on the Knight's is to suggest that the Knight's Boethian wisdom is as much a function of his class consciousness as are his preferred ways of making love and war' (p 374). 'The festivity in which [the tale-telling game] began and by which it has been sustained has by this time [ManP&T] degenerated into the Bacchic excesses of the Cook, and the balancing pressure of a larger vision, never granted its full scope throughout the course of the tales, is now reduced to the querulous cynicism of the Manciple' (p 378). [DJB] 399 Rowland, Beryl. 'Distance and Authentication in Chaucer's Comic Tales.' In Epopee animale, fable et fabliau. Ed. Nico van den Boogard and Jean de Caluwe. MRom 28 (1978), 199-206.

134 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

400

401 402

403

The audience of a fabliau 'must view with detachment the protagonists' involvement in themes of deceit and greed,' achieved by presentation with 'minimal characterization, without sympathy and usually with little psychological insight' (p 200). Authentication is given in details of setting and dialogue, and Chaucer conveys personality 'mainly through dialogue and incident' (p 203). Rowland gives examples from MilT and RvT, and refers to 'a very sophisticated form of ironic counterpointing from tale to tale' (p 204) in verbal echoes and implications in KnTand the fabliau tales. Alison and Nicholas give a parody of the Annunciation, and Absolon one of the Canticle of Canticles. The fabliau-like tales are 'affected by circumstance, interests, and character of the purported narrator'; MilT parodies KnT, and RvT is 'an angry response'; CkT 'would have presumably "quited" Harry Bailly' (p 205). In the fabliau 'the emphasis [is] on the humorous reversal, the punishment arising from the outwitting. Chaucer shifts the focus to show flawed characters who make that outwitting possible, and even just' (p 206). [RCG] Caluwe"-Dor, Juliette de. 'Le Diable dans les Contes de Cantorbery; Contribution a 1'etude semantique du terme Devil.'' In Le Diable cm Moyen Age: Doctrine, Problemes moraux, Representations. Paris, 1979. Pp 97116. Notes references to devil in M//riines 3134 and 3713, and in RvTin lines 3903 and 4257. [DJB] Clogan, Paul M. 'Chaucer and Leigh Hunt.' M&H9 (1979), 163-74. MilT and RvT are among tales which are 'conspicuous by their absence' from Hunt's selections from Chaucer (p 166). [DJB] Miskimin, Alice. 'The Illustrated Eighteenth-Century Chaucer.' MP 77 (1979), 26-55. Miskimin notes that Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal for 1801-3 records her reading aloud from KnT, MLT, and M//rfrom the edition of Robert Anderson (1793, 1794; reprinted London 1814). The plates of Mortimer, published in a quarto edition of Tyrwhitt (1787; reprinted London 1798) 'stress the fabliaux and the supernatural' (p 47), including MilT, RvT, and the Cook. [DJB] Strohm, Paul. 'Form and Social Statement in Confessio Amantis and The Canterbury Tales.' SAC 1 (1979), 17-40. The Miller's refusal to stand aside for the Monk in the telling order is an example of a 'basic strategy, in which persons or groups thrust themselves into established situations, [and which] is constantly repeated, both in the overall ordering of tales . . . and within individual tales (as the young knights of The Knight's Tale, the clerks of The Miller's and Reeve's Tales, and the lecherous squires of The Merchant's and Franklin's Tales set their valid or invalid claims against sanctioned and established orders)' (p 31).

The Tales Together/135 In the context of discussion of Chaucer's uses of'[the] conventionallyaccepted fiction that gentils especially enjoyed such elevated tales as romances and that cherles reveled in fabliaux,'' Strohm notes that 'the Miller's occasional condescension toward his country characters betrays a complicated and courtly attitude which could hardly have been his own' (p 34). [DJB] 404 Justman, Stewart. 'Literal and Symbolic in The Canterbury Tales.' ChauR 14(1979-80), 199-214. Chaucer is one of a number of medieval thinkers who breaks with the analogical or symbolic view of reality, and Justman examines evidence in Chaucer's work, with brief references to MilTand RvT. 'The Miller says he has a tale about a carpenter and his wife, who the reader at once assumes stand for—symbolize—Joseph and Mary. What other carpenter and wife team was there? In fact they stand for no one, or old John is a brutal parody of Joseph of the Cherry-Tree Carol—demythologizing in either case. In this tale . . . Absolon's dream "signe" is fulfilled ironically; in an instance of "anti-typology" . . . a "plowshare" is turned into a "sword"; and the water for which Nicholas calls has no "higher" significance, no sacred associations whatsoever, even though old John has been gulled into believing that it does: it is just lower-case water. Apparently the Miller has little regard for symbolism, as he has little respect for the authority of the Host' (p 205). 'When Aleyn . . . cites a "lawe that says thus, / That gif a man in a point be agreved, / That in a another he sal be releved" (A 4180-82), he subverts both senses of the word "code." In that he ignores the distinction between "personal" violence and "higher," authorized violence, he shows a poor grasp of the symbolic function; in that his legal maxim establishes no formal correspondence whatever between crime and punishment, it can hardly be part of a system of controls. As is clear in the context of the Reeve's Tale, this "lawe" annuls law' (p 204). 'Any tale, as a verbal structure, is by nature symbolic, and in this sense transcends experience. On the Canterbury pilgrimage, though, many tales do not transcend experience by much. The Reeve takes the Miller's Tale to heart as a personal slight and tells a tale in which he has a miller cuckolded. This "fictional" miller excels at "piping" and wrestling, like Robin the Canterbury Miller. Since there are only so many pipe-playing miller-wrestlers, it is fair to assume that the Reeve has Robin the "real" Miller in mind' (p 209). [DPS] 404A Brewer, Derek. "Chaucer." Symbolic Stories. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1980; New York and London: Longman: 1988. Pp 92-99. The emphasis upon surface realism, rather than on the symbolic world of pattern, separates Chaucer from many of his contemporaries. While the unconscious designs associated with the family drama and its tensions run

1367 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales through MilT and RvT, ultimately Chaucer's emphasis falls upon the protagonists' actions and experiences in themselves, and not upon latent traditional structures. [TGH] 405 Lawler, Traugott. The One and the Many in the Canterbury Tales. Hamden, CT:Archon, 1980. The book focuses on 'the complementary relationship in the Canterbury Tales between unity and diversity, oneness and multiplicity—between the one and the many' (p 15). One such site of diversity, professionalism, is an important key to understanding relationships between tales. In ShT, MilT and RvT, 'the plot is domestic, not professional, and yet professional characteristics and professional trick have their place' (p 41). Thus, 'the students' domestic revenge in the Reeve's Tale is their response to the miller's professional trick; and Nicholas in the Miller's Tale, in carrying out his domestic purpose, capitalizes on the fact that John is away on business, and makes use not only of his own skill as meteorologist but also of John's as carpenter' (p 41). The relationship between 'the one and the many,' provides the basis for a number of additional references to MilT, RvT and CkT. [DPS] • Review by Robert B. Burlin, Speculum, 56 (1981), 630-1: although the study suffers from 'an unfortunately limited conception of his poet and indeed of poetry in general, he is certainly to be commended for neither inflating his claims nor exaggerating the scope of his method' (p 631). • Review by Cecily Clark, ES 64 (1983), 92-3: finds the central thesis satisfying, although there is some inconsistent blurring of the historical focus, which may 'undeservedly, undermine the reader's trust' (p 93). 406 Allen, Judson Boyce and Theresa Anne Moritz. A Distinction of Stories: The Medieval Unity of Chaucer's Fair Chain of Narratives for Canterbury. Columbus OH: Ohio State UP, 1981. References are made to RvT, MilT and CkT in the context of an argument that the ordering of the tales within C7and its form in general may be better understood by an examination of the 'medieval analyses of the form of the Metamorphoses'1 (p ix). CT is treated as a collection of exempla and the tales of Fragment I demonstrate 'perhaps more explicitly than anywhere else in Chaucer's work, the operation of justice' (p 121). 'The Miller's Tale is a rich, complex answer to the Knight's Tale; the Reeve's Tale is a vulgarized looking-glass image of the Theseus, Palamon, and Arcite struggle'(p 130). [DPS] 407 Chamberlain, David. 'Musical Signs and Symbols in Chaucer: Convention and Originality.' In Signs and Symbols in Chaucer's Poetry. Ed. John P. Hermann and John J. Burke Jr. University, AL: U of Alabama P, 1981. Pp 43-80.

The Tales Together 7137

408

409

410

411

In CkT 'music is a conventional but vivid sign of riot or debauchery' (p 54). Melodye in Mill undergoes a 'subtle mutation' from 'a seemingly virtuous literal sign . . . to a wholly erotic figurative sign' (p 54). There are references also to MilT 3213-6,3305-6,3650-6,3360-3. RvT 4162-72 continue the 'thematic symbol' of debased melodye (p 72). [DPS] Payne, F. Anne. Chaucer and Menippean Satire. Wisconsin: U of Wisconsin P, 1981. Payne makes brief references to MilT and RvT and the 'dialogical' relationships within them: 'Nicholas and John in the Miller's Tale, the clerks and the miller in the Reeve's Tale... The first member of each of the pairs is intent upon establishing an antithetical point of view for the second member' (p 32). MilT 'hits high style and raises issues that a simple fabliau somehow ought not to' (p 32). [DPS] Burchfield, Robert. 'Realms and Approximations: Sources of Chaucer's Power.' E&S n.s.35(1982), 1-13. Burchfield notes the verisimilitude of some aspects of MilT and RvT, briefly referring to kymelyn (362\),jubbe (3628), the use of the name Bayard in RvT, the Angelus ad Virginem sung by Nicholas and the 'interior of John's house [which] can be more or less reconstructed .. . when . . . set against surviving descriptions of houses of the period in Oxford' (p 6). However, in general Chaucer is less concerned with such accuracy of detail 'than with the approximations to reality which made up the normal poetical kit of a poet of the fourteenth century' (p 6). [DPS] Ruggiers, Paul G. 'Platonic Forms in Chaucer.' ChauR 17 (1982-3), 36681. In a Platonic context Ruggiers considers four themes which 'permeate Chaucer's poetry': eating and drinking; sexuality and love; play and seriousness; and the making of art (p 367), with brief references to MilT and RvT. 'In the fabliaux . .. eating and drinking are seen as elemental, ordinary functions (in the Reeve's Tale, eating and drinking produce their own afflatus)' (p 369). MilT particularly exemplifies 'mankind surrendering to sexual passions.' In RvT 'human passion is seen as a retaliatory act, a pawn in the workings of justice, sheer human instinctual vigor asserting its strength over the crabbed rationality of the colder, older miller and his wife'(p 371). [DPS] Boyd, Heather. 'Fragment A of the "Canterbury Tales": Character, Figure and Trope.' ESA 26 (1983), 77-97. Boyd discusses MilT and RvT in terms of their rhetorical devices and how Chaucer 'uses rhetoric structurally in order to give colour, tone and individuality to the characters of the pilgrims and hence to their tales' (p 77). MilT is a counter to KnT, and RvT 'is still on the outer edge of the great rhetorical shadow cast by the Knight' (p 94). Boyd notes references

13 8 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales to animals and music in MilT, RvTand KnT. What remains ofCkT 'shows that this was to be yet another variation of the already established pattern of two young men and a girl' (p 95). [DPS] 412 Cooper, Helen. The Structure of the Canterbury Tales. London: Duckworth, 1983. Rpt Athens: U of Georgia?, 1984. Cooper makes a number of references to MilT, RvTand CkT. She discusses MilT as a parody of KnT, noting an 'essential similarity of plot' (p 227) and imagery between KnT, MilT, MerTand FranT. 'It would seem much more likely that Chaucer had the two tales [M//rand RvT] in mind as a pair—one Oxford student sleeps with one woman, two Cambridge students sleep with two—than that he looked for the tales dramatically appropriate to the Miller and the Reeve' (p 117). Details of plot, genre and characterization are compared to show how the two tales interact. [DPS] • Review by A.J. Minnis, EIC 35 (1985), 265-9: admires the sensitive criticism of early chapters, and 'the admirable clarity of its style. When it fails to satisfy this is usually not because the author has failed to recognise certain avenues of approach, but rather because she has not gone down them far enough' (p 269). • Review by Charles A. Owen, Jr., SAC 1 (1985), 178-80: notes the basis of important ideas, and finds that the book 'occasionally breaks new ground but does not carry out its own plan with sufficient rigor and depth' ( p i 80.) • Review by Paul G. Ruggiers, Speculum 60 (1985), 958-9: the book allows Cooper 'to have both form and formlessness, episodic structure and thematic coherence and enables her to define a work that is simultaneously incomplete and successfully finished' (p 959). 413 Traversi, Derek. The Canterbury Tales: A Reading. Newark: U of Delaware P, 1983. Ch 4 (pp 62-88) is devoted to RvTand MilT. MilT serves to contrast and balance KnT and provides 'for the recognition of other human needs and for the release of tensions which so much concentration on high-minded abstraction might otherwise foster' (p 67). Traversi discusses the plot of MilT as it parallels that of KnT. Absolon is made to appear 'ridiculous' and with him the courtly poetic values he follows (p 73); his 'revenge on Nicholas rounds off the pattern of compensating "fates" which the tale has so effectively traced... for if there is to be a "moral" to this story it can only be that each of its male principals gets in the end precisely what he deserves' (p 81). RvT'marks a further stage in the descent into disorder which is so palpably subverting the original seemliness of the Host's declared plan . . . it contrives both to reflect further upon the idealism of The Knights's Tale and to subject to a qualifying "realism" the exuberant display of comic invention just displayed by the Miller' (p 83). [DPS]

The Tales Together/139 414 Andreas, James R. 'The Rhetoric of Chaucerian Comedy: The Aristotelian Legacy.' Comparatist 8 (1984), 56-66. Andreas examines CT 'in the light o f . . . Aristotelian poetic theory' (p 58). The action of Aristotelian comedy is more superficial and less serious than that of tragedy (p 59). In MilT, lines 3806-10 'Chaucer deliberately exploits and parodies heroic, military terminology in relating the pranks of his two boisterous young clerks' (p 59). The description of Alison (MilT lines 3233-4, 3244-6, 3259-60) 'is delivered in the erotic and animalian context of comedy and is in no way intended to evoke the moral censure of the reader/listener of the tale' (p 64). [DPS] 415 Brewer, Derek. ' Chaucer and Arithmetic.' In Medieval Studies Conference Aachen 1983: Language and Literature. Ed. Wolf-Dietrich Bald and Horst Weinstock. Bamberger Beitrage zur Englischen Sprachwissenschaft 15. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1984. Pp 111-19. Brewer briefly refers to MilTand RvT(pp 115-6). MilTis the 'bawdy counterpart' to KnTand relies on an 'astronomical joke': 'the extraordinary richness of reference in this poem is based on the astrological deceit of the carpenter-husband' (p 115). RvT 'has a similar joke made by an ignorant man against the learned' (pp 115-6). There are references to RvT 4122-4 (p 116). [DPS] 416 . An Introduction to Chaucer. London: Longmans, 1984. A brief summary with commentary is given for MilT(pp 177-80), RvT(pp 180-4) and CkT(p 184). Brewer notes the care and detail of the description of character and location in MilT, and the tale's complexity when compared to the other known versions, RvT is 'an extraordinarily concrete and syntactically simple piece of story-telling' (p 183). CkT seems 'to be starting that comedy of City life which Chaucer could have written so well' (p 184). [DPS] 417 . 'Structures and Character Types of Chaucer's Popular Comic Tales' In Chaucer: The Poet as Storyteller. London: Macmillan, 1984. Pp 80-89. First published in Estudios sobre los generos literarios /, ed. Javier Coy and Javier de Hoz. [384] 418 Hussey, Stanley S. 'Chaucer and Character.' Aachen 1983. Ed. WolfDietrich Bald and Horst Weinstock. Pp 121-30. See 415. Examines character within MilTand finds Absolon to be 'an amalgam of different features' and the subject of 'real development' (p 123). Hussey refers to MilT 3685-6. RvT, lines 3883-5 and 3889-94, show that the Reeve has 'a rare capacity in a medieval character, disappointed and baffled, to stand back and observe himself (p 127). [DPS] 419 Kolve, V.A. Chaucer and the Imagery of Narrative: the First Five Canterbury Tales. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1984.

140 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales Focuses 'upon the imagery of the narrative' (p 2) in the light of the 'symbolic traditions current in the visual arts of the later Middle Ages' (p 1), with many references to medieval art, and 175 black and white illustrations. Chapters deal with MilT(pp 158-216), RvT(pp 217-56) and CkT—with the introduction to MLT—(pp 297-358). Chaucer abandons the 'hierarchical use of imagery... [and]... creates what might be called instead a "field image" in something like its modern sense: a tapestry of bird, beast, and flower similes without discernible symbolic center' (p 5). 'In contrast to The Knight's Tale version of the world as palace/prison or prison/garden, both ultimately places of the spirit's captivity, the Miller invites us into a world of open streets and (through simile) country farmyards, where man's freedom and accountability are like those of the animals: consequence follows cause, not in eternity, but here and now, and in scale with his capacities' (p 215). In MilT, 'Chaucer celebrates . . . the possible sovereignty of comic order within the world of daily life, a world temporarily—by an act of imaginative exclusion—unshadowed by Last Things. The tale moves towards adjustment, not judgement, with an audacity fully the equal of its grace' (p 216). In RvTChaucer is 'interested . . . in what happens to the hieratic image when its claims are subordinated to those of the individual human consciousness—when a prejudicial vision of experience is allowed to manipulate for its own purposes the imagery of Truth' (pp 5-6). The Reeve obeys the Host's command not to sermonize, and 'his tale, in its two central actions, is as ribald and comic as any of its sources or analogues. But the laughter has a certain edge, a darker side . . . The Reeve will requite the Host as well as the Miller in the way he plays the game' (p 233). Kolve considers some of the associations for the medieval mind between horses and lechery, and relates these to the release of the horses in RvT. 'Symkyn's wife is temporarily released from the confines of her marriage. .. and from the tedium of that marriage as w e l l . . . . The daughter too—unwed at twenty because of the family's preposterous pride—is at long last released from an oppressive chastity; she runs in those libidinous pastures freely and with joy'(p 251). The 'pictorial evidence' of CA;ris used 'to speculate on what The Cook's Tale might have added to the sequence' (p 6). Kolve discusses medieval representations of the Devil which use the imagery of the kitchen, 'the boiling caldron and ladle, the fleshhook and flashing knives' (p 261); the Cook's personality contains, to a certain measure, elements of vice in that he is 'drunken, slovenly, (and) incoherent' (p 263). 'What most interested Chaucer in The Cook's Tale . . . was the self-conscious appropriation of moral values by a rising, trade-oriented middle class, and their compromised expression by Roger of Ware, cook of London, whose divided allegiance seems likely to constitute a subtext to the tale he tells . . .

The Tales Together/141 Against the bourgeois values of trade are ranged the values of the body and its pleasure . . . [CkT\, had it been completed, is likely to have demonstrated yet another compromised way in which narrative poetry can relate to truth' (p 279). Kolve is opposed to the view in which 'readers are asked to understand the Cook's incompletion as concluding the morning's tale telling, or (more misleading still) the pilgrimage's first day' (p 284). 'The accident of the Cook's incompletion should not be read as an element in the larger artistic design. It is not mimetic'(p 285). [DPS] • Review by J.A. Burrow, EIC 35 (1985), 76-82: 'the author brings all his subtlety and intelligence to bear on an artist himself both intelligent and subtle; and the result... is one of the best books on a medieval writer to appear in recent times. .. His book is richly documented and illustrated, and it is composed in a grave but pointed style of great elegance' (p 76). • Review by Richard K. Emmerson and Ronald B. Herzman, SAC1 (1985), 212-18: questions the consistency of Kolve's use of terminology, finding that '[a]s a well-written study which keeps the attention of its reader throughout, Chaucer and the Imagery of Narrative is highly successful. As an interpretation that adds significant new light to our understanding of Chaucer and his relationship to the visual arts, the book must be judged to be considerably less successful' (p 217). 420 Mandel, Jerome. 'Courtly Love in the Canterbury Tales' ChauR 19 (1984-5), 277-89. Courtly love may be dismissed from CT, except in the first fragment, where 'all but the Knight's Tale depict the decayed state of courtly love among the lower classes' (p 282). CkThas the characteristic triangular structure. In ^vronly Aleyn 'uses the language of courtly love—not to win his lady's favor but, in a typically Chaucerian comic inversion, to separate from her' (p 282). The characters' motives and behaviour are generally unlike 'the implicit ideals of courtly love' (p 283). MilTis intended to parody KnTand the conventions of courtly love, in language rather than behaviour. The language of Nicholas and Absolon is elevated, courtly and empty, but Alison's is 'down-to-earth, unadorned, without a single metaphor or simile' (p 284). The contrast 'points up the discrepancy between the courtly and the real—to the detriment of courtly love' (p 284). MilThas no courtly love. Since it is 'not central' (p 286) to KnT, 'there is no courtly love in the Canterbury Tales' (p287). [RCG] 421 Peck, Russell A. 'Biblical Interpretation: St. Paul and The Canterbury Tales' In Chaucer and Scriptural Tradition. Ed. David Lyle Jeffrey. Ottawa: U of Ottawa P, 1984. Pp 143-70. Peck makes brief reference to MilTand RvT, and the 'problem of correct interpretation' (p 146). In MilT 'Nicholas pretends to read signs in the heavens and Absolon [glosses] the itching of his mouth'; and in /?v7"Mrs

142 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales Symkyn and Aleyne misread in the darkness what they thought was a certain sign, namely the cradle with its "propre page'" (p 146). [DPS] 422 Ruggiers, Paul G. ed. Editing Chaucer: The Great Tradition. Norman, OK: Pilgrim, 1984. A collection of twelve essays, introduced by Ruggiers, each discussing one of Chaucer's editors: Caxton (pp 13-34); Thynne (pp 35-52); Stow (pp 5370); Speght (pp 71-92); Urry (pp 93-115); Tyrwhitt (pp 117-43); Wright (pp 145-56); Furnivall(pp 157-69); Skeat(pp 171-89); Root(pp 191-205); Manly and Rickert (pp 207-29); and Robinson (pp 230-51). In this context there are a number of references to MilT and RvT. [DPS] 423 Sklute, Larry. Virtue of Necessity: Inconclusiveness and Narrative Form in Chaucer's Poetry. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1984. A view ofMUTas a parody is supported by the characterizations of Alison and Absolon; the identity of the latter recalls 'courtly effeminacy' and that of the former 'the barnyard' (p 101). MilT contrasts and parodies KnT: 'Two idealistically loving knights trying to win a royal, bloodlessly virginal lady become . . . two libidinously driven clerks who seek to bed a lusty married wench; a mature, wise conquerer, a builder of civilization . . . becomes a foolish, old husband who builds circular tubs to serve as arks . . . The window of the Knight's Tale, through which Palamon and Arcite view Emily and hence are laid low by love, is transposed down . . . to the window of the carpenter's wall through which both Nicholas and Absolon are laid low' (p 129). RvT reflects more than the occupation and class of its teller, and the tension between the Reeve and Miller: 'It incorporates as well the anger and self-hatred at being old and impotent that the Reeve's prologue raises from implicit indications in his portrait in the General Prologue. Oswald's attitude turns a simple fabliau plot into a dark, mean, and cruel story about vengeance, self-hatred, and bestial sexuality that punishes Oswald for a condition he cannot abide in himself, a condition not relevant to Robin the Miller, as he has been presented to us, and not explained by a vice typologically expected of a Reeve' (p 116). OT has the theme of adultery in common with ManT, and might also have had that of talking too much. [DPS] 424 Wood, Chauncey. 'Artistic Intention and Chaucer's Uses of Scriptural Allusion.' In Chaucer and Scriptural Tradition. Ed. David Lyle Jeffrey. Pp 35-46. See 421. MilT, 'a story about a false Noah's Flood,' is 'told on April 17—the traditional date of the biblical flood'; Nicholas, Absolon and John are punished by an 'absence of water rather than the excess of it' (p 42). Chaucer's medieval audience 'thought of the flood as having been sent to punish the very sin that is so rampant' in MilT(p 42).

The Tales Together /143 /Jvriines 3867-82 is related to Luke 7.32 and the 'Reeve's enthusiasm for carnality even when his potency is fading makes him an embodiment of Paul's old man of the flesh who is contrasted with the new man of the spirit (Ephesians 4.22-4)'(p 41). [DPS] 424A Brewer, Derek. "The International Medieval Popular Comic Tale in England." The Popular Literature of Medieval England, ed. Thomas J. Heffernan. Tennessee Studies in Literature, vo!28. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1985. Pp 130-47. A survey of this vernacular narrative mode makes clear the links of MilTand RvTto the structural elements of widely known stories. Despite the striking intellectual features that Chaucer builds into the tales, their lack of any written sources and the presence of many analogues confirm their connection to popular traditions. [TGH] 425 Condren, Edward I. 'Transcendent Metaphor or Banal Reality: Three Chaucerian Dilemmas.' PLL21 (1985), 233-57. Condren refers to MilT(3213-15,3303-6) and Nicholas's sawtrie: 'One would be naive indeed to see only a stringed instrument in Nicholas's "hende" hand. He is, in a word, as handy with himself as with his landlord's wife'(p 236). There is brief reference to RvTand the Northern speech of the students. 'Mistaking the rustic speech of the bumpkins as an invitation to chisel a sack of flour, the real lout loses to quaint justice a country prize greater than grain' (p 234). Chaucer's irony is built upon 'Symkyn's anti-intellectualism' (4050,4096-7,4122-6), 'self-satisfaction,' and 'colossal stupidity' (p 234). This irony is part of Chaucer's 'favorite theme: man's simultaneous transcendence and absurdity; the lofty inclination arising from abysmal venality'(P235). [DPS] 426 Pearsall, Derek. The Canterbury Tales. Unwin Critical Library. London: Allen and Unwin, 1985. A full length study of CT with numerous references to individual tales and lines. The chapter 'Comic Tales and Fables' (pp 166-243) deals with Mill (pp 171-83), RvT (pp 183-92) and C*r(pp 192-3). Here '"[rjealism" is not in question, only the conspiracy into which we enter in any fiction, and through which we expect many slanting lights to be thrown upon reality, and some aid, invigoration, enrichment or shock to be given to our perceptions of the world around us' (p 167). We must accept that Chaucer was not responsible for the ordering of the tales as they have come down to us, but '[t]he integrity and position of Fragment I . . . is undisputed' (p 15). The group is a mature work and 'may well be a late development' (p 15). The Miller violates accepted social order by telling his tale after the Knight, and his argument with the Reeve has the effect of setting up the third tale to follow. The low comedy of the tale allocated to the Miller is 'a dramatic

144 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales device so plausible, so flattering to the expectations of rank, that it seems natural... It is in fact a remarkable innovation' (pp 171-2). Lines3137-40, 3163-6,3228 excuse the Miller for the tone of his tale but also distance Chaucer and allow 'full scope to his verbal wit and dramatic imagination' (p 172). Parallels between MilT and KnT are discussed (pp 172-3). Mill does not 'undercut the idealism' of KnT nor is it more essentially 'realistic' (p 173), and MilThas courtly elements. 'In his treatment of the characters . . . Chaucer blends a tempting realism within an overall structure of fantasy'; the one exception to this is in 'the density of detail of town and domestic life'(pi 82). The Reeve 'has no great love for his fellow-men, and wishes to be separated from and singled out from them' (p 183-184). While 'the Miller spoke generally and quite genially, hardly at all about himself. . . The Reeve . . . speaks entirely about himself, and provokes a concentration upon himself as a person which is bound to have an effect upon the way we regard his Tale' (p 184). Pearsall refers to lines 3869-80 and 3891-5, and the Reeve's self-description of his 'physically rotten' state and the decline of his 'sexual potency' (p 184). He emphasizes the influence of the Reeve's personality on the tale's subject matter and consequent contrast in tone between RvTand MilT. RvTis far removed 'from the carefree lyricism of M/r(pl89). Rv/"prompts' the Cook's 'spontaneous intervention' (p 192). The dialogue between Harry Bailly and the Cook contains 'some allusion . . . to a traditional enmity between innkeepers and cooks, who were in competition for the same trade' (p 192). 'It may be that it [CkT] was left accidentally unfinished' but it may also be that Chaucer saw the danger of excessive repetition and 'the tunnel that realism might go into' (p 193). [DPS] 427 Schuman, Samuel. The Link Mechanism in the Canterbury Tales.' ChauR 20 (1985-6), 200-206. Chaucer uses a linking mechanism at several levels ofCT. It is found in statements related so that an intermediate reference is linked to those before and after, as consequence and introduction, in sentences which are 'almost grammatical, as opposed to semantic, "puns'" (p 201). Connections between the tales are illustrated by the first three, each involving two young men and a young woman protected by an older man. 'The Miller's Tale is a bawdy version of the Knight's Tale. The Reeve's Tale is a nasty version of the Miller's Tale'(p 204). [RCG] 428 Sell, Roger D. 'Politeness in Chaucer: Suggestions towards a Methodology for Pragmatic Stylistics.' 57V 57 (1985), 175-185. There are 'certain stylistic tendencies in Chaucer's presentational politeness as a whole: Chaucer clearly marks the beginnings and ends of speeches; he often tells the audience where the story is leading in advance; he explains

The Tales Together/145 difficult words or points of detail' (p 176). It is necessary to consider the significance of variations from this standard, such as occur in MilT(p 176), which 'is certainly as far as any other successful story from observing absolute politeness' (p 177). 'Presentational politeness can . . . be assessed with the help of statistics' (p 178): a comparison is given of the total number of lines/ number of paragraphs/ average number of lines per paragraph/ the use of 'this/thise + (adj) noun in the first couplet of each paragraph/ and metatextual comment in the first couplet before or/and after each paragraph division' for KnT, MilTand RvT(p 179). MilTand RvT, 'which are so much more abrupt than "The Knight's Tale" in topic shifts, also have twice that tale's percentage of paragraphinitial couplets containing "this/thise" plus (adjective) noun. This may be partly suggestive of dialect speech, adding to the impression of lively colloquiality appropriate for both the genre and the particular tellers. But also it obviously acts as a foregrounding device, its deixis directing the reader's attention to the most important word as nearest at hand' (p 181). MilT 'proves to make the most daring trade-off between, on the one hand, presentational cooperativeness and selectional deference and, on the other hand, force of impact' (p 182). [See Sell 619 for a discussion of literary pragmatics and some of its associated terms.] [DPS] 429 Siegel, Marsha. 'What the Debate Is and Why it Founders in Fragment A of The Canterbury Tales: SP 82 (1985), 1-24. 'Fragment A introduces structural principles that characterize the entire work: thematic relationships among paired tales, and dramatic interaction among the pilgrims,' (p 1), which may not be immediately clear. Siegel argues that 'the subject of Fragment A is a failed quest for truth and that the quest fails less because of the inherent difficulty of the enterprise than because the personal animosity of the Reeve and the crude enthusiasms of the Cook blind them to the very nature of the debate the first two tales begin' (p 1). In MilT, 'the intelligence represented by Nicholas is the supreme value in a world accessible to human inquiry and manipulable to suit human ends' (p 2). This claim is demonstrated as follows: the trick played by Nicholas has no pragmatic or dramatic justification and 'must be explained in other than dramatic terms' (pp 2-3); Nicholas's scalding represents his 'victory,' not his 'come-uppance'; lastly, 'Nicholas's activities are important because they articulate the assumptions of the tale's style' (p 3). MilT 'stipulates that there are no causes other than the physical and the psychological' and this explains why 'an exponent of the Miller's Tale's philosophy declines to inquire into "Goddes pryvetee" (3164,3454)... [because] even should it exist, it remains impertinent to the conduct and understanding of human affairs' (p 5).

146 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales RvT'does not portray sexuality, at least for human beings, as a good independent of other considerations' (p 17). The 'plans' of RvTs characters 'misfire,' and the tale 'portrays accidental judgments and purposes mistook, and since its characters are all stupid or foolish, one finds not tragedy, but farce' (p 18). 'From a philosophical point of view [RvT] is not of the same order as the two tales that precede it'; this shift in values is attributed to the Reeve's 'desire for vengeance' (p 19). The conflict between personal considerations and subjectivism on the one hand, and 'philosophy, religion, and aesthetics' (p 23) on the other, is stated in Fragment I and explored in the 'vast middle' of CT(p 24). CkT continues the theme ofquiting begun by RvT, and sees the end of the philosophical debate begun by KnTand MilT(pp 19-20). [DPS] 430 Weiss, Alexander. Chaucer's Native Heritage. New York: Lang, 1985. Chaucer's care in introducing MilT and warning of its content 'is indicative of his attitude toward his art' (p 88). 'The truth for Chaucer is not just some abstract concept. Rather, it is an active principle, the recognition of which can be beneficial to us and guide us to a better life' (p 89). MilT, RvT and Curare among a handful of tales in CT clearly set in fourteenth-century England (pi 2). [DPS] 431 Aers, David. Chaucer. Harvester New Readings. Brighton: Harvester; Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press International Inc., 1986. Aers relates MilT to KnT, since 'it is carefully organised to parallel and echo the Knight's Tale, structurally, thematically and in verbal details' (p 82). Eg Absolon is compared to Palamon, but is 'absurdly uncourtly' (p 83) in his need to sleep and sweat; his language imitates the courtly, clashing with Alison's. Chaucer's writing shows that '[b]oth the high courtly idiom and its inept imitation objectivise the woman into an assortment of desirable "bits'" (p 84). The conclusion comments on courtly modes by evoking 'their similarity to the down-town version of them while also suggesting central areas of our embodied living that they consistently obscure and sublimate'(p 85). [RCG] 432 Benson, C. David. Chaucer's Drama of Style: Poetic Variety and Contrast in the Canterbury Tales. Chapel Hill, NC: U of North Carolina P, 1986. To describe the style of various tales, Benson uses 'the metaphor of the "many poets" because it emphasizes just how far Chaucer goes to create a distinct and consistent artistry for each tale' (p 20-21). In Ch 4, 'The First Two Poets of the Canterbury Tales' (pp 65-88), he compares the Knight and Miller and their tales, considering 'The Artistic Dialectic of the First Two Tales' with aspects of'Narrative Voice' (pp 72-5), 'Character Portraits' (pp 75-9), 'Speech' (pp 79-82), and 'Allusions, Imagery, and Vocabulary' (pp 82-4), and The Thematic Dialectic of the First Two Tales' (pp 85-8). The juxtaposition of the two tales gives contrasts in style and diction through

The Tales Together /147 the pace of narration and varying use of words and concepts in the tales, eg in the opening lines, when characters and ideas of marriage are introduced (pp 67-9), and in the unexpected falls near the ends of the stories (p 70). Such poetry 'calls special attention to the way in which it is told' (p 70). The styles of narration differ, and although that of KnT resembles the Knight, 'the cool, superior narrator of the Miller's Tale is nothing like the drunken Miller' (p 75). The portraits of Emily and Alison exemplify the differences in description. The formal monologues of KnT differ from 'the rapid, witty dialogue' (p 79) of MilT, the latter being 'tricky, manipulative and intended primarily to deceive' (p 81). The allusions of MilT are 'more frequent... more contemporary and literary' (p 83). Each tale comments on the other, and '[t]he fabliau demonstrates what it would be like if the nobility celebrated by the romance were completely absent—a cruel, harsh world almost devoid of kindness or affection, let alone love' (p 87). Ch 5, 'Variety and Contrast in Chaucer's Fabliaux' (pp 89-130), compares M//rand RvT. The first two fabliaux differ 'radically and consistently' (p 90), and 'the most interesting action is not the dramatic confrontation of pilgrims, but the literary variety and drama of their tales' (p 91). Benson notes 'Contrasting Passages' (pp 91-3), particularly opening lines and wooing scenes. 'Portraits and Narrator' (pp 93-6) compares and contrasts the 'fundamentally different literary strategies' (p 93) of style and tone. RvT has a 'hostile, sarcastic style of narration' (p 94), with 'careful attention to the realities of the world' (p 95). 'Imagery and Literary Allusion' (pp 96-8) reveals RvTs 'deliberate lack of literary reference' (p 96), and describes the parting speeches of Aleyn and Malyne as 'an anti-aube, the deliberate negation of the real thing, rather than true parody' (p 96). RvThas more proverbs than MilT, and a few limited, belittling images, 'in sharp contrast to the variety and vivacity of imagery in the Miller's Tale' (p 98). The 'complex northern vocabulary' (p 98) is examined in 'Language' (pp 98-9), and its special uses in 'Direct Speech and Dialogue' (pp 99-101), which contrasts the 'flat conversational tones of real life' in RvTv/ith the 'courtly parody, puns, fantasies and wit of the Miller's Tale' (p 100). In RvT, comedy comes 'by mixing realistic, colloquial speech with violent action' (p 101). Comparisons are concluded in 'Literary and Thematic Contrasts in Chaucer's First Two Fabliaux' (pp 101-4), where RvT is seen as 'not merely a pale imitation of the Miller's Tale' (p 101), but rather a corrective and 'an attack on the fabliau from within' (p 102). MilT and RvT are occasionally compared with ShTand MerTin the other sections of the chapter. [RCG] • Review by Elaine Turtle Hansen, JEGP 87 (1988), 101-4: 'The dramatic theory needs the kind of challenge that Benson's approach could offer, but the book raises more interesting and important questions—about intentionality and authority, about style and voice, about the subjectivity

1487 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales of writer and reader and the anonymity of words—than it seems ready to confront' (p 104). • Review by N.F. Blake, MLR 83 (1988), 942-4: 'When he has selected tales for comparison, he approaches them through such features as literary allusion, vocabulary and dialogue. The detailed analyses which emerge are extremely instructive' (p 944). • Review by Arthur Lind\ey,AUMLA 73 (1990), 235-40: "The basic problem with Benson's argument that the tellers exist, if at all, for the tales . . . is that it assumes that style exists in a vacuum' (p 237). Lindley finds that ' [t]he drama is in the reception' (p 240). 433 Fisher, John H. 'City and Country in the Medieval Fabliaux.' MedPers (Southeastern Medieval Association) 1 (1986 [for 1988]), 1-15. Not seen. [RCG] 434 Knight, Stephen. Geoffrey Chaucer. Rereading Literature. Gen. ed. Terry Eagleton. Oxford: Blackwell, 1986. MilTis seen in relation to KnT, and RvTand CkTto their preceding tales. Unlike KnT, MilT involves real life, in the genre 'dirty joke, not epic romance' (p 90). The characters give more than parody: 'Nicholas, unlike Arcite, is quite happy to be "Allone"'; Absolon, unlike Palamon, 'is not the man who gets the girl'; and Alison 'is not just a parody of Emily, but a deliberate establishment of peasant vitality' (p 91). The details of everyday life differ 'in intensity and function from the bare plot mechanics of the French fabliau' (p 92). KnT and MilT differ in form and style, and MilT 'draws attention to the reality and the inner power of the world of churls, recognized as a threat by the Knight's tale but not explored there' (p 92). This 'realization is not itself value-free,' since all the men in the story are in some way disabled, although Alison goes free. After the delighted reception of MilT, 'the Reeve feels he must defend his own trade of carpentry by belittling that of millers' (p 93). This tale, 'in its venom, its somewhat spare realization of lower-class life, its biting picture of hostility and malice is much closer to the traditional aristocratic anti-bourgeois fabliau than the preceding tale'; it shows the productive classes 'without vitality or value' (p 94). CkTshows a 'further stage in lower class self-destruction' (p 94). Chaucer's plans for continuation remain obscure. [RCG] 435 Mehl, Dieter. Geoffrey Chaucer: An Introduction to His Narrative Poetry. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1986. A revised and expanded version of Geoffrey Chaucer. Eine Einfuhrung in seine erzdhlenden Dichtungen. Grundlagen der Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 7. Gen. eds. Rudolf Siihnel and Dieter Riesner. Berlin: Schmidt, 1973. Chaucer contrasts the Knight and Miller in their tales, but their characters 'are of interest only insofar as they motivate and underline these contrasts

The Tales Together/149 of style, setting and perspective' (p 145). We need to know only that the Miller is a churl, although he tells a sophisticated tale, and he hates the Reeve. Parallels between KnTand MilT, more striking than differences, include their formulaic beginning, '[d]ecorative rhetoric, familiarity with classical myths and a particularly flexible use of the rhyming couplet,' for a story of 'rivalry in love of two young men for the same lady' (p 172), and fabliau is almost as courtly a genre as romance. Chaucer achieves 'comical surprises by the use of courtly terminology for unexpected purposes' (p 174), such as the description of Alison and the behaviour of Absolon and Nicholas. The lovers' approaches should not be seen as 'an unambiguous mockery of courtly ideas of love,' but 'the poet evidently wants to demonstrate contrasting attitudes towards traditional forms and ideas' (p 174). Although MilT does not have realism in the modern sense, 'this picture of a world reduced to crude sensuality and selfish cunning does indeed create . . . an illusion of concrete reality . . . above all, by the precise details of observed everyday life' (p 175). RvTseems 'an attempt to outdo the Miller in coarseness,' where 'sheer delight in defeating the crafty scoundrel is the predominant motif (p 177). Close observation extends to the use of Northern dialect, demonstrating 'Chaucer's stylistic versatility and consummate rhetorical art'(p 177). MilT and RvT make an angry dialogue. That CAT is unfinished suggests Chaucer's wish to avoid repetition. [RCG] • Review by C. David Benson, SAC 10 (1988), 174-7: 'it is generous and judicious in a way that will seem to many particularly Chaucerian . .. [Mehl] repeatedly demonstrates that judgement and sensitivity to the text are much rarer (and more valuable) qualities than cleverness' (p 177). • Review by A.V.C. Schmidt, N&Q n.s. 35 [233] (1988), 511-12: notes 'Mehl's wise avoidance of polarized interpretations and . . . general tendency to see Chaucer as a poet of balance and reconciliation, neither an absolutist nor a modern relativist, but one absorbed in the search for truth through exploring a variety of perspectives from which it may be partially glimpsed but which in the end yield a unity, not mere disjunctive variety' (P511). 436 Olson, Paul A. The Canterbury Tales and the Good Society. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1986. The pilgrims set out on the day of departure of Noah's ark, and John the carpenter recalls Noah, whose sons were figures for the three orders of society. They tell of temptations to pride, luxury and avarice. Olson describes MilT and RvT in relation to contemporary political events, considering them as comedy, rather than fabliaux, with standard comic types in both tales, including the senexjuvens, matrona and miles gloriosus. They are also 'more learned, more highly wrought, and more symmetrical in their poetic justice than anything in the vernacular fabliau

1507 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales tradition in France' (p 74). The pilgrim Miller and Symkyn are grotesque images of Samson. In MilT, the 'upside-down Knight's tale filled with upside-down Biblical and hagiographic figures' (p 77), the 'comic elements displace the epic and hieratic and abuse the devices of epic' (p 78), but the tale eventually 'asserts an order in the Knight's terms' (p 79). References include those to Nicholas, Palamon and St Nicholas, Arcite and Absolon, John and Noah. MilT comments on the cult of astrology, through John's warning to Nicholas and his own subsequent fall. In RvTthe temptations are 'represented, now almost without parodic epic overtones' (p 80). It is an extension of MilT. These tales 'overthrow established conventions governing temporal heroes, ecclesiastical saints, and literary genres' (p 84). [RCG] • Review by Glending Olson, Speculum 63 (1988), 972-4: 'While it is refreshing to read a book that finds Chaucer concerned with something other than the problems of writing poetry, one can nevertheless question whether the Canterbury Tales operates as exclusively in the realms of satire and controversy as this provocative but partial study contends' (p 974). • Review by John M. Ganim, JEGP 88 (1989), 89-92: 'Olson has made a real contribution in attempting to place Chaucer in the context of fourteenth-century social and political debate, but by choosing to include arguable interpretations of tales marginal to his theme, he has obscured the force of that contribution' (p 92). • Review by Janet Coleman, SAC 10 (1988), 180-4: 'a book of immense learning, worn lightly, a serious book about a serious poet with serious political concerns' (p 180). 437 Pearcy, Roy J. 'The Genre of Chaucer's Fabliau-Tales.' In Chaucer and the Craft of Fiction. Ed. Leigh A. Arrathoon. Rochester, MI: Solaris, 1986. Pp 329-84. Transforming fabliaux to fabliau-tales 'involves modifications o f . . . genre rather than style' (p 330). Traditional genres were tragedy, comedy, satire and elegy, and 'the three complete component narratives of the A fragment form a generically distinct sequence of tragedy, comedy and satire' (p 376). Traditional fabliaux can have comic or tragic outcomes, eg Le Prestre crucifie and L 'Enfant quifu remis au soleil. MilT is 'structurally quite distinct... It is a comedy' (p 335). RvTis satiric in context, juxtaposed to MilT, but would otherwise be seen as fabliau. MilT is 'closer in spirit to the Latin comedies of the twelfth century than to the French fabliaux of the thirteenth' (p 350). '[T]he conception of comedy underlying The Miller's and Shipman 's Tales, and appreciably influencing The Reeve's and Merchant's Tales, is not Christian . . . but rather classical and pagan,' with 'a mythic frame of reference' provided by mystery plays rather than 'by

The Tales Together /151 citation of the gods and heroes of classical antiquity' (pp 347-8). Pearcy examines correspondences between characters of MilT, the Gesta and the mystery play cycle as the characters of comedy posited by John of Garland, using the classifications senex, matrona, adulescens, servus and alazon. '[T]he Reeve's personal animus against the Miller prompts him to use the story as a vehicle for satiric attack . . . and thereby prohibits its comedic possibilities from being realized' (p 350). Le Meunier et les Holers is 'very close to the immediate source' (p 350) of the tale. Symkyn and his father-inlaw are senex characters, and Symkyn also shows some characteristics of miles gloriosus and alazon. He credits the clerks with the 'frivolous skills' of the Sophists, perhaps linked to John's 'sophistical manipulation of physical space within the miller's bedchamber' (p 353). Characterization in RvT is not as developed as in MilT; the issue of sophistry shows only 'how the miller's pretentious self-esteem contributes to his own downfall' (p 353). A 'mean-spirited pattern of vengeance . . . controls the tale as a whole' (p 354); Symkyn's punishment is 'alien to comedy but quite in conformity with associated fabliaux' (p 355). Pearcy compares RvT with Le Prestre et le chevalier and Le Bouchier d'Abbeville, and contends that 'the triumph of money over sex is a precisely anti-comedic development' (p 357). 'The progression from comedy to satire . . . define[d] primarily on the basis of structural features of The Miller's and Reeve's Tales, is given coherence by their tightly knit juxtaposition . . . reinforced by the personalities of the two narrators'(p 358). [RCG] 438 Pearsall, Derek. 'The Canterbury Tales II: Comedy.' In The Cambridge Chaucer Companion. Ed. Piero Boitani and Jill Mann. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1986. Pp 125^2. In MilT, RvT, ShT, MerT, FrTand SumT, 'narrative structure and expectations are those of comedy as a specific genre' (p 125), placed in the present in familiar settings. Chaucerian comedy is unlike the classical form, which works 'to correct our behaviour through making us laugh at the ridiculousness of vice and folly' (p 126). In these tales '[t]he injunction is not "be noble" or "be good", but "be smart'"(p 126). Although satire is found, eg in 'the complacency and gullibility of John the carpenter [and] the ludicrous philandering of Absolon . . . the tales as a whole are not satirical comedies: one would have to ask, satirical of \vhatT (p 127), nor are they intended only to celebrate life and undermine accepted values. Romance and fabliau are 'in a complementary relationship . . . The one portrays men as superhuman, the other portrays them as subhuman' (p 129). MilTand RvTare fabliaux, with plots involving a bourgeois husband tricked into giving his wife's sexual favours to a clever young man. The wife is younger or has more sexual potential than her husband, the intruder usually younger and more sexually active than the husband and of a different class, eg 'a classless

152 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales intellectual elite' (p 129): 'the success of Chaucer's poetry is in the manner in which he works variations on these set patterns, defies expectation, tests the tolerance of the form and the habitual perceptions of the reader' (p 130). MilThas many musical allusions, often allied with sexual suggestion, and lyrical qualities in 'its exuberant travesty of courtly language and behaviour' (p 131), as in the description of Alison, 'a beautifully observed parody of the conventional top-to-toe inventory' (p 131). The generosity of Chaucer's portrayal of John's simple faith and concern for Alison 'give us a twinge of sympathy, but no more. Chaucer's control of our emotional responses of engagement and sympathy, responses such as are totally alien in the tradition of fabliau, is consummate' (p 132). There is density of detail in characterization, plot and setting. 'Fertility and richness of invention characterize the tale, but also a high degree of technical accomplishment' (p 133). RvT resembles MilT'm structure and technique, but '[g]usto and geniality give way to a spirit of meanness and vindictiveness; the only music to be heard is the cacophony of the family snoring (4165) and the only "courtly" allusions are in the contemptuous reference to the miller's wife's absurd pretensions to be a lady (3942-3)' (p 133). Pearsall demonstrates juxtaposition, the spiteful descriptions, the unattractive nature of the characters and the portrayal of sexual activity. 'Systematically.. .those touches of lyricism and generosity that graced the Miller's Tale have been stripped away, and the fabliau used as a machine for the Reeve's vindictive purposes . . . one might see the Reeve's Tale as the inseparable companion of the Miller's Tale .. . the one necessarily belongs to and comments upon the other'(pi 35). [RCG] 439 Rogers, William E. Upon the Ways: The Structure of The Canterbury Tales. ELS Monograph Series No 36. English Literary Studies, Department of English, University of Victoria, BC, Canada, 1986. A failure to articulate differences between dramatic (p 14) and thematic (p 15) readings of C7has produced 'confusion and pseudo-controversies' (p 18), such as the debate about the Chaucerian narrator. CTpresents 'a collection ofworld-views' (p 24), 'a cultural form, [articulating] codified and sharable . . . dissatisfaction"1 (p 25). Whether saying or showing their worldviews, the pilgrims demonstrate that 'the structure of The Canterbury Tales is the movement of the mind as it proceeds, restless and dissatisfied, from one of its worlds to another' (p 27). The Ellesmere order of the tales shows 'a degenerative movement' (p 28) in the first fragment. MilT parodies the inadequacy of a pagan worldview and concept of love presented in KnT, and illustrates that, in a society which is 'just a collection of bodies' (p 41), social order Ms just another manifestation of appetite' (p 38). The characters' traits and behaviors

The Tales Together/153 convey the effects of appetite and the physical nature of the fabliau. The juxtaposition of these two tales suggests the inadequacy of any world-view to explain 'human experience in terms of the dialectic between social order and individual freedom' (p 41). Unlike MilT, RvTis not 'composed solely of bodies,' and this nastier world is 'amoral' rather than 'immoral' (pp 41-2). Pride of place is of greatest importance; deynous is associated with Symkyn as hende was with Nicholas; bodies are used brutally, and function 'only [as] what makes people vulnerable to other people' (p 43). As in MilT, learning is disparaged by the character whom the clerks dupe. Symkyn's comment on manipulation of space foreshadows his undoing. In a world-view built upon deficiency, 'life is thoroughly nasty, crude, and brutal... individual freedom is restricted, and human intellect corrupted, by ... perverted social hierarchies... sex exists only in the service of self-aggrandizement' (p 45). CAT is 'the last convulsion' of the first fragment, reducing the previous three tales to 'meaninglessness' (p 45). The relationships of marriage and that between master and apprentice have broken down. Thus 'the Cook's fragment shows us human beings as utterly careless . . . In such a worldview, social order is of course impossible, and the question of human freedom is meaningless' (p 46). [RCG] 440 Blamires, Alcuin. The Canterbury Tales. The Critics Debate. Gen. Ed. Michael Scott. Houndsmills: Macmillan, 1987. Surveys recent criticism of CT, as 'Source study' (pp 6-15), 'Retrieving literary conventions' (pp 15-21), 'Medieval intellectual contexts' (pp 216), 'Social and political historicism' (pp 26-34), 'Dramatic or psychological readings' (pp 34-40), and 'Varieties of textual analysis' (pp 40-6). Blamires appraises the work by examining 'Chaucer, authorship and truth' (pp 50-6), 'Questions of intent' (pp 56-64), 'Native resonance' (pp 64-9), and 'An audacious art' (pp 69-75). He relates MilT, ^v^and CkTto each other and to the other tales, dealing at greatest length with MilT as 'an especially teasing instance' (p 67) of resonance. Nicholas's plot comically recalls that 'Noah's Flood represented God's attempt to wipe out rampant promiscuity' (p 68); his name suggests St Nicholas, and his behaviour 'caricatures that associated with the untutored or sham contemplative' (p 68). Resonances in the finale come from Absolon's attack, when he resembles 'a comic stand-in for the fiend' (p 68) using a version of Venus' firebrand. [RCG] 441 Erzgraber, Willi. 'European Literature in the Late Middle Ages in its Political and Social Contexts.' In Multiple Worlds, Multiple Words: Essays in Honour of Irene Simon. Ed. Hena Maes-Jelinek, Pierre Michel, and Paulette Michel-Michot. Liege: U of Liege, English Department, 1987. Pp 103-21.

154 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales MilT and RvTare mentioned briefly as 'illustration of this type of epic literature that very often shows little of the idealized, romantic view that is characteristic of courtly poetry, but lays stress on the animal nature of man' (pp 117-18). [RCG] 442 Besserman, Lawrence. Chaucer and the Bible: A Critical Review of Research, Indexes, and Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1988. ' [T]he Bible seems to have been the one book "continually present" to Chaucer's imagination' (p 3). Besserman discusses its importance in his Introduction (pp 3-13), and surveys scholarship in 'Research on Chaucer and the Bible: A Critical Review' (pp 15-37). 'Index I: Chaucer's Biblical Allusions—An Annotated List' (pp 55-304) gives biblical allusions and commentary corresponding to lines in Chaucer's works, dealing with MilP (p 65), M/r (pp 66-7), RvP (p 71), RvT(pp 71-2) and CkP (p 72). 'Index II: Scriptural References' (pp 305-88) gives the reverse of this, with biblical references and the appropriate passages in Chaucer's works. A comprehensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources follows (pp 389-432). [RCG] 443 Bishop, Ian. The Narrative Art of the Canterbury Tales: A Critical Study of the Major Poems. London: Everyman-Dent, 1988. Correspondences between KnTand MilT emphasize contrasts between the juxtaposed tales, but the relationship between MilT and RvT is more superficial. 'The different visions of life that Chaucer offers in these transformed fabliaux are, in their way, as remote from each other as are the worlds of the Knight's and the Miller's Tales' (p 10). The Miller introduces his tale with 'a series of "immodesty topof" and 'reduces the knight's "noble storie" . . . to the status of a plain tale' (p 55). There are similarities in the tales, especially in allusions to astrology and the pagan gods. Although the deities are not mentioned directly in MilT, the principal characters 'exhibit the autonomy and blithe irresponsibility of gods' (p 58). There are also resemblances to the Roman de la Rose, where '[t]he proprietor of the domain is not Deduit, but John . . . who admits into his enclave Alysoun as spouse and Nicholas as lodger' (p 59). Nicholas's hoax is planned 'in the spirit of pure play,' giving him 'god-like freedom' and the tale 'child-like innocence' (p 60), but John's ignorance and Alison's willingness make it unnecessary. Alison's description places her in her environment by implication, whereas Emily's does so explicitly. Alison's character, tastes, animal spirits and sensuous appeal are implied through images and appeals to the senses; the description resembles those in the Harley lyrics 'Alysoun' and 'The Fair Maid of Ribblesdale,' and those of Hero in Marlowe's Hero andLeander and Criseyde in TC. Absolon's portrait is an ironic use ofeffictio and notatio. Nicholas is introduced more briefly, with more attention paid to his room than his person. The two clerks are con-

The Tales Together/155 trasted in their use of music and involvement with mystery plays. Alison and Nicholas give a comic picture of courtly lovers. Absolon's use of passages from the Song of Solomon may be compared with that of January in MerT, but Alison's 'rasping idiom blasts his fantasy concerning her' (p 137). RvTresembles MilT in description and dialogue. Bishop comments on the significance of details in the descriptions. We may compare 'the burgeoning description of the Miller's eighteen-year-old heroine with the succinct account of the girl in the Reeve's Tale, who is still unmarried at twenty' (p 75), and who shows initiative only in telling Aleyn of the cake. In her passivity, Malyne resembles Emily, and her future is planned in a similar way, with emphasis on her value in the marriage market. RvT differs from MilT, partly in the stress on 'enmity between Town and Gown' and 'fundamentally in its attitude towards love' (p 77), which seems absent in RvT. An audience of clerks is implied in the tale, resembling those who support Nicholas rather than John in his version of the events of MilT. [RCG] • Review by J.D. Burnley, RESn.s. 41 (1990), 240-1: questions the book's 'quirkiness of presentation' in procedure and reference to recent scholarship, but finds that 'as well as these misses there are notable hits' (p 241). • Review by Catherine Batt, English 38 (1989), 69-76: regrets the lack of an account of the remoulding of fabliau by 'an amplifying rhetoric that is apparently alien to its form' (p 71). • Review by Andrew Wawn, MLR 85 (1990), 910-12: 'The book offers both subtle readings and suggestive approaches to the process of reading; in both causes it is well served by the author's capacity to write polished, comprehensible English, uncorroded by the apparently obligatory, obfuscatory metalanguage of jet-setting deconstructionists and related fayerye'(p9l2). 444 Carroll, Virginia Schaefer. 'Women and Money in The Miller's Tale and The Reeve's Tale.' MedPers 3 (1988), 76-88. Not seen. [RCG] 445 Hornsby, Joseph Allen. Chaucer and the Law. Norman OK: Pilgrim, 1988. The hue and cry is used comically in MilT, when Nicholas fondles Alison, and later when he cries out in pain. Aleyn's farewell to Malyne could have been interpreted as a clandestine marriage if her reply had echoed his parting 'I is thyn awen' [4239]; no evidence supports the notion that he had affection for her, but rather 'blind lust and desire to exact revenge on her father for tricking him' (p 61). Symkyn is concerned that his daughter has been 'disparaged' and so 'devalued as a marriageable and marketable product,' because 'rape was a crime against property' (p 121). See also 182. [RCG]

156 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 446 Kendrick, Laura. Chaucerian Play: Comedy and Control in the Canterbury Tales. Berkeley: U of California P, 1988. Explores 'the mechanisms and meanings of medieval mirth, and more especially of Chaucer's literary play' (p 2), by interpreting all possible meanings and responsibility for interpretation, eg ofpryvetee in MilT, extending the interpretation to other works of art. MilT is 'another such deliberately perverse parody of familiar biblical episodes' (p 16), which Kendrick explains and compares with 'good' and 'bad' readings of a picture of the Nativity. She surveys interpretation of 'biblical parody and burlesque' (p 29) in MilT, showing the balance of sentence and solas. Part of Chaucer's Tictionalization of the storytelling situation' is the use of 'metatextual denying devices' (p 58), eg the Miller's drunkenness and his insistence on 'the difference between proverbs and tales' (p 59) and freedom to interpret them. The metafictional frames make the fabliaux 'not just rebellious against authority in general... but they also deflate the pride of particular pilgrims' (p 59), as they establish rules of a game with 'fictive revenges for fictive injuries' (p 60). Chaucer's fabliaux can generally be seen in Oedipal terms, and Kendrick compares them with some French fabliaux. A 'major intention of the fabliaux is to expose "Goddes pryvetee," that is, what may not be said in proper speech' (p 76); but, unlike many French examples, 'Chaucer's are sparing in their use of vulgar, obscene expressions' (p 77). Although MilT includes vulgarity, Absolon endures 'low action1 rather than 'low diction' (p 81). 'Vulgar terms followed by kitchen euphemisms' (p 91) are used in De Gombert et des IIclers, an analogue ofRvT. Nicholas's 'Oxford student refinement, with some angelic overtones' is contrasted with his seduction of Alison, which 'bears all the marks of crudity' (p 96). Kendrick explores the possibilities of words repeated in passages involving Nicholas and Alison, and develops the Host's part in the frame tale, where 'his order is a rejuvenating antithesis, a playful reversal of conventional social orders' (p 111). MilT deconstructs the illusions of KnT 'through burlesque imitation' (p 118), but three short fabliaux are needed 'to "quite" the repressive gravity of the lengthy "Knight's Tale'" (p 122-23). MilT releases tension, but the Reeve's sermon on old age raises it again 'by recollecting pity, propriety, and authority,' and 'a description of repressive fatherly authority in the pugnacious, jealous, vain miller (cum Miller)' (p 123), after the Host's interruption. Mastery is often the theme of fiction and in Cr'the theme of mastery lies very near the surface of all the tales' (p 124). [RCG] • Review by Carl Lindahl, Speculum 66 (1991), 656-8: although the book 'does not integrate its position or offer a mean between the extremes of universalizing theory and exegetical minutiae... [It] is one of the finest recent explorations of medieval literature as play, as performance, as

The Tales Together /157 ritualized action' (p 658). • Review by Mary Flowers Braswell, SAC 11 (1989), 253-6: finds 'one cannot know whether a study such as this one reveals more to us about the medieval or the modern mind' (p 256). • Review by C. David Benson, JEGP 89 (1990), 219-21: 'Kendrick's churlish reading... seems more arbitrary than illuminating' (p 219) and founded on Oedipal rather than contemporary evidence. 'Literary critics.. .may wonder about the wisdom of ignoring the special delights of poetry to investigate only its general therapeutic effects' (p 221). 447 Taylor, Paul Beekman. 'Chaucer's Faire Cheyne of Love: The First Model of Mediation in the Canterbury Tales.' In Reading Contexts. Ed. Neil Forsyth. Swiss Papers in English Language and Literature. Vol. 4. Tubingen: Narr, 1988. Pp 133-46. The cosmic chain of love is introduced by Theseus in KnT: 'a Platonic idea in a Homeric figure, containing a Medieval Christian humanistic conception of God' (p 134), and is modified in MilT, RvTand CkT. Theseus's figure shows vertical and horizontal 'channels of Grace—movements toward a reconciliation with God' (p 126). Taylor relates the figure to the opening lines of GP, the pilgrimage and the portrait of the Prioress, then studies its application in MilT. The Miller's diction ridicules KnT'm diction, eg in using noble, and appropriating the image, particularly its vertical aspects. Nicholas's song Angelus ad Virginem (3216) 'represents a heaven-to-earth bond depicted . . . by a dove descending a beam of light' (p 139). The suspension of the tubs, the fart, burning, call for water and fall to earth parody the chain image and the breath of God in 'a comic subversion of the harmony of the elements in the creative process' (p 140). RvT 'takes as its target the horizontal implications of the Knight's vertical order' in the 'genealogical bloodline of Holy Church' (p 141), the line from the parson to his grand-daughter, Malyne. The last couplet of the fragment of CkT 'alludes to both vertical and horizontal implications of Theseus's exposition' (p 142), in the contrast of public and private truths. The image is 'a stylistic feature of the first fragment rather than . . . an ideological stance,' and its disordering and fracturing 'reflect something of what Chaucer achieves in the "overorder" of the fragment as a whole' (p 142). Taylor explores 'Chaucer's disjoining and fracturing of received hierarchies of values' (p 143) and the notion that '[c]omedies of mediation . . . question man's role in nature and in the structural chain of the universe' (p 145). [RCG] 448 Zong-qi, Cai. 'Fragments I-II and III-V in the Canterbury Tales: A ReExamination of the Idea of the "Marriage Group".' Comitatus 19 (1988), 80-98.

1587 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales Contrary to the views of Kittredge and his revisionists . . . Chaucer's discussion of marriage is not so much the pilgrims' debate on "auctoritee" in Fragments HI-V as an extended discussion starting from Fragments I-II: illustration, exposure and parody of faulty marriages, and an advocacy of a happy marriage founded on love and mutual forbearance' (p 93). MilTand RvT serve as examples of marriages based on sex and money, in which the cuckolding of a jealous, older husband is inevitable. The Wife of Bath comments on 'the sex-money bond' (p 85) and MerToffers 'a double parody of the themes and plots of the moralistic folktales and fabliaux illustrated in Fragments I-II and freshly justified by the Clerk and the Wife' (p87). [RCG] 449 Jensen, Emily. 'Male Competition as a Unifying Motif in Fragment A of the Canterbury Tales.' ChauR 24 (1989-90), 320-8. In Fragment I, 'the focus is on males in competition' (p 321): the Host, the narrators and the characters of the tales. In KnT, 'competition serves a purpose beyond itself,' and in MHTit is 'an end in itself (p 322). The terms of competition in Rv 7" become increasingly commercial' (p 323,) and in CAT are entirely so. The pattern is plotted by the word pryvetee, considered only in the reverent implication of divine order in KnT, but proceeding to 'private affairs' and 'private parts.' In the tales '"stryf' or competition is the primary mode of male interaction... [and] "quite"... the primary mode of discourse in the links' (p 323), with correspondingly 'increased involvement by women in the action... [and] lowering of their stature' (p 325). The lowering of stature may be traced in the use of their names and ofqueynte, both absent from CAT when 'the woman sells herself as the whore and is therefore neither an object men fight over nor a trick they use to show each other up' (p 325); the three fabliaux end with a reference to swyving. The movement may suggest an intention to end CAT at this point. Variation in use of wyfto rhyme with lyfand stryf plots the course of 'the archetypal sexual triangle' (p 325). The progress 'from the quintessential romantic heroine of the Knight's Tale to the whore in the Cook's Tale,' with corresponding displacement of authority, suggests woman may be praised or condemned for 'coming to grips with the world she lives in and turning it to her own advantage' (p 327); it even prepares for the creation of the Wife of Bath. [RCG] 450 Lindahl, Carl. Earnest Games: Folkloric Patterns in the Canterbury Tales. Bloomington IN: Indiana UP, 1987. Sources of Chaucer's poetry are 'elite literary convention... folk artistic convention, and . . . idiosyncratic vision' (p 11). Tales involve their narrators; Robin the prying knave resembles the Miller. The Miller shows 'the paranoid Reeve . . . (the equally paranoid John) as cuckold and himself . . . as witness to the fact' (p 67). Pilgrims who are equal in status, such as

The Tales Together /159 the Miller and Reeve, have 'the most vehement verbal duels,' but the characterization of Absolon voices the Miller's scorn 'of the Host's noble pretensions' (p 86). The Miller, Reeve and Cook begin their tales with apologies which deflect blame to 'the party most likely to accuse them' (p 99), eg the Host whose ale made the Miller drunk. The Miller and Reeve also use ironic comparisons of behaviour and conditional insult; in their quarrel 'folk rhetoric blossoms' (p 109). Since the rivalry between the Miller and Reeve has a more plausible social base in the country, the London carpenter does not respond to the Miller. The Reeve seems inept beside the Miller; he is 'hampered by his anger,' seeing 'indirect insult as direct insult' (p 114), and gains no support. The Cook begins by insulting the Host, showing Symkyn as 'a stupid hosf (p 115), and continues the quarrel by implying that he is a dangerous guest, made poor by Harry Bailly's illegal practices. Like the churls, the Host 'knows the importance of cultivating the crowd' (p 116), and he tries to threaten the Cook. The churls' tales are Schwanke rather than fabliaux, used to express social grievances. Their individuality explains the absence of a verifiable source. The tales are apt to their situation, test the context and succeed through ridicule by association and stereotyping. Millers are adulterous, and the people of Norfolk devious, angry and cruel. MilTis appropriate to its teller, 'an expert exponent of lower-class artistic traditions current in the Middle Ages' (p 140). John resembles the Reeve in being an old carpenter, afraid of cuckolding, and a dupe, like Norfolk stereotypes. The Reeve is equally competent, and there were many Schwank ballads about 'millers who lose their wives or pretty daughters to the advances of strangers' (p 142). The portrait of Symkyn is 'a carnival mirror image of Robyn' (p 143); his wife and daughter are also coarse. But RvTis 'disproportionately cruel' and 'reinforces the stereotype of the cruel Norfolk man' (p 144). Lindahl gives an analysis of the 'folk rhetorical pattern' (p \69)ofMilT(p 170). [RCG] • Review by Glending Olson, Speculum 63 (1988), 949-51: the book 'has much to offer scholars, including those particularly interested in current questions of orality and literacy and the social uses of festivity' (p 951). • Review by Bruce A. Rosenberg, SAC 10 (1988), 168-71: 'The approach is a new and potentially important one and suffers from having cut a new swath' (p 171). 451 Rooney, Anne. Geoffrey Chaucer: A Guide through the Critical Maze. State of the Art Series. Bristol: Bristol P, 1989. A comprehensive general study surveying trends in criticism. Within Ch 2 'I kan a noble tale,' (pp 13-43), the fabliaux are considered in the section 'Generic variety and exploration' (pp 34-6) and The tale in the Tales' (pp 36-8). [RCG]

160 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 452 Stone, Brian. 'Tales of the Knight, the Miller, the Reeve, the Cook and the Man of Law.' In Chaucer. Penguin Critical Studies. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1989. Pp 35-52. MilT 'fits the grotesque fellow described in the Prologue' (p 43). The tale of fearful John and the 'three unprincipled and sexually potent youngsters' (p 44) who swing into his orbit parodies that of Palamon and Arcite; it is 'helped to final expression by conventions less tedious than those of courtly love,' however, giving listeners 'vicarious delight in happy sex and in the comic procedures which sometimes further it' (p 45). The Reeve speaks bitterly of old age and tells 'a brilliant fabliau which seems less brilliant than it is only when it is compared with The Miller's Tale.' There is 'no general reaction to The Reeve's Tale' (p 48). CkT 'offers to be the lowest yet' (p 48). [RCG] 453 Wetherbee, Winthrop. 'Churls: Commerce and the Material World.' In Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales. Landmarks of World Literature. Gen. Ed. J.P. Stern. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1989. Pp 56-79. MilT is told by 'the most genial of the churls, and the vehicle of his criticism is parody, aimed at the Knight's treatment of his love story' (pp 56-7). He balances Arcite with Nicholas, Palamon with Absolon, and Emily with Alison; 'Providence is reduced to the granting of sexual pleasure' (p 57) through the planning of Nicholas, the first mover. Chaucer's characterization of John gives him qualities which 'are precisely those which reduce him to Nicholas's puppet,' and there is a 'similarly innocent and vulnerable good will [in the community]' (p 58), from which only Nicholas can detach himself. The clerks, whose worldliness and conflict 'leads to the tale's violent conclusion' (p 59), are suitably punished; Alison is not free, although she escapes Absolon's violence; only John's misfortune is emphasized. The Miller 'offers no final reflection on the potentially anarchic implications of his comic creation' (p 60.) The first mover of RvTis 'the local parson, whose use of parish funds to dower his illegitimate daughter sanctions the social ambition of the miller Symkyn' (p 60). The tale is of'meanness inspired by meanness,' emphasizing the narrowness of its world and moral poverty, giving 'comment on its narrator, who has risen socially to the point of learning to despise his own craftsmanly origins, but without gaining access to any larger world' (p 62). CkT 'takes us beyond the pale,' to a point where Chaucer 'was clearly content to break off (p 62). [RCG] 454 Wilhelm, James J. ' Rhythms of Rising and Falling in the Canterbury Tales.' FCS 17 (1990), 457-74. Rhythms of rising and falling pervade human experience, and have literary applications in comedy and tragedy. These patterns are found throughout

The Tales Together/161 CT. Wilhelm traces the movements in KnT, before describing the Miller's substitution of realism for control and removal of possibilities for heroism, epic or tragedy, leaving only 'the comic and the ironic-satiric modes of expression' (p 464). In Mill rising and falling rhythm appears in the plot, bodily description and the use of bathos, emphasized by rhyme. 'The mind that moved the Knight's Tale here yields to matter, to the lowly sexual parts that finally dominate the story as the world of cerebral control is turned upside-down' (pp 466-7). RvTis more complex than MilT, 'since the plot consists of two separate but interlocking arcs of rising' (p 467), in Symkyn's triumph over the clerks and then their 'scarfing] in erotic grandeur' (p 467). The equivalence of sexual prowess and pride 'suggests tragic or comitragic downfall' (p 467). [RCG] 455 Patterson, Lee. Chaucer and the Subject of History. Madison, WI: U of Wisconsin?, 1991. Relates the literary expression of selfhood to medieval political conditions and their interpretation. The tale-telling game, 'an ostentatiously nonaristocratic poetic project,' is 'opposed to the Knight's aristocratic ideology' (p 40) and turned into a (jutting game by the Miller, whose tale really begins CT, enacting 'the very "quitting" it narrates' (p 244), by subverting the meanings of words such as derne, hende, pryvetee, herd and water. The position of millers in fourteenth-century society was significant, and MilT may be seen as part of the peasants' struggle. '[T]he vitality and resourcefulness of the natural world' (p 258) are embodied in Alison; the tale is of attempts to constrain her. The opposition of freedom and constraint is 'mediated by a moderation that bespeaks a calm confidence in the just workings of natural law' (p 259); the three male characters are punished, for attempting mastery and appropriation. The witty tale shows the peasant is not an inarticulate brute and 'establishes an alternative version of the natural world' (p 265). MilT turns 'the myth of Ham against the clerical culture from which it originally arose' (p 269), where Nicholas recalls Ham and mocks John, 'the father Noah of the play he is staging' (p 269). The animosity directed against John is 'an act of peasant self-criticism,' (p 270); he is punished most severely, particularly in being considered mad by the clerks, a reminder of 'official language that sought to censor peasant resistance' (p 273). RvT subverts 'the claims of peasant class consciousness' (p 274) made in MilT, by showing individualism rather than class unity and 'by reinvoking the religious imperatives that the Miller . . . had sought to set aside' (p 275). In CkT, '[t]he stigmatizing of the Miller's interruption is carried to its inevitable conclusion' (p 278). [RCG]

162 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 456 Hansen, Elaine Tuttle. '"Women-as-the-Same" in the A-Fragment.' In Chaucer and the Fictions of Gender. Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1992. Pp 208-44. Explores the common ground shared by the men of the First Fragment, particularly in attitudes towards women. Alison's offering 'not [her] mouth . . . but "hir hole'" (p 223) confirms the suggestion of dangerous, instinctive sensuality expressed in her portrait and the Miller's remarks to the Reeve, where he seems prepared to allow desire and freedom. Hansen explores the 'darker, less liberal and innocent side... to the Miller's tolerant, churlish, frank view' (p 225). Alison is not punished because woman is considered 'not immoral but amoral' (p 225). The male characters have more interest in besting each other and proving their manliness, and she is only saved from punishment by the accident of Nicholas's intervention. The question raised is: 'Who can be liberated by humor, and at whose expense?' (p 226). Hole is ambiguous in its possibility of reference to Alison's anus or vagina, further confused by play on queynte; Nicholas's action 'returns agency to the male b u t . . . exposes the humiliating and frightening lack of difference between male and female bodies' (p 228). Absolon's effeminacy gives rise to humour and anxiety: 'in general the fluidity and instability of gender difference, and in particular the possibilities of homosexuality and castration' (p 229). The coulter is a phallic weapon, used on Nicholas 'in an act that must suggest sodomy' (p 232). Nicholas 'reflects the same complicated lack of certain manliness that Absolon flaunts' (p 233), particularly in substituting his body for Alison's. He shows authorial rather than sexual energy, in scheming and appropriating Alison's joke, and is punished, almost by castration. Similarities between the first two tales include the attitudes of the tellers towards 'Woman as both marginal and material' (p 237); and MilTgives a parody ofKnT, when 'Absolon follows the logic of a Palamon' and in 'the substitution of [Nicholas's] "queynte" wits for [Alison's] "queynte"' (p 238). The play with gender does not empower women, but enables class satire. Men are horrified and titillated by 'the thought, and/or the sight, of what women look like "under their clothes'" and by 'the perception and fear of gender instability' (p 239). RvT resembles both KnTand MilT in plot elements; and the Reeve and Symkyn recall Theseus, in 'ire,' in controlling two women, in the dynastic purposes of their marriages and in their martial bearing. The female characters of/?v7"recall Emily in that they are much less realistic than Alisoun appears to be' (p 241). The Cook 'acknowledges the bonds of pleasure, mutual irritation, and reciprocal service between male comrades that such tale-telling affords' (p 242), and gives a link between the preceding tales in speaking of the danger of bringing younger men into a household. He 'refocuses attention on what

The Tales Together /163 is at stake: not only access to the women's "pryvetee" . . . but also men's "pryvetee"; and when the gender changes, "privacy" also changes from a question of sexuality to a matter of place and property' (p 243). [RCG]

This page intentionally left blank

The Miller's Tale

Annotations in this section cover studies (whether separate essays or discrete chapters of longer works) that concentrate solely on MilT. They also cover general studies of Chaucer's works in which MilT is mentioned rather than RvT or CkT. Early references to the tale are very often disapproving: Ames 457 gives an example, and incidentally excuses Chaucer from bearing any responsibility for his creation. The tale is paradoxically noted as the intrusion of its churlish teller, who nevertheless gives an elegantly constructed parody of KnT, a matter elaborated in 583 and 637. The relation of M//rand KnT (discussed in many of the items in the previous section) is explored in this section in 458, 493, 500, 508, 526, 554, 576, 603, 606, 635, 647. Much attention is given to the descriptions of the characters, in particular to that of Alison, which is seen to give comment on ideas of beauty and rhetorical description and also to convey some of the preoccupations of the pilgrim Miller (see Index, s.v. 'Alison, description,' for numerous references). The details of the tale create the illusion of verisimilitude in its exquisitely preposterous plot (cf. 568, 587, 637) and have yielded information about music (474, 475, 476, 538, 553, 602, 604, 615, 624, 639), education (471, 487, 582), mystery plays (484, 490, 522, 543, 548, 624, 627, 634), saints (502, 509, 540, 555, 557, 562, 570, 579, 646), clerical life (505, 552), medicine (591, 592,625,639), architecture (516, 642), and blacksmiths (463, 509, 520, 557), among many topics. The characters in MilT have been seen as ironic counterparts both to some of the Canterbury pilgrims and to various characters in other tales (506, 507, 522, 582, 584, 649). Allusions have been found to both biblical (498, 503, 522, 533, 541, 550, 551, 558, 572, 573, 575, 615, 617, 624, 626, 648) and classical (515, 573, 630, 644) sources (see Index, s.v. allusions), although studies of analogues (459, 462, 464, 501, 574) are less conclusive than for RvT. Their actions and interactions of the characters may be subjected to psychological study as in 607 and 620 and regarded as texts as in 651. Commentators find little to mitigate the faults of the male characters, although John's fearful concern and superstitious vulnerability (529,

166 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 563) and Absolon's susceptibility (551, 598, 608) are sometimes mentioned, but Alison generally escapes unscathed, as in the tale.

457 Ames, Percy W. 'The Life and Characteristics of Chaucer.' In Chaucer Memorial Lectures. Ed. Percy W. Ames. Pp 143-71. See 53. The many varieties of Chaucer's humour include the 'very gross salt of the Reeve and the Miller' (p 154); in MilP he turns the attention of those readers likely to be offended by MilTto other tales. [GDM] 458 Lawrence, William Witherle. Medieval Story and the Beginnings of the Social Ideals of English-Speaking People. Hewitt Lectures. New York: Columbia UP, 1911. 2ndedn 1926,1938. Rpt New York: Ungar, 1962. 'In the "Canterbury Tales" the bitter and cynical tone is very noticeable in the criticism which comes from the commons' (p 211), in stories which 'will not bear repeating' (p 212). Although the fabliaux are equivalent to coarse 'smoking-room stories', they differ in being 'really artistic in their narrative methods' (p 212). After the tale of'lovesick young warriors' and 'a pink and white beauty', MilT gives a parody of'the sentimentality of the knight's tale' (p 212), exemplified in Absolon's singing under the shot-window. [RCG] 459 Barnouw, A.J. 'Chaucer's"MilleresTale".' MLR1(1912), 145-8. MilTis a composite of'(1) the jest of the man who let himself be scared by the prediction of a second flood, and (2) the story of the smith who, expecting to kiss his sweetheart's mouth, was made to kiss his rival's posteriors, on which he avenged himself with a red-hot iron from his smithy' (p 145). The 'earliest occurrence' of the second jest 'is in the Novellino of Masuccio Salernitano (1476)' (p 145). A Middle Dutch version of the blended story is 'probably a translation of a French fabliau,'' and 'represents the earliest and most original type of the blending of the flood motive with the story of the Masuccio type' (p 148). [DPS] 460 Karpinski, L.C. 'Augrim-Stones.' MLN21 (1912), 206-9. Refers to lines 3210-11: 'His augrym stones layen faire apart/ On shelves couched at his beddes heed.' 'Evidently . . . the meaning of augrim-stones is stones or counters marked with the numerals of algorism and intended for use upon an abacus' (p 208). [DPS] 461 Root,RobertK. 'Chaucer and the Decameron: £5/44(1912), 1-7. MHT3171-86 is compared to a passage in the Decameron at the 'Conclusion dell' Autore'. The two texts are alike 'in three definite details' (p 3), although 'there are no verbal correspondences' (p 7). In both 'The author is not responsible for the character of the stories'; 'The squeamish reader is bidden skip the stories which give offence'; and 'The author has given his readers ample warning' (p 3). This suggests that 'Chaucer knew of the Decameron

Miller's Tale I \61

462

463 464

465

466

467

468

and had read it; but that he did not have a copy of it in his possession at the time when he was working on the Canterbury Tales' (p 7). [DPS] Tatlock, John S.P. 'Boccaccio and the Plan of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales' Anglia, 37(1913), 69-117. In a discussion of the possible influence of Boccaccio on Chaucer, Tatlock briefly refers to 'the resemblance of Chaucer's apology for his coarse tales (Mill. Prol. 3171-86) to a part of Boccaccio's Conclusion^ (p 113). [DPS] Kuhl,E.P. 'DaunGerveys.' MLN29 (1914), 156. Referring to MilT3761-3 Kuhl cites contemporary evidence to show that blacksmiths were open at night in Chaucer's time. [DPS] Cummings, Hubertis M. The Indebtedness of Chaucer's Works to the Italian Works of Boccaccio. University of Cincinnati Studies, 10, pt. 2,1916. Rpt New York: Haskell House, 1965. Refers to MilT'3171-86, and claims that its similarity to passages within the Decameron, 'too much resembles coincidence to be sufficient as evidence [of a link between the two] without further proof (p 178). [DPS] Farnham, Willard. 'The Dayes of the Mone.' SP20 (1923), 70-82. The significance of each day in a lunar month is recorded in a 'homely rhyme on The Dayes of the Mone... from British Museum MS Harleian 2320' (p 70). Nicholas deceived John with a prophecy based on common knowledge of '[t]he moon as a governor of floods and other dire things' (p 72). [RCG] Brusendorff, Aage. The Chaucer Tradition. Copenhagen: Pio, Branner; London: Milford, Oxford UP, 1925. Rpt Oxford: Clarendon, 1967. Brusendorff quotes lines 3721-2 as evidence of the 'independent origin' of the Ellesmere MS: this couplet 'is not found outside Ellesmere,' and was 'probably . .. added by Chaucer in the margin of his MS., and on that account was missed by most of the scribes' (p 81). He supports this view by arguing evidence for a similar origin for lines 1455-6 ofFranT. [DJB] Farnham, Willard. 'The Merchant's Tale in Chaucer Junior.' MLN4\ (1926), 392-6. Notes the retelling of MilT in the seventeenth-century jest-book by 'Chaucer Junior.' MilT is retold 'as it was put together by Chaucer but with only bare facts and no names' (p 393), and 'wholly without title or reference to Chaucer's Miller' (p 394). [DJB] Raleigh, Walter. 'On Chaucer.' In On Writing and Writers: Being Extracts from His Note-Books. Selected and edited by George Gordon. London: Arnold, 1926;rpt 1927. Pp 103-119. John the carpenter 'in the very act of being befooled by Nicholas the clerk, congratulates himself that he is a plain, unlearned man'—an example of Chaucer's 'dramatic' irony (p 113). [DJB]

1687 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 469 Thompson, Nesta M. 'A New Way with Chaucer.' Univ. of Calif. Chronicle 29 (1927), 366-379. Thompson's 'new way' is to study lines in isolation from their context, focusing on the images they evoke. Reference is made to M/riines 3261-2 and 3318. [DJB] 470 Anon. 'Nature in Medieval Poetry.' 715(1 August, 1929), 597-8. Notes the use of comparisons with nature in the description of Alison, and suggests that this demonstrates that 'Chaucer . . . although not describing nature for itself, shows in some simile or comparison that it was not for lack of observation and appreciation that he allowed traditional description to predominate' (p 597). [DJB] 471 Brusendorff, Aage. '"He Knew Nat Catoun for His Wit Was Rude".' In Studies in English Philology: A Miscellany in Honor of Frederick Klaeber. Ed. Kemp Malone and Martin B. Ruud. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1929. Pp 320-29. Liber Catonis or Dicta M. Catonis gives 'a great many shrewd truths, as well as evidence of a rather skeptical and pessimistic outlook on life' (p 320), and was 'extraordinarily popular in the Middle Ages' (p 321). Brusendorff describes the medieval vernacular translations of the work and its use in schoolbooks. Chaucer refers to 'Catoun,' and may have intended the original or a translation; his description of John the carpenter (3227-8) suggests that 'he must also have known the Latin original rather well' (p 337), and may also have been thinking of a saying ascribed to Cleobolus. Similar sentiments are found in Dicta Insignia Septem Sapientum Graeciae and Disticha Faceti in the collection Disticha Diversorum (ed. Salmanticae, 1593). [RCG] 472 Noyes, Alfred. 'The Eye of Day.' In The Opalescent Parrot: Essays. London: Sheed, 1929. Rpt Essays Index Reprint Series. Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1968. Pp 222-34. Chaucer was right to regret the 'school-boy dirt' of MilTand other such tales, which 'were lugged in to fill gaps in the framework' (p 232). MilT could not have been told in front of the Prioress and the Nun, even in Chaucer's age. The descriptions of characters are superior to the tale itself, which 'comes down with a thump of anti-climax as crude as the fall of the carpenter's own tub' (p 233). [DJB] 473 Camden, Carroll, Jr. 'Chaucer and Elizabethan Astrology.' MLN45 (1930), 298-9. Two allusions to 'Hen. Nicholas in Chaucer' and his astrological prediction of a flood are found in writings of John Chamber (1601) and Christopher Heydon (1603). 'Hen. Nicholas' suggests that 'these men at least were not familiar with the language of Chaucer' (p 299). [RCG]

Miller's Tale I \69 474 Gibbon, John Murray. Melody and the Lyric: From Chaucer to the Cavaliers. London: Dent, 1930. Rpt New York: Haskell, 1964. Musical references in MilT include Absolon's 'descant to a tune he plays on the fiddle' (p 6). Words and music are given for Nicholas's songs: Angelus ad Virginem and The Kinges Note, here seen as the sixth-century Latin hymn Rex Gloriose Martyrum (pp 6-7). 'The White Paternoster' may be the source of a folk song 'Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,' for which words and music are printed. [RCG] 475 Collins, Fletcher. 'The Kinges Note: The Miller's Tale, line 31.' Speculum 8 (1933), 195-7. Collins reviews suggestions about the identity of Nicholas's song, The Kinges Note. He concludes that it may be a hymn which begins Ave rex gentis Anglorum, and invokes St Edmund, king and martyr, who 'in Chaucer's time was just beginning to give place to St George as England's patron saint' (p 196). The hymn is associated also with St Aethelbert and St Edward, and so 'this sequence Ave rex could be used for almost any king who was also a saint; and hence the tune, the note might very well have been known as The Kinges Note" (p 196). [RCG] 476 Frost, George L. ' The Music of The Kinges Note.' Speculum 8 (1933), 5268. Frost finds a common tune in the Scottish Metrical Psalter, used between 1564 and 1650, called The King's Tune, that may have been Nicholas's The Kinges Note. The '"king" whose "note" it was might have been a king and martyr... or indeed the King of Kings' (p 527). He prints an 'unharmonized version of 1615' and adds that 'the music is not the same as that of Ave rex gentis Anglorum o r . . . Rex gloriose and the Welsh Tony Brenhirf (p 528). [RCG] 477 Tillyard, E.M.W. Poetry: Direct and Oblique. London: Chatto, 1934. Pp 214-25. Rev.ed. 1945. Pp 85-92. Rpt as'Plot-Obliquity in Chaucer's Miller's Tale,' in Discussions of the Canterbury Tales, ed. Charles A. Owen, Jr. (Boston: Heath, 1961), 45-8. MilT, in Chaucer's mature, economical style, begins after his ambiguous apology. He juxtaposes descriptions of Nicholas and John, and gives ironic comment on his own learning, then proceeds to introduce Alison and Absolon, followed by the 'main intrigue' of Nicholas's deception. Although MilT is coarse, it ends with 'the mathematical morality proper to comedy,' when the characters get what they deserve; Alison's reward is marriage to her jealous old husband. Chaucer's characterization and plotting are oblique and go beyond comic limitations. [RCG] 478 Linthicum, M. Channing. '"Faldyng" and"Medlee.'" JEGP 34 (1935), 3941.

170 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

479

480

481

482

483

484

Describes the nature, use and manufacture of the cloths falding and medley. Falding was used as a cover for Nicholas's 'presse' (3212), but this is not mentioned in the article. [RCG] Pyle, Fitzroy. 'A Metrical Point in Chaucer.' N&Q 170 (1936), 128. Chaucer uses a four-stress line for the 'night-spell' chanted by John. Skeat and Robinson do not use this pointing, but it was accepted by Tyrwhitt and Urry. ' A. W. Pollard (probably), and Oilman (perhaps) have taken the carpenter's charm as four-accent verse. Thomas Wright and Bell padded out two of the lines and Morris three, in order to make them presentable heroics.' Chaucer's introduction of the charm 'in its native metre' is more dramatic and artistic. [RCG] Braddy, Haldeen. 'Three Chaucer Notes.' In Essays and Studies in Honor of Carleton Brown. New York: New York U P, 1940. Rpt Essay Index Reprint Series. 1. Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1969. 'Symbolic Colors.' Pp91-9. Among symbolic colours noted by Braddy are 'red for ardent' (p 91) in the description of Absolon. [RCG] Birney, Earle. 'The Two Worlds of Geoffrey Chaucer.' Manitoba Arts Review 2 (1941), 3-16. Rpt in Essays on Chaucerian Irony. Ed. Beryl Rowland. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1985. Pp3-19. In the portrait of Alison, Chaucer fuses graces from the world of aristocracy with vigour from that of the bourgeoisie, giving an effect which produces amusement, not scorn. [RCG] Buhler, Curt F. '"Wirk Alle Thyng by Conseil".' Speculum 24 (1949), 410412. The saying derives originally from Ecclus. 23.24. Chaucer uses it three times in CT, including M//r lines 3529-30. [DOM] Beichner, P.E. 'Absolon's Hair.' MS 12 (1950), 222-33. Beichner compares the hair of the dandified Absolon of M/rwith that of treacherous Absolom, the son of David and 'most beautiful man in Israel' (p 223). Absolom is often described in terms used for feminine beauty, as in the Aurora of Peter Riga, mentioned in ED. His golden hair and beard were plentiful; Hugh of St Victor and Adam Scotus considered luxuriant hair a sign of excess. Thus the use of the name Absolon gives appropriate associations with fleshly excesses and feminine beauty. [RCG] Parker, RoscoeE. 'Pilates Voys.' Speculum 25 (1950), 237-44. Parker examines the origins of the tradition that the voice of Pilate, in mystery plays, suggests a boastful and tyrannical nature. Except in the Towneley plays, Pilate vents anger, in 'the Biblical, apocryphal and patristic tradition' (p 238), against the Jews and those watching over the tomb, but not against Jesus. Apocryphal accounts of Pilate's early life show him as ruthless and cruel; his character became bombastic and melodramatic, like

Miller's Tale I m

485

486

487

488 489

490

that of Herod. Chaucer may have seen such a Pilate on stage, 'as well as a Christmas prince at a Temple festivity' (p 241), with Pilate as a figure for unjust judges and false prelates. Thus the voice of Pilate used by the Miller was that of the 'unpopular, tyrannical, and ruthless official of history and legend and homily who, like the Miller, would "abyde no man for his curteisye'"(p244). [RCG] Albrecht, W.P. 'Chaucer's Miller's Tale.' Expl9 (1951), Item 25. Alison does not escape 'the ridicule of dramatic irony,' and the comic effect of animal imagery used in her description is her punishment. Her slight resistance to Nicholas has 'short-lived propriety,' and 'this brief pretense of modesty... makes Alison a comic character as well as the instrument of comic irony.' [RCG] Yoffie, Leah Rachel Clara. 'Chaucer's "White Paternoster," Milton's Angels, and a Hebrew Night Prayer.' SFQ15 (1951), 203-10. John's prayer, said to the four corners of his house and on his threshold, is compared to Hebrew prayers which call for the protection of angels. These in turn resemble later Christian prayers to angels and the Evangelists and Milton's references to angels in Paradise Lost. Yoffie also notes associations of the prayer called 'White Paternoster', with a sister, brother or daughter of St Peter. [RCG] Coffman, G.R. 'The Miller's Tale: 3187-3215: Chaucer and the Seven Liberal Arts in Burlesque Vein.' MLN61 (1952), 329-31. In Chaucer's treatment of the objects of Nicholas's study the trivium is mentioned briefly—he 'hadde lerned art'; but astrology, and its application to weather prophecy, is more important. The quadrivium is given more attention, through Ptolemy's Almagest, an astrolabe and augrym stones for his abacus, causing John to fear for Nicholas' sanity because of his 'dabbling with "astromye," one of God's secrets' (p 331). The application of music, 'a tune for Alison' (p 331), is the climax of the treatment of the quadrivium. 'The cumulative effect of all these preparatory details creates a burlesque heightened artistically through individualized characterization and narrative verisimilitude'(p 331). See 490. [RCG] Friend,A.C. 'The Proverbs of Serb of Wilton.' MS16(1954), 179-218. Proverb 40 of this collection of Anglo-Norman proverbs is found in MilT (3392-3). [RCG] Vancura, Zdenek. 'Anglicky Stredoveky Vasnkv v Ceskem Rouchu.' Casopis Pro Moderni Filologii 36 (1954), 193-9,249. Not seen. [RCG] Harder, Kelsie B. ' Chaucer's Use of the Mystery Plays in the Miller's Tale.' MLQ17 (1956), 193-8. Harder refers to Coffman 487, and suggests that Chaucer parodies mystery cycles in MilT, as he parodies romances in Thop. The Miller, a ranting

172 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales buffoon, resembles Pilate and Herod, as seen in mystery plays, and Absolon has played the part of Herod. Absolon's costume is like Herod's, and 'the traditional stage character of Herod resembles closely the combination of the Miller and Absolon' (p 195). Absolon's character may have been based on one of the parish clerks attached to the guild of St Nicholas, which conducted plays; the Reeve, as a carpenter, may have belonged to the guild that staged the Noah play, which resembles the episode of John the carpenter. Harder considers 'the connections with the mystery plays . . . too numerous and pervasive to be discounted' (p 198), including the narrator's disclaimer, related to scholars' comments on the coarseness of mystery plays. [RCG] 491 O'Connor, John J. 'The Astrological Background of the Miller's Tale.' Speculum 31(1956), 120-5. Chaucer expected his audience to know that Noah was considered an astrologer, able to predict the flood, and that natural catastrophes were based on conjunctions of the superior planets: Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. The flood was thought to have been foretold by the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Cancer, (the conjunction also mentioned in 7U, HI, 624-8). Since astrology was of interest to the laity in Chaucer's era, in spite of clerical opposition, Nicholas can appeal to John's knowledge of his bileve, where he reconciles 'the discordant elements of astrology and revelation' (p 125) and reminds him of folklore about Noah. John's fate is made 'poetically just and thoroughly humorous . . .[by] the element of pride, always present in the anti-intellectual, which makes John more readily believe that he has been chosen the confidant of Divine Providence, a second Noah, the third father of the world' (p 125). See also 521. [RCG] 492 Kreuzer, James R. 'The Swallow in Chaucer's "Miller's Tale".' MLN13 (1958), 81. In medieval bestiaries the characteristic of second sight was attributed to swallows. It was believed that the birds would leave a nest which was about to tumble from the roof. Kreuzer suggests that this is the basis for an ironic comparison of Alison to a swallow. See also 511,628. [RCG] 493 Wordsworth, Jonathan. 'A Link between the Knight's Tale and the Miller's.' M£27(1958),21. Wordsworth refers to the Miller's intention to give a burlesque of KnTand to Everett's suggestion that the repetition of Arcite's words 'Alone, withouten any companye' shows a link. [See Dorothy Everett, 'Some Reflections on Chaucer's "Art Poetical",' Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture, PBA 36(1950), 131-54,p 141.] There is a clearer link between the two tales in the use of rhetorical questions about Palamon and Absolon in times of reversal, since 'though rhetorical questions are common in Chaucer's higher style this is the only example in the tales of the Miller, Reeve, Friar and

Miller's Tale/\13

494

495

496

497

Summoner'. He cites the questions about Palamon (CT1454-6,1870-1, 2652-3) and Absolon (3747-9) as 'one clear case . . . of the Miller "quyting" the Knight by a deliberate verbal echo.' [RCG] Bowen, Robert. ' The Flatus Symbol in Chaucer.' Inland (Salt Lake City) 2 (1959), 19-22. Through flatus, Chaucer expresses 'a complex humor, blent of disgust and Sophoclean irony' (p 19). Bowen suggests two archetypes: a natural man, the flatulator, and a fop, the flatulatee. 'The major literary statement... is that man is flesh as well as spirit, that man is a combination of the vulgar and the sublime, the earthly and heavenly, and that his denial of this can lead only to his chagrin' (p 20). [RCG] Beichner, Paul E. 'Characterization in The Miller's Tale.' In Chaucer Criticism 1: The Canterbury Tales. Ed. R.J. Schoeck and J. Taylor. Notre Dame, IN: U of Notre Dame P, 1960. Pp 117-29. Chaucer's creation of characters in MilTproduces 'a robust, organic literary piece instead of just a vulgar story upon which several fine portraits were wasted' (p 118). Beichner discusses 'Absolon's character in its relation to the role of the duped suitor and in its effect on Alisoun, and . . . Nicholas's character by way of contrast with Absolon's' (p 118), themes elaborated in 108 and 483. Absolon's name recalls biblical Absolom, associated with pride and effeminate beauty. His characterization shows that 'Absolon is indeed more ladylike than Alisoun' (p 119). Beichner compares and contrasts him with Absolom, the Miller and Mirth in RR, emphasizing appearance and fastidiousness, and the recurring use ofjoly. Much of Nicholas's characterization is accomplished through the word hende. The poet's creation of characters 'for the various roles in the little farce . . . [makes] it appear that the plot was created for them and not that they were created for the sake of the fabliau plot' (p 127). [RCG] Birney, Earle. 'The Inhibited and the Uninhibited: Ironic Structure in the "Miller's Tale".' Neophil 44 (1960), 333-8. Rpt in Essays on Chaucerian Irony. Ed. Beryl Rowland. Pp. 77-83. See 481. Chaucer uses a 'pattern of structural irony' (p 333), to display Alison's lovers—the squeamish, inhibited Absolon and the successful, confident, uninhibited Nicholas. Their differing fates 'proceed inevitably from their contrasting characters as lovers' (p 334). Oral, olfactory and auditory images are contrasted and balanced as the tale is told, and the significance of Alison's reactions to the two clerks is discussed. 'Only she remains unscathed and entirely successful' (p 337). [RCG] Bronson, Bertrand H. In Search of Chaucer. The Alexander Lectures, 195 859. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1960. '[T]he description of Alison... is full of natural comparisons' (p 16). Bronson refers briefly to comparisons with the weasel, sloe, pere-jonette

174 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

498

499

500

501

tree, wool, swallow, calf, kid, colt, bragot, meeth and apples, (3233-62). [RCG] Kaske, R.E. 'Patristic Exegesis in the Criticism of Medieval Literature: The Defense.' In Critical Approaches to Medieval Literature: Selected Papers from the English Institute, 1958-1959. Ed. Dorothy Bethurum. New York: Columbia UP, 1960. Pp27-60. Replying to Donaldson's 'Patristic Exegesis in the Criticism of Medieval Literature: The Opposition' (in the same volume, pp 134-53; rpt in Donaldson's Speaking of Chaucer 103, 134-53), Kaske refers to the echoes of the Canticle of Canticles in MilT. He finds parallels in the descriptions of Chaucer's characters and those of the Canticle, (3259,3263,3261-2,3265-6, 3267,3696-707,3708,3712-13), and contrasts 'the carnality of Absolon and Alison and the charity of the bride and bridegroom' (p 59). The author and bridegroom, Solomon, and the biblical Absolom, both sons of David, were opposed in medieval interpretation, so that Absolom is sometimes identified with enemies of Christ, and so mentioned in commentaries on the Canticles. [RCG] Siegel, Paul N. 'Comic Irony in The Miller's Tale. BUSE 4 (1960), 114-20. '[T]he actions of each of the characters are ironically out of keeping with his avowed religious belief (p 115), eg the incongruous use of double-entendre by Nicholas, the student of divinity. Absolon, Nicholas and John are punished for foolish vanity, but Alison, who has animal instincts, not pride, escapes harm. 'The action is that of the world of comedy, where not the transgressions of moral law but the violations of good sense are punished, but this world of comedy is set against a religious backdrop which renders the action ironically trivial by the perspective it suggests' (p 119). Additional irony comes from the Miller's lack of awareness of the 'transience and triviality [of worldly things] when seen in the light of eternity' (p 120). [RCG] Neuse, Richard. "The Knight: The First Mover in Chaucer's Human Comedy.' UTQ31 (1961-2), 299-315. A 'major irony' ofKnT, 'at once tragic and comic . . . [is] that everyone gets precisely what he desires' (p 307). This is confirmed in MilT, where Nicholas, Absolon and Alison get what they desire and John 'the cuckolding he expected' when 'love is reduced to its most basic terms' (p 307), in a parody ofKnT. There are similarities in references to the planet-gods and astrology, animal will and imagery, and the perspectives of the Knight and Miller. [RCG] Bolton, W.F. 'The "Miller's Tale": An Interpretation.' MS 24 (1962), 83-94. Readers have been unable to decide whether Chaucer found the motifs of flood, branding and misplaced kiss in MilT together in a source or combined them himself, treating 'the apparently incongruous elements of courtly and common, sacred and profane, realistic and fantastic' (p 83). Similarly, they

Miller's Tale 111 5 have found difficulty in accepting Chaucer's ability, as 'author of only a few surviving fabliaux, [to] write a tale which is the zenith of the genre' (p 83). Although he does not want to 'be blamed for this "cherles tale'"(84), the 'moral' of the last five lines of the tale (3 850-4) and the disclaimer (3171-86) are patently part of Chaucer's fiction of the pilgrimage. Other interpreters, Harder [490] and Siegel [499], have 'overlooked too much of the "religious background" to make a meaningful appraisal' (p 85). Bolton comments on Chaucer's ironic use ofhende [cf. 108] and whit as in similes for the clothes worn by Alison and Absolon, (3236,3324), rather than the expected use, for their complexions, effecting 'the separation of the person and the traditional attitude' (p 86), noted also by Donaldson [103]. Bolton compares these comments with those of Beichner [483] and refers to lines 3314-15,3374 and 3688-91 and remarks in Middle English sermons; he concludes that Absolon suffers an excess of pride. [RCG] 502 Cline,RuthH. 'Three Notes on TheMiller 's Tale.' HLQ 26 (1962), 131^5. Amplifies some associations of local references in MilT. StNeot (3771), St Frideswide (3448-9) and St Thomas Becket (3291,3425 and 3461) all had special importance to residents of Oxford. While he was a page in the household of Prince Lionel, Chaucer may have served at Oseney Abbey, which is visited by Absolon (3659). Absolon's neglect of the tonsure [cf. 483], and the instructions of contemporary bishops on the dress and coiffure of their clerks, indicate that 'Absolon is one of those clerics following the fashions of the world castigated by the bishops and archbishops' (p 145). [RCG] 503 Kaske, R.E. 'The Canticum Canticorum in the Miller's Tale.' SP 59 (1962), 479-500. Expanded from an undocumented, abbreviated form, 'Patristic Exegesis in the Criticism of Medieval Literature: The Defense,' in Critical Approaches, pp 52-60. See 498. The opposition of the mystical Canticum and vulgar fabliau gives force to an incongruous pattern of allusion, seen particularly in Absolon's plea and the descriptions of Alison and Absolon. '[T]he full comic incongruity of the "sponsa" Alisoun . . . presupposes a spontaneous, unobtrusive awareness of the sublime incongruity of Mary, the sponsa wholly without knowledge of man' (p 497). Regarding allusions in MilT as 'primarily a parody of the Canticum, or as primarily a parody or a satire of its spiritual meanings, [raises]... the considerable problem of accounting in some way for their presence in the tale' (p 499). Kaske subscribes to a 'growing conviction that the Miller's Tale is not only one of the world's great comedies, but perhaps also part of a governing moral theme in the Canterbury Tales (p 500). [RCG] 504 Pace, George B. 'Physiognomy and Chaucer's Summoner and Alisoun.' Traditio 18(1962), 417-20.

176 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

505

506

507

508

The black eyebrows of the Summoner and Alison are physiognomical signs of a lecherous nature. Nicholas, as an astrologer, was acquainted with physiognomy, and recognized the sign. See also 539. [RCG] Simmonds, James D. '"Hende Nicholas" and the Clerk.' N&Q 207 (1962), 446. Particular traits—the possession of books, a maiden-like manner and the repeated use of hende as counterpart to worthy—connect Nicholas of MilT and the Clerk of Oxford in GP. Chaucer's aim may be to 'present the Miller as satirizing the Clerk as an individual, and, through him as representatives of atype, clerks in general.' Dissimilarities are also important; Nicholas's modest bearing conceals his craftiness. In calling attention to this false appearance, the Miller may be offering an unjustly 'unsympathetic estimate of the Clerk's qualities—an estimate as unjust as it is natural for such a man as Robin.' Aleyn and John of RvTare not given any characteristics held in common by Nicholas and the Clerk. [RCG] Boothman, Janet. '"Who Hath no Wyf, he is no Cokewold": A Study of John and January in Chaucer's Miller's and Merchant's Tales.' Thoth 4 (1963), 3-14. Similarities and parallels may be found in MilT and MerT. There seems to be 'moral chastisement of both John and January for their refusal to see the facts as they are, for their persistence in trying to ally with elements of youthful "joye" to which they have, by virtue of living too long, forfeited the right' (p 5), although their love of their wives is acknowledged. '[I]n both stories, Chaucer's most apparent jape is the flourishing convention of courtly love'(p 3). [RCG] Olson, Paul A. 'Poetic Justice in the Miller's Tale: MLQ24 (1963), 227-36. Chaucer presents his principals in portraits, preliminary action and main action. Olson expands the allusions that describe the characters, comparing them with pilgrim characters, considering John to be analogous to the Reeve, Robin the servant to Robin the miller, and Alison to the Wife of Bath. He also relates them to others they represent: John to thejalowc, Alison to vain and lecherous wives and Absolon to the biblical Absolom. Absolon's wooing makes 'silly versions of the love songs in the Song of Songs' (p 232). 'Lechery, avarice and pride take a human form and act out their respective impulses in Nicholas, John, and Absolon' (p 234). The Miller demonstrates these characteristics. 'Chaucer's genius is to endow the tale with thoroughly civilized overtones for the disengaged reader, to make him sense that folly is both disgusting and funny, that it has its punishments in and out of time' (p 235). [RCG] Huppe", Bernard F. A Reading of the Canterbury Tales. Albany: State U of NewYorkP, 1964. Rev 1967.

Miller's Tale I 111 MHTis to 'quite' KnTby showing up 'its world of pretense and pretension' (p 76) with a story of realistic, believable characters. KnTis of peace coming out of discord, but 'the Miller... sets off a chain of discord' (p 77), leading to RvT. The Miller describes a wife as sovereign, in blasphemous word-play (3163-6); his play onpryvetee is a leitmotif, and his 'heroine escapes the hot iron' (p 77). The hero is a poor clerk who 'lives by his wits and for the pleasure of exercising them' (p 79). His scheme 'springs from the same "fantasye" (3191) which led him away from philosophy to astrology' (p 80); it depends on a Christian-biblical frame, in contrast to the participation of pagan deities in KnT. No doubt the Miller admires it, but 'Nicholas' realistic plotting is as much a matter of make-believe, of fancy, as anything in the Knight's Tale' (p 80). Alison and her seduction scene (3275-302) are richly and vividly described. Absolon seems to be the Squire's country yokel equivalent (3314-24), his delusions 'exemplified in his calf-like wooing of Alison (3342-3382)' (p 82). M/Vfand KnT give contrasting views of reality. MilT 'plays its part in the dramatic design of Crby revealing the confusion inherent in the view of reality which the Miller opposes to that of the Knight . . . As commentary on the Knight's Tale, then, the Miller's Tale reveals the confusion of the requiter and the clarity of the requited' (pp 86-7). [RCG] • Review by A.C. Spearing, M/£36 (1967), 195-9: Huppe" fails to respond 'to Chaucer's poetry. . . But if what The Canterbury Tales have to offer are simply revelations of truths already revealed on a higher authority than Chaucer's, then their only merit is difficulty; and this indeed is a view which Hupp6 willingly takes over from Augustine' (p 199). • Review by Valerie Edden, MLR 62 (1967), 306-8: 'This is a stimulating book, and its claims need to be answered by those who are not willing to accept them. With its easy style and the desire to bring Chaucer into line with modern l i f e . . . it is presumably intended for undergraduates' (p 307). • Review by John Lawlor, RES n.s. 17(1966), 304-6: discerns that the book is written for 'a college audience... He does not hesitate to make some fairly standard observations; he is not afraid of honest clich6; and he diversifies his exposition by anecdote and colloquialism' (pp 304-5), which may disturb English readers. 509 Macdonald, Angus. 'Absolon and StNeot.' Neophil 48(1964), 235-7. St Neot, mentioned by Gerveys, the blacksmith, is identified with Athelstan, the eldest brother of King Alfred. Some chroniclers suggest that St Neot rebuked Alfred for sins, possibly those of the flesh. Gerveys may put himself in the place of St Neot by jestingly rebuking Absolon for his sins. 'It may even be that Gervys is hinting that Absolon has caught some disease as a result of his affair with "some gay gerl", and has come to be healed, as Alfred was by his kinsman St Neot... viritoot... may have

178 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

510

511

512

513

reminded him oftoute or towte (3812,3853), i.e. "buttocks, backside'" (pp 236-7). See also 557. [RCG] Rowland, Beryl. 'Alison Identified ("The Miller's Tale", 3234).' AN&Q3 (1964), 3-^,20-21,39 Alison's portrait is enlivened by comparisons with the weasel (3234), including domestication (3224), the black and white colouring of her clothing (3235-42), and the bright eyes and plucked eyebrows (3244-6), which suggest its appearance and supposedly lustful nature. She resembles the weasel in disposition, movement and physique (3259-62,3263,3282-3, 3264). The creature was associated with shape-shifting, sexual trickery, storms, showers and bad young women. 'Alison' was a common witch's name. Absolon's gifts, including fermented honey, resemble a rite 'still observed toward the weasel by brides in Greece' (p 39). The weasel gave judgement, and Alison gives rough justice. It is an appropriate figure for the heroine 'whose animal nature brings discomfort to others but remains itself sportive (3740), tricky (3832-33), and untamed (3850-51)' (p 39). Rowland refers, in passing, to the description bolt upright (supina), used by Aleyn, (4266), which she associates with the sexual proclivities suggested by the weasel imagery used to describe Alison in MilT. [RCG] . 'Chaucer's Swallow and Dove "Sittynge on a Berne." ("MilT', I, 3258,"Pard.Prol.", VI,397).' N&Q209(1964),48-49. Chaucer's comparison of Alison's song to a swallow's seems particularly apt. 'The swallow's song is a joyous, warbling twitter and trill but it is extremely soft and difficult to hear' (pp 48-9). Rowland prefers this association to Kreuzer's suggestion [492] that Chaucer referred to the characteristic of second sight, noted in the Bestiary. See also 628. [RCG] Wood, Chauncey. 'The April Date as a Structural Device in The Canterbury Tales: MLQ25 (1964),259-71. MilT supports 'the assertion that Chaucer intended his readers to think of the flood' (p 269) through the irony of the Miller's telling a story of a false flood on the day of the true one. There are further ironies in comparing John to Noah, a reputed astrologer, Nicholas's offer of a chance to be saved and the 'poetic justice meted out to each character according to his crime' (p 270). Absolon, Nicholas and John all need water, which is associated with the purification of baptism. [RCG] Bentley, Joseph. 'Chaucer's Fatalistic Miller.' SAQ 64 (1965), 247-53. In MilT, Chaucer's fusion of the stories of the carpenter and the misdirected kiss, is more than 'a trivial piece of farcical ribaldry' (p 247), and can be related to astrology, mystery plays and courtly love. It also illustrates the Boethian deterministic idea of tragedy, giving a distorted picture of the philosophical implications ofKnT. Nicholas is 'a specialist in astrology, the business of foreseeing the future . . . in seduction, the business . . . of

Miller's Tale I \19 manipulating the future' and must not be allowed to 'usurp the role of Fortune' (p 249). Absolon, 'scapegoat and avenging fury' (p 249), is able to thwart him. The imagery of taste and smell associated with Absolon foreshadows his functions in the tale. Although M//rfits within the Boethian ethical framework, it is comedy, not tragedy; thus the 'crimes' which are punished are 'follies.' Only Alison is unpunished, and the animal imagery associated with her suggests that 'being an animal, she is not responsible for her lechery and therefore should be exempt' (p 253). John, Nicholas and Absolon suffer, and 'the entire action is a Boethian exemplum of the follies of meddling with the future' (p 252). [RCG] 514 Williams, George. A New View of Chaucer. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1965. The 'evidence indicates that Chaucer was closely, perhaps intimately, associated with John of Gaunt-both in Chaucer's official capacities and in his personal relationships' (p 167). CTand minor poems 'bear evidence of Chaucer's interest in Gaunt and his circle' (p 168). In MilT, Nicholas 'curiously suggests Chaucer himself as the two have many characteristics in common (p 155). Given this similarity, the fact that Nicholas is said to be partly supported by friends (3220), and the evidence of Chaucer's own education, '[pjossibly Chaucer's lost years, 1361-66, saw him at Oxford first, and later on at the Temple. His Oxford expenses would have been paid partly by his father, and partly by Gaunt. Gaunt's motive in educating him would have been not only to assist a likeable and brilliant young man, but also to prepare this brilliant young man for service to Gaunt later on ... If [this] interpretation is really correct, it presents another example of the way in which Chaucer used his own experience, and in particular his experience in relation to John of Gaunt, as a starting-place for his poetry' (pp 157-8). See also 348. [DOM] 515 Hoffman, Richard L. Ovid and the Canterbury Tales. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1966. Pp 114-8. The second line in the couplet 'For som folk wol ben wonnen for richesse, / And somme for strokes, and somme for gentillesse' (3381-2), is often glossed in MSS ' Vnde Ouidius Ictibus agrestis' (p 114). This may derive from a misreading of Fasti II. 193 which would have initiated' a "proverb" concerning the efficacy of caresses in wooing country lasses' (p 115). Hoffman also compares the flood predicted by Nicholas (3570-4) and the deluge in Metamorphoses 1.293-6, and Absolon's expectations of the kiss with Ars Amatoria 1.669-72. [DOM] 516 Jordan, Robert M. Chaucer and the Shape of Creation: The Aesthetic Possibilities of Inorganic Structure. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1967. 'The irregularities and inconsistencies of a Chaucerian narrative, particularly the recurrent disruptions of illusion but also other overt evidence of the maker's hand—the exposed joints and seams, the unresolved contradic-

1807 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales tions, the clashes of perspective—are not simply the signs of primitive genius, as Sidney and Dryden were willing to believe; nor are they trivial stylistic blemishes, as modern advocates of psychological realism and dramatic unity have maintained. They are significant determinants of Chaucer's art, based upon an aesthetic which conceives of art not as an organism, a living plant, but as an inorganic material, a "veil"' (p 8). A comparison of MilTmth the popular romances suggests that 'high genre does not certify art and low genre does not preclude it. In approaching the Miller's Tale I think we can pass beyond comparative evaluation of romance and fabliau, nobility and bourgeoisie, to considerations of the aesthetic character of the tale' (p 187). A focus on structure is justified by the aesthetic, rather than moral, achievement of the tale. Before the action begins, the characters are introduced, and '[t]heir presentation constitutes a distinctly structured preamble to the action.' In the relationship between preamble and action, there is a 'coordinateness which is characteristic of inorganic art in general but is particularly important in the Miller's Tale' (p 190). The characters fall into two three-part combinations, those of Nicholas-Alison-John and Absolon-Nicholas-Alison, and '[t]he interplay of these two triangles constitutes much of the art of the tale' (p 192). [DOM] • Review by Julia G. Ebel, CE29 (1967-8), 572-6: although '[h]is discussion of the denouement of The Miller's Tale... is first rate' (pp 574-5), she finds that Jordan 'does not provide us with a "vocabulary" of criticism. He has written a bad book' (p 576). • Review by D.S. Brewer, N&Qn.s. 16 [214] (1969), 109-10: 'Mr. Jordan has written a stimulating book which everyone interested in Chaucer should read' (p 109). Brewer notes some 'matters of argument,' without condemnation, concluding that Jordan has 'made a useful contribution to a promising line of inquiry' (p 110). • Review by P.W. Rogers, QQ15(\ 968), 751-3: 'Jordan comments valuably on the ironic juxtaposition of rhymes and the syntactic shifts which affect point of view near the end of The Miller's Tale, but his earlier comments on the fugue-like counterpoint (forgetting the architectural metaphor) of the tale merely confuse' (p 753). • Review by W. Munson, CL 22 (1970), 70-5: finds that 'the incidental attention to the rhetorical dichotomy between descriptive characterization and action in the Miller's Tale seems arresting and central... but its pertinence to the lines of action... remains vague' (p 71). • Review by Francis Lee Utley, MLQ 30 (1969), 284-91: 'he uses [the views of contemporary scholars and critics] in a genuine scholarly dialectic, employing neither personal polemic nor aloof abstraction from his peers . . . His individual readings are lively... and his challenge to the interpreters of the two great poems, Troilus and Canterbury Tales, is audacious

Miller's Tale I181 and meant to keep us arguing' (p 291). 517 Lanham, Richard A. 'Game, Play and High Seriousness in Chaucer's Poetry.' ES48 (1967), 1-24. 'What Arnold suspected when he charged Chaucer with lack of high seriousness was that life seemed to Chaucer more often than not a series of different games, none of them ultimately real or serious' (p 9). In his analysis of game and seriousness in the CT, Lanham mentions the DeArte Honeste Amandi of Andreas Capellanus, noting that 'the ritual structure built upon the sexual act was enjoyed almost as much as the sexual act itself.' This can be seen in '[t]he Miller's Tale [which] places this primacy of ritual enjoyment beyond reasonable doubt. Granted that Nicholas wants to seduce Alisoun, in their affair as the Tale presents it to us getting there is half the fun'(pi 5). See also 571. [DOM] 518 Brewer, D.S. 'Class Distinction in Chaucer.' Speculum 43 (1968), 290-305. MHTis 'really a courtly joke against old-fashioned provincial love-language, and against petty low-class folk who in their animal lusts ape the refined manners of their betters. It is the counterpart of the Manciple's sour comment, coming (paradoxically and non-realistically in the Miller's mouth), from the point of view of the upper classes' (p 294). The description of Alison 'parodies the formal description of the beautiful court lady, but the parody, though splendid comic poetry, does not mock the formal ideal; it mocks its lower-class subject, Alisoun.' Lines 3268-70 are 'amusing' and 'snobbish'; the passage is obviously meant for an audience of lords, not yeomen'(p 294). [DOM] 519 Miller, Robert P. 'Allegory in The Canterbury Tales.' In Companion to Chaucer Studies. Ed. Beryl Rowland. Pp 268-90. Rev. edn.pp 326-51 [cited]. See 62. In discussing the possibilities for allegorical readings of various of the tales, Miller says that 'the Miller's ignorance is perfectly captured in Nicholas' climactic call for "water" (3815). Especially in the narrative context, the extended meanings of "water" are obvious, the Flood being a familiar prefiguration of baptism . . . and consequently of purification in many senses. In any sense this is precisely what is lacking in the Miller's world; the extended meanings of Nicholas' call constitute a reflexive comment on the teller, particularly because he is personally blind to them' (p 335). [DOM] 520 Novelli, Cornelius. ' Absolon's "Freend So Deere": A Pivotal Point in the Miller's Tale.' Neophil 52 (1968), 65-9. The passage in which Absolon goes to the smith to procure the coulter is 'structurally crucial' to the tale. It provides 'an essential narrative lull between two bits of explosive comedy, the misdirected kiss and the branding. Second, during it [Chaucer] manages a difficult but necessary develop-

182 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales ment in the character of Absolon. Third, and perhaps most important, during the lull Chaucer gathers up the threads of some important motifs, to give the reader a freshened perspective on the comic meaning of the final scenes' (p 65). Absolon's reaction to the misdirected kiss is 'like a conversion of his life, a metanoia,' as is apparent in lines 3750-7. This passage 'augments certain thematic elements; the ironies of Absolon's reforming and of the smith's sage expectations further prepare us for the final swift modulations of apparent sense into palpable folly' (p 69). [DOM] 521 Wood, Chauncey. 'Chaucer and Astrology.' In Companion to Chaucer Studies. Ed. Beryl Rowland. Pp 176-91 [cited]. Rev. edn. pp 202-20. See 62. Wood notes O'Connor's comments [491] as 'A thoroughly admirable treatment of Chaucer's uses of astrology and astrological tradition' (p 183). [DOM] 522 Burkhart, Robert E. 'Chaucer's Absolon: A Sinful Parody of the Miller.' Cithara 8 (1969), 47-54. John, Nicholas and Absolon show avarice, lechery and pride. The pilgrim Miller is linked with all three sins, as is Absolon, which 'makes Absolon a parody of the Miller within the Miller's own tale' (p 47). Burkhart compares the Miller's and Absolon's appearance and characteristics, noting Absolon's resemblance to the biblical Absolom, Luxuria and Ydelnesse in RR, pointing out in particular 'that Ydelnesse's garden and Absolon's speech to Alisoun (3698-3707) are both related to the Canticle of Canticles' (p 52). The late and elaborate introduction of Absolon shows his importance and 'thematic association with the Miller' (p 52). Both wear blue and white, 'colors traditionally associated with the Virgin' (p 53). St Paul is connected iconographically with millers, and Absolon's shoes are decorated like St Paul's window. Both are linked with mystery plays, and each seeks to 'quyte' another. Absolon is 'the Miller's foppish counterpart in the tale,' with most connections 'pure parody' (p 53). Absolon associates Alison 'with all three of the principal sins by means of his three appeals' (p 53). [RCG] 523 Dean, Christopher. ' Imagery in the Knight's Tale and the Miller's Tale.' MS" 31(1969), 149-63. There has been little study of Chaucer's imagery, but a close examination and comparison of all the images in KnTand MilT shows that such a study is justified. Chaucer uses quite different imagery in either tale, appropriate to their tone and intent. His 'style is usually to avoid all but the plainest images. This simplicity contrasts effectively with his emphatic use of vivid imagery at key points. More importantly, however, it can be demonstrated that Chaucer's imagery transcends the merely stylistic and decorative and ultimately leads to iterative imagery or imagery patterns which have a

Miller's Tale I \*3

524

525

526

527

528

significant contribution to make to the understanding of his works' (p 163). [DOM] Mogan, Joseph J., Jr. Chaucer and the Theme of Mutability. De Proprietatibus Litterarum, Series Practica, 3. The Hague: Mouton, 1969. Only MLT, amongst the CT, 'sustains the mutability theme throughout the entire poem' (p 160), but there are references throughout other tales. John the carpenter's 'primitive sensibility is revealed in his declaration that the world is "ful tikel" (3428), which prepares us for his gullibility even to the extent of believing in 'a flood which will drown all mankind' (p 173). [DOM] . 'The Mutability Motif in The Miller's Tale.' AN&Q 8 (1969), 19. Details the way in which Chaucer delineates John the carpenter's 'sensibility of the world's impermanence... [which] in part disposes him to accept' Nicholas's prophecy. [DOM] Howard, Donald R. 'Chaucer the Man.' In Chaucer's Mind and Art. Pp 3145. See 351. Chaucer gives an 'anxious apology just before "The Miller's Tale'" (p 36). We enjoy echoes of KnTand ask: 'is the Miller poking fun at "The Knight's Tale" or is Chaucer poking fun at it? Or is Chaucer poking fun at the Miller for not understanding the Knight's high seriousness? or is it all three at once?'(p 42). [RCG] Mogan, Joseph J., Jr. 'Chaucer and the Bona Matrimonii.'' ChauR4(l96970), 123^1. Medieval theology concerning the possibility of mortal sin in marital intercourse, derived from St Augustine's De Bono Conjugali, 'plays a significant role' inM/r(pp 128,139). [HMcG] Bloomfield, Morton W. 'The Miller's Tale—An UnBoethian Interpretation.' In Medieval Literature. Ed. Jerome Mandel and Bruce A. Rosenberg. Pp 205-211. See 128. MHTis framed by KnTand RvT, both interpretable by the Boethian philosophy of'justification for the belief that the world is rational, and governed in some fundamental way by reason and order' (p 205). In KnT 'Theseus settles things in this world just as God settles things in the cosmos,' and RvT' is based on justice and fair play.' In MilT, however, Alison cuckolds her husband without punishment. MilT is 'a story of an irrational, unjust world set between two stories of a just and ordered world' (p 206), the opposite of the Boethian universe in which the seemingly irrational is in fact ordered. The intricate structure of the plot is consistent with the fabliau genre, but 'the carrying out of logic and planning to its illogical and unplanned opposite' is inconsistent with the usual characteristic offabula, which was used in Latin rhetoric 'to describe a narrative that was neither true nor seeming to be true' (p 207). The injustice and irrationality of the tale are masked so that 'man seems to be master of his destiny' (p 210). How-

184 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales ever, 'mastery' is only apparent. 'Fortune is not the servant of providence . . . but the arbitrary creature who cloaks her nefarious activities in a seamless cloak of order' (p 210). The reader, too, is implicated in this' irrational and arbitrary' world, in which 'our superior knowledge can do us no more good than that of the characters' because 'the universe is as irrational at heart as we are'(p 211). [HMcG] 529 Donaldson, E. Talbot. 'Medieval Poetry and Medieval Sin.' In Speaking of Chaucer. Pp 164-74. See 103. John the carpenter accepts Nicholas's prohibition of even looking at his wife, Alison, while they hang in their tubs, for fear of committing sin. Donaldson explores concepts of sin within marriage, as John would understand them, using ParsTas a gloss on MilT, and augmenting that source with Ayenbite oflnwyt (Michael of Northgate), Handling Sin (Robert Manning of Bourn) and Langland. He gives further comparisons of John and January, and their treatment of their wives, concluding that 'the Miller's Tale is not about lechery, it is about a world that contains much lechery, but also, and more important, contains gaiety and high spirits and large folly and great wit and a marvellously naughty resourcefulness of the imagination' (p 173). [RCG] 530 Miller, Robert P. 'The Miller's Tale as Complaint.' ChauR 5 (1970-1), 14760. MilT 'can be read as an exercise in the tradition of complaint against the [three] estates... from an anti-authoritarian point of view' (p 147), ie from the Miller's 'conviction of superiority born of experience.' The Miller's 'debased' anti-chivalry can be seen in his 'militantly provincial' perspective on 'the world proposed by the Knight' (p 149) and especially in his hostility towards courtly behavior. The attack on the church, the second estate, occupies the 'central action' of the tale, and 'strikes directly at the primary Christian concern with salvation' (p 155). The Miller's is a 'debased' piety that equates Alison's pryvetee with the Christian doctrine of the divine mystery. A member of the third estate himself, he condemns members of this estate who do not see the folly of accepting guidance from either 'temporal or spiritual authorities,' especially where this touches upon their 'private interests' (p 157). An extensive quotation of a homiletic complaint [taken from G. R. Owst's Literature and Pulpit in Medieval England (Cambridge, 1933), p 362], serves to show the extent to which the Miller himself offends in not recognising the 'informing spirit' of the three estates. The article also touches upon the Miller's attitude towards women, which 'involves us in an oddly succulent version of clerical antifeminism,' informed here by Jerome's reading of Theophrastus, who 'regarded women a s . . . chattels' (p 158). [HMcG]

Miller's Tale! 185 531 Nist, John. 'Chaucer's Apostrophic Mode in The Canterbury Tales.'' TSL 15 (1970), 85-98. MIT is 'a profane example of courtly love . . . that by virtue of the execution of its poetic justice becomes a laughter-induced purgation of both pornography and obscenity' (p 87). In its only apostrophe, the Miller speaks of 'the imagination of man, in alliance with his feelings, that leads him into sin,' in John's case 'into both pride and suspicion' so that he is 'the most severely punished of the three male principles' (p 87). [RCG] 532 Reiss, Edmund. 'Daun Gerveys in the Miller's Tale.' PLL 6 (1970), 115-24. ' [I]n a narrative as well-shaped and as symbolically rich as the Miller's Tale, it is doubtful that twenty-five lines would be present to show where a character obtained a prop unless there were something special about the prop and about its owner' (p 116). Reiss explores the meaning and symbolism of Absolon's visit to Gerveys, concentrating particularly on oaths, the words viritoot and miller, connections with Vulcan, devils, mills and millers, including the pilgrim Miller, and the paradox of the use of a ploughshare for such a hostile act. [RCG] 533 Rowland, Beryl. 'The Play of the Miller's Tale: A Game Within a Game.' ChauR 5 (1970-1), 140-6. Following Rossell Hope Robbins's contention that in mystery plays the word game stood equivalent to 'play,' meaning dramatic performance, Rowland argues that in the line from the Prologue, 'and eek men shal nat maken ernest of game,' ernest is not simply an antonym meaning serious, but 'reality in contrast to counterfeit' (p 141-42). She suggests that the juxtaposition of the terms was 'meaningful within the terms of the contemporary Mystery play,' and the Miller's promise to provide a '"legende and a lyf' directly points to St Joseph of the Holy Family' (p 142). Traditional exegesis and hermeneutics determined 'the form of the pageants,' and Chaucer exploited this convention in providing a series of correspondences in which John the Carpenter and Alison become Joseph and Mary, prefigured by Noah and Eve; and Nicholas is Gabriel, the angel of the Annunciation, prefigured by the Serpent of the Garden of Eden. There are also significant references to Angelus ad Virginem, the Kynges Noote, logos, Herod, the Ludus Coventriae, John Skelton, and the Devil. [HMcG] 534 Smyser, Hamilton M. 'A View of Chaucer's Astronomy.' Speculum 45 (1970), 359-73. Surveying Chaucer's references to astronomy and astrology, Smyser refers briefly to '"hende Nicholas" of the Miller's Tale, who owned an astrolabe and knew a certain number of "conclusions'" (p 363), and so was able to 'forecast a flood for nine o'clock on a Monday night, which happens to be—though we are not told so—an hour sacred to Saturn, sender of floods' (p371). [RCG]

186 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 535 Thro, A. Booker. 'Chaucer's Creative Comedy: A Study of the Miller's Tale and the Shipman 's Tale.' ChauR 5 (1970-1), 97-111. In Chaucer's comedy the fantastically elaborate problem solutions are so far in excess of plot requirements as to suggest that they are dictated by 'Chaucer's enthusiastic delight in mental gymnastics.' Consistent with this, and in opposition to T.W. Craik's view of the tale as farce, MilTs 'world is peopled with witty creators' [333]. Farce is seen as a destructively aggressive process of exposure resulting in deflation or retribution, especially in the fabliaux, while for comedy the 'keeping up' of appearances is important. For example, '[t]he major appearance' in the MilTis 'Nicholas's re-creation of biblical history' (p 101) (a regeneration which attests his relation with 'divinity'), and Chaucer ensures that nothing detracts from this by avoiding the farcical characteristics that would traditionally attach to John the Carpenter as the cuckolded husband. A brief contrast is made with Symkyn in RvT, whom 'Chaucer "unmasks"... immediately and mercilessly (392685)'(p 101). [HMcG] 536 Wood, Chauncey. Chaucer and the Country of the Stars: Poetic Uses of Astrological Imagery. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1970. The Canterbury pilgrims' departure date coincides with that of Noah's ark, and the flood is an important theme ofMHT. There is an irony in John's succumbing to Nicholas's astrological predictions, because of Noah's reputation as an astrologer. The flood symbolizes reward and punishment, and water is involved in both of these for characters of the tale. Nicholas predicts a deluge 'as a means of salvation for John' (p 171), but later lack of water brings painful punishment, and each character needs the cleansing of baptism. Nicholas prizes the astrological work of Al-Kindi, a reference 'to be found only in the Paris Manuscript' (p xi), and his indelicate approach to Alison resembles that of a young man in the Taurus panel of Francesco Cossa's fresco Mars and Venus. MilT resembles FranTin having a character 'taken in by the smooth words of a self-styled astrologer' (p 267). [RCG] 537 Bratcher, James T., and Nicolai von Kreisler. The Popularity of the Miller's Tale: SFQ35(\97\l325-35. The comic effect of MilT and analogues with misdirected kiss and branding motifs comes from the suspended plot in the narrative. The first lover is removed by a plot element important in the denouement. 'Chaucer literally (and fantastically) suspends the old carpenter in a tub, but we are satisfied ... because he has been given a sufficient motive' (p 331). The authors compare M/'/rwith three analogues from the US. The logic of the story of Nicholas, Absolon and Alison makes the audience rationalize the absurd. The joke is on Chaucer's audience as well as his characters, giving 'the tale its delight and its moral force' (p 333). [RCG]

Miller's Tale I \W 538 Gellrich, Jesse M. 'Nicholas' "Kynges Noote" and "Melodye".' ELN 8 (1971), 249-52. Difficulty in identifying Nicholas's song has been 'caused by editions which italicize or capitalize "kynges noote'" (p 249). Lack of capitalization and underscoring in manuscripts of The Six-Text Print [Furnivall, 1877] suggests it 'is not necessarily the title or first line of a song' (p 249). It may be 'a musical strain about a king' (p 250), who may be identified in the context of Angelus advirginem and the English 'Gabriel fram hevene king,' about the Annunciation. The song 'has an enticing, dance-like rhythm . . . that could easily lend itself to continual playing on a "sautrie"' (p 250). '"Kynges noote" is probably a continuation of the English lyrics of Angelus ad virginem* (p 251), giving a startling subtext. The song may be 'out of place in the bawdy context of the tale, but Chaucer's choice is a fine point of characterization,' where the 'coincidence of sacred and sexual' typifies Nicholas's '"deerne" methods of getting to Alison in spite of John' (p 252). [RCG] 539 Hanson, Thomas B. 'Physiognomy and Characterization in the Miller's Tale: NM12( 1971),477-82. Chaucer gave the characters in CTa physiognomy appropriate to their roles, but Hanson argues against the theory that Alison's eyebrows (3244-6) are a 'physiognomic sign of lechery,' as propounded in George B. Pace's rendition of John Metham's fifteenth century translation of the Secreta Secretorum, pointing out that physiognomies other than Metham's prohibit 'judgments on the basis on [sic] one token' (p 479), and making the case for Alison's likerous nature on the basis of a more detailed consideration of her features. Nicholas's learning would enable him to 'divine' this. Absolon's physiognomy leads to the interpretation of a 'timid fop and rejected lover' (p 482). See also 504. [HMcG] 540 Haskell, Ann S. 'The Golden Ambiguity of the Canterbury Tales." ErasmusR 1 (1971), 1-9. The 'sphere of ambiguity' (p 1) of Chaucer's references to gold in CT includes the Miller's cupidity (line 562) and his golden thumb (line 563). MilTis 'shot through with allusions to the legend of St Nicholas, which is frequently involved with gold' (p 4). These are Alison's purse (which also suggests cupidity), her complexion and the sweetness of her mouth, resembling apples, sometimes used to represent St Nicholas's bags of gold. Absolon's gifts are reminiscent of St Nicholas's charity, and his use of the iron coulter is significant, because iron is diseased gold. The income of 'the intellectual Nicholas' (p 5) comes from charity, and St Nicholas is the patron of clerks. [RCG] 541 Hatton, Thomas J. ' Absolon, Taste, and Odor in The Miller's Tale.' PLL1 (1971), 72-5.

1887 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales Medieval scriptural exegesis identified heavenly fame 'with good odor and sweet taste.' The Miller's depiction of Absolon's vanity concerning tastes and odours draws on this to inform Absolon's final humiliation. The argument extends Olson's point that Mill turns upon rough justice [see 507] and B.J. Koonce's demonstration of the exegetic distinction between heavenly and earthly fame [Chaucer and the Tradition of Fame: Symbolism in the 'Home of Fame' (Princeton :Princeton UP, 1966)], and includes references to: The Song of Songs, Chaucer's Parson on 'Seint John,' Ecclus. 49.1-2,2 Cor. 2.14-15, and Apoc. 8.3-5. [HMcG] 542 Howard, Donald R. 'Medieval Poems and Medieval Society.' M&Hns 3 (1972). Social Dimensions in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Pp 99-115. Some aspects of life and language have changed: 'English society of the fourteenth century was different from English or American society of the present century, but not in all respects' (pp 103-4). Absolon's conversation with Gerveys is an example which can be clearly understood. Some incidents have 'religious ideas reverberating in a secular context' and others 'secular ideas reverberating in a religious context' (p 105). An analogy with the appreciation of musical performance is helpful in assessing the value of knowledge of contemporary allusions and background to the interpretation of medieval poetry. The social significance of the poems 'goes back beyond their own society to its historical antecedents and forward to its posterity' (p 109). [RCG] 543 Poteet, Daniel P., II. 'Avoiding Women in Times of Affliction: An Analogue for the "Miller's Tale", A 3589-91.' N&Qn.s. 19 [217] (1972), 89-90. Nicholas's advice to John to remain separate from Alison is related to the mystery play of Noah, and John's need to avoid 'sin either in looking or in deed' (p 89). Mirk's Festial, sermon 16, confirms the second reason and its application to Noah in his affliction. Thus 'John accepts Nicholas's plans not only because he believes the mystery plays, but also because one particular aspect of this belief has been corroborated in a misleading way by legitimate sermons' (p 90). [RCG] 544 Robinson, Ian. Chaucer and the English Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1972. 'Chaucer is most comic when not merely comic' (p 92), so that his fabliaux are most amusing when they are enriched by details and characterization. Among these are 'the sudden demolition of Absolon' and 'the longest description of a person in Chaucer' (p 94), that of Alison, enlivened by images from nature. The tale gains 'comic malignity' (p 97) from the Miller's juxtaposition of indecent action and the language of courtly love, as in Nicholas's grab for Alison. The tale is 'full of poetic justice... according to the Miller's view of the world,' and the Miller in his character and tale has 'the same mixture of roaring destructiveness and delicacy' (p 97). [RCG]

Miller's Tale/1&9 545 Singh, Brijraj. 'Chaucer as a Poet of Love.' RUSEng 6 (1972), 1-11. Briefly mentions MilT as a 'plebeian comment' on love, challenging the courtly love ethos of the nobility. [HMcG] 546 Clark, Roy Peter. ' Squeamishness and Exorcism in Chaucer's Miller's Tale.' Thoth 14 (1973), 37-43. Aims to show that 'Absolon's symbolic role as squeamish devil... reflects a common folk belief in the Middle Ages that scatology (especially flatulence) repulses Satan and his demons.' The emphasis is on the 'anal character of the devil.' [HMcG] 547 Knight, Stephen. 'The Miller's Prologue and Tale.' In The Poetry of the Canterbury Tales. Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1973. Pp 30-36. The Miller's description in GP suggests that he is 'a clever loudmouth' (p 30), but the tale shows skill as well as bluntness, and is eventually 'generally appropriate to the Miller but without specific reminders of him' (p 31). Knight comments on the effects which make the description of Alison 'a closely-linked, delightful sounding one' (p 32), the 'outrageous word-play on"queynte'" and 'alliterative linking' which suits Nicholas's 'bold actions' (p 33). The 'tripping, dainty metre' associated with Absolon suggests his nature, and John 'is characterised by rugged, awkward lines,' but Nicholas's speech is 'even and swift moving (p 34). The total effect is 'quite different from the poetry of "The Knight's Tale'" (p 36). [RCG] 548 McCracken, Samuel. lMiller's Tale [l(A)33S4].' Mfe0218(1973),283. An ironic link between Absolon and Nicholas is suggested in the parish clerk Absolon's playing of Herod. The fourteenth-century mystery plays were acted by the parish clerks (Sir Edmund Chambers, Medieval Stage, 1925) who were members of the Guild of St Nicholas, in effect giving both men the same patron. [HMcG] 549 Stroud, Theodore A. 'Chaucer's Friar as Narrator.' ChauR 8 (1973-4), 65-9. Stroud is concerned primarily with Chaucer's use of details from source material and the extent to which they were adapted to suit the characterization in FrT. A comparison with MilT makes the point that, according to both pragmatics and all of the analogues to MilT, Absolon should have been a blacksmith, but that this did not prevent Chaucer from making him 'a medieval voluptuary' so as to enhance the humour of the tale. [HMcG] 550 Wimsatt, James I. 'Chaucer and the Canticle of Canticles.' In Chaucer the Love Poet. Ed. Jerome Mitchell and William Provost. Pp 66-90. See 371. Chaucer's use of the Song of Songs is mainly confined to BD, MerTand MilT. Early Christian theologians justified the 'erotic epithalamium' with meanings that were ecclesiological, mystical or Marian, 'depending on whether the bride, or sponsa, is seen as the Church, the individual soul, or the Blessed Virgin' (p 66). Wimsatt describes uses of the biblical text and interpretations in lyrics and the liturgy, particularly those concerned with the

190 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales Assumption of Mary, including secular works, some of which are parody. The poets' 'humor knew few bounds... but their romantic notions were strictly limited' (p 78). Absolon's addresses to Alison 'are a medley of the phraseology of Canticles mixed with his own foppish sentiments' (p 84), and comic parallels and contrasts of Absolon with the sponsus and Alison with the sponsa are developed throughout the tale. MilT and MerT should not be seen 'as parodies of Canticles', but rather as satirizing 'lovers typical of medieval romance and lyric' (p 88). [RCG] 551 Bowker, Alvin Willington. 'Comic Illusion and Dark Reality in The Miller's Tale.' MLS 4 (1974), 27-34. MilT and its dark spirit can be seen in theatrical terms. It is 'embodied in ... the Oxenford drama, a depiction of the events in daily village life,' where 'Nicholas is the play director and male lead; Alison, the artful ingenue; Absolon, the clown; John, the straight man' (p 27). Nicholas directs 'a playlet based on Noah's flood' (p 28), revealing his cruelty as he directs John. Each character has a dark side, seen in the second part of the Oxenford drama, 'the Theatre of Dark Reality' (p 32). Alison's 'dark boldness' (p 30) is emphasized by her clothes. She 'contributes to the tainting of the sunlit world of the Theatre of Comic Illusion' (p 31). Absolon's display of weakness is the basis for his fall and his duality. John is 'the least complicated but most compassionate . . . figure' (p 32). The second half of the drama contains the misdirected kiss, the branding and John's fall. John 'remains an object of ridiculous simplicity and pity' (p 34) among characters who show cruelty. [RCG] 552 Di Gangi, John J. 'Chaucer's "Hende Nicholas": A Possible Identification.' AN&Q 13 (1974), 50-51. Nicholas of MilT and 'Frere N. Lenne' of Astr can be identified with the fourteenth-century Oxford astronomer and mathematician Nicholas of Lynne. Both Nicholas of MilT and 'Frere N. Lenne' are described as clerks of Oxford. Nicholas used an astrolabe and astrology in deceiving John the carpenter, and Nicholas of Lynne reputedly wrote a treatise on the astrolabe. PJB] 553 Gellrich, Jesse M. 'The Parody of Medieval Music in the Miller's Tale.' JEGP 73 (1974), 176-88. Following attention drawn to the parodying of religious subjects, especially Canticum Canticorum and the Annunciation, this examines the way in which MilTs religious musical imagery establishes a 'comic incongruity between spirituality and carnality' (p 176). Special attention is given to the psaltery as a religious icon, Nicholas's playing of which becomes a metaphor of carnality informed by the Divine Office (3655-6), and to Absolon as a parody of the Heavenly Bridegroom (3698-3707). [HMcG]

Miller's Tale I \9\ 554 Leyerle, John. ' The Heart and the Chain.' In The Learned and the Lewed: Studies in Chaucer and Medieval Literature. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Harvard English Studies 5. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1974. Pp 113^5. MilTis ofdeerne love, and has 'an apparent nucleus, holes and the chaotic license that results from their very complex connections' (p 123). Leyerle examines two levels of pryvetee and the holes and pits: holes in John's house, the marie-pit, tubbe, yen, nether yen, towtes, mouthes and the shotwyndow. Tale and nucleus give 'a parodying inversion of The Knight's Tale' (p 123). One tale deals with the links and the other with the holes in the 'fairecheyne of love' (p 123). [RCG] 555 Leyland,A. 'Miller's Tale [l(&) 3449]: M&0 219 (1974), 126-7. This follows Skeat 1 and Cline 299, 502 on the appropriateness of John the Carpenter's call upon St Frideswide (who is significant because of her association with mental disturbance and demonic possession). Other reasons for his choice of saint are suggested by a hymn found in a book of hours in Winchester College Library, where St Frideswide is hailed as a patroness of clerks, and by the tradition of her reputation for chastity. [HMcG] 556 Reiss, Edmund. 'Chaucer's Courtly Love.' In The Learned and the Lewed. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Pp 95-111. See 554. MilT, with PF and WET gives a parody of courtly love, but in BD, TC and KnT, 'Chaucer seems to be asking his audience to take "fyn lovynge" in earnest' (p 101). We cannot accept John the carpenter as a lover, and Nicholas and Absolon obviously parody courtly lovers. 'Love in the Miller's Tale... is a trigger for the action and a means of allowing us to understand a character, not something designed to command our attention or to cause us concern' (p 99). The improbability of lasting joy in marriage is implied in placing fabliaux tales after KnT, particularly MilT, with its stated purpose to 'quite the Knyghtes tale' (3127). [RCG] 557 Richards, Mary P. 'The Miller's Tale: "By Seinte Note".' ChauR 9 (1974-5), 212-15. Richards refers to Macdonald's linking of this oath to two stories about Alfred and Neot [509]. She points out that the stories remain separate in all chronicle sources, with no consistent tradition. A more probable explanation is found in Latin and OE recensions of the life of St Neot, the manuscript datings of which suggest Chaucer could easily have known the story. Gerveys 'probably... has in mind the tradition of the saint's rising early for private prayer. Absolon, like St Neot, is up before dawn to attend to his private affairs. Absolon arrays himself with great care before he goes awooing; likewise St Neot changed his garment before praying. Absolon sings a love-prayer under Alison's window, whereas St Neot sang his orison to God' (pp 213-14). There is irony in Absolon's misuse of his office to

192 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales pursue Alison, neglecting 'ecclesiastical duties in favor of his private love affairs' (p 214). [DJB] 558 Rowland, Beryl. 'Chaucer's Blasphemous Churl: A New Interpretation of the Miller's Tale.' In Chaucer and Middle English Studies. Ed. Beryl Rowland. Pp 43-55. See 68. MilTis 'an ironic fusion of elegance and ribaldry' (p 43), which combines elements from the Bible, liturgy and mystery plays to give a blasphemous burlesque in a style which would be familiar to its audience. Its characters recall characters from all these sources. John resembles St Joseph, especially in the tradition of his trouble with Mary, and also Noah as he is described in the apocryphal Book ofNoria. Nicholas recalls the angel at the Annunciation, but also offers temptation. In the song, the King's Note, note suggests 'business inspired by the Enemy' (p 46). The description of Alison has images with many symbolic resonances, suggesting both Eve and Mary. Absolon suggests Absalom and Herod, casts 'himself as the bridegroom (Christ or God) and Alison as the bride (Holy Virgin or Church)' (p 50), and unwittingly engages in a rite associated with devil worship. His familiarity with censing and cautery prefigure his use of the coulter. Details of the tale suggest parodic associations, through which 'the ephemeral world of trivial lust and vulgar jest is set against the cosmic and timeless background of divine ordinance' (p 51). [RCG] 559 Shepherd, Geoffrey. 'Religion and Philosophy in Chaucer.' In Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. Derek Brewer. Pp 262-89. See 376. Although incidents in a well-made story should be linked, that linkage should not dominate the story. MilThas coincident lines of action which follow the Boethian pattern of Fortune's wheel (p 273). [RCG] 560 Brody, Saul N. 'The Comic Rejection of Courtly Love.' In In Pursuit of Perfection: Courtly Love in Medieval Literature. Ed. Joan M. Ferrante and George D. Economou. Port Washington, NY and London: National University Publications, Kennikat Press, 1975. Pp 221-261. KnT tells of love in Athens and Thebes; the Miller seeks to explain what it is like in Oxford. His tale uses the situation of KnT: two lovers competing for one girl. Palamon and Arcite speak nobly, as Nicholas and Absolon try to do, but Nicholas and Absolon, in using courtly language, empty it of significance. Their use of courtly forms 'coverfs] for their purely carnal impulses' rather than expressing 'the virtues of the inner man' (p 251). They want Alison because she is beautiful, '[t]heir whole hope is for satisfaction, both immediate and physical' (p 251). Similarly, Alison behaves like 'a proper courtly heroine' (p 251), equally driven by desire for sexual gratification. She chooses Nicholas on practical grounds: 'she wants a lover and wants him to be convenient. Therefore, because Nicholas is hende, near at hand, he is chosen' (p 251). MilTparodies KnTby showing that 'love

Miller's Tale I193 between the sexes depends upon sexual, not spiritual, intercourse; that noble bearing and fine emotions are nothing more than covers for the sensual drives which motivate all human beings' (p 251). [DJB] 561 Economou, George D. 'Chaucer's Use of the Bird in the Cage Image in the Canterbury Tales.' PQ 54 (1975), 679-83. The 'quick but significant' (p 679) reference in Mill should be connected with those in ManTand SqT. All three are associated with Boethius' Consolatione and RR—two of Chaucer's favourite books. That in MilT (3224) shows marriage bringing out 'John's need to be watchful,' and suggests that' Alisoun is clearly a bird that needs careful watching' (p 682); in lines 3257-8 she is compared 'to a bird that is anything but caged' (p 683). These images rely on, but also alter, Boethius' emphasis on the bird's natural yearnings and Jean de Meun's adaptation of the image to suggest 'woman's yearning for sexual freedom' (p 680). 'Chaucer felt free to play with the image, and in a way that reveals the precision and complexity of his literary adaptations and allusions' (p 683). [DJB] 562 Haskell, Ann S. 'St Nicholas and Saintly Allusion.' In Chaucer at Albany. Ed.RossellHopeRobbins. New York: Franklin, 1975. Pp 105-23. Allusions to saints in ecclesiastical art, ceremonies and stories influenced medieval congregations. St Nicholas's association with the three clerks 'rescued... from death in pickling tubs' (p 106) has a comic parallel in MilT. He was the patron of clerks, but '[b]eyond the easy choice of a name . . . the similarity between Nicholas the saint and Nicholas the clerk is clearly satiric' (p 115). The clerk's sweetness suggests the miracle of sweet oil issuing from the saint's tomb, and his secretive nature St Nicholas's unobtrusive generosity. Alison's portrait recalls the saint as patron of brides and young girls, his symbol of three golden coins or balls in the allusion to gold coins, and the sweet manna in her breath. St Nicholas is associated with the sea and sailors, evoked in references to Alison's mast-like stature and the flood. Absolon too suggests St Nicholas, in his sweetness, perfuming the parish wives and waiting under the window. His gifts are 'of the Christmas tradition' (p 118). The third window scene combines saints' legends, involving water, fire and Christmas, in Nowelis flood, and brief allusions to St Nicholas come through Gerveys, the blacksmith. Alison, Nicholas and John in their tubs give the '[m]ost signal of all the allusions to St Nicholas in the Miller's Tale' (p 119). [RCG] 563 Hirsh,JohnC. 'Why Does the Miller's Tale Take Place on Monday?' ELN 13 (1975), 86-90. 'Time is such an important element in Chaucer's work that the consistent use of a given day should alert the reader to the possibility of an important narrative element' (p 86). Hirsh suggests that Nicholas's intimidation of John relies primarily on exploitation of'traditional belief in 'unlucky days'

194 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

564

565

566

567

(p 86), since John is too ignorant to respond to astrological niceties—the aspect of time in Chaucer on which most study has been done. Monday is associated with the moon, and is prominent in lists of 'unlucky days.' Hirsh illustrates beliefs associated with such days with a listing from Bodleian MS. Ashmole 59, f. 135V-136 (pp 89-90), with attention to the correlation between lechery and burning in the list and as motifs in MilT. Allusions to Monday explain John's culpability through superstition, but also demonstrate Chaucer's sympathy for his fate, and hence afford 'insight into the comic seriousness of Chaucer's poetic intention' (p 89). [DJB] McGrady, Donald. 'Chaucer and the Decameron Reconsidered.' ChauR\2 (1977-8), 1—26. The similarities between various works of Boccaccio and CT suggest 'that Chaucer constructed the MilT following the method of the Italian novellieri, who fashioned new tales from old by combining a series of known motifs in a novel manner,' weaving together 'threads from several different Decameron tales' (p 13). MilT1 intertwines elements from at least three Decameron tales, wedding them to additional motifs of the Flood and the branding' (p 14). [DJB] Miskimin, Alice S. The Renaissance Chaucer. New York: Yale UP, 1975. Cites 'the Miller's Nicholas, who also read in bed' as evidence for overreliance on the 'oral tradition' in interpretation of medieval poetry (p 103), noting that '[t]he Tales turn on the fundamental duplicity of words and the risks of playing with linguistic illusion. The Miller's climactic cry "Water!" and the Reeve's Cambridge yokels play on dialect and comic delivery (pronuntiatioy ( p i l l ) . The Merchant's 'denial of the power of art to descryen s\viche myrthe pointedly scorns (by omission) the Miller's tale of the marriage of Alisoun and old John' (p 124). [DJB] Palomo, Dolores. 'Alpha and Omega: Of Chaucer and Joyce.' Mosaic^ (1975), 19-31. Notes MilTs parodic use of minstrel romance and chivalric romance. The 'satiric resonance between courtliness and carnality' is compounded by placing MilT after KnT(p 25). MilT thus 'directs an irreverent envoi back toward the absurd courtly erotics of the Palamon/Arcite/Emily triangle' in an effect similar to that of Bloom's fart at the end of the Sirens chapter of Ulysses (p25). [DJB] Weissman, Hope Phyllis. 'Antifeminism and Chaucer's Characterization of Women.' In Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. George D. Economou. Pp 93-110. See 139. MilT answers KnTs 'sympathetic critique of the chivalric life with an equally sympathetic critique of the bourgeois' and provides 'an examination of the fabliau image of woman' (p 101). The method of MilT1 is to literalize and caricature features of the Knight's' (p 101). Weissman disputes the

Miller's Tale/\95 view that Alison is 'a triumphant celebration of late medieval naturalism' (p 102). She is presented as not 'an earth mother' but 'a sex object; and as a caricature of the courtly art of grace, she is a "wezele" (3234) full of craft' (p 103). [DJB] 568 Clark, Roy Peter. 'Christmas Games in Chaucer's The Miller's Tale.' SSF13 (1976), 277-87. Argues against the notion that MilT has no organizing principle, suggesting that the tale can be considered as a Christmas story. This is supported by: the name of the hero; 'Nowelis Flood' (3818) as a pun rather than a variant spelling; and the action of M/'/rmirroring the popular Christmas game of Blindman's-bluff. Following V.A. Kolve [The Play Called Corpus Christi (Stanford: Stanford UP, 1966)] Clark notes that the festive and theological converge in the Boy Bishop ceremony. However, certain elements of the Christmas celebration, such as bawdy songs and stories, 'have little to do with the theological or religious' (p 280). The spirit of holiday and misrule pervades the tale, clarifying Chaucer's religious parody. The use of a 'kultour' for Absolon's revenge is part of the parodic Christmas imagery, turning upside-down the prophecy of Isa. 2.4. Its phallic shape relates to Absolon's effeminate nature, and the 'symbolic rape' (p 284) of Nicholas issues in the un-birth of the carpenter. The Christmas theme derives from the Miller himself as chief representative of misrule among the pilgrims. His Quitting of the Knight may be a comment by Chaucer on the cult of the Virgin Mary. Association of lusty Alison with Mary 'undercuts not only the empty Emelye, but also the entire code that idealizes female sexuality' (p 286). KnTexplores Christian themes by considering pagan gods, and MilT 'may be said to consider some pagan manifestations of the Christian God' (p 286). M/J"makes fun of religious figures and symbols', but also 'calls to mind those Christian mysteries that form the foundation of the medieval Church' (p 287). The use of point of view allows Chaucer to blame the Miller for the tale's coarseness while accepting credit for its 'symbolism that suggests the principle doctrines of the Christian faith' (p 287). [DJB] 569 David, Alfred. 'The Comedy of Innocence.' In The Strumpet Muse: Art and Morals in Chaucer's Poetry. Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1976. Pp 90-107. The Miller's interruption begins 'a literary Peasants' Rebellion.' MilTs comedy ranges further than 'a reply to the Knight's o r . . . a travesty of chivalric ideals,' with the targets: 'conventional attitudes toward s e x . . . learning, a n d . . . the Church' (p 95). Alison 'embodies all the purely sensual pleasures' (p 96), 'healthy and natural' (p 97) in her response to sex. She is unpunished, unlike her lovers: John, '[w]ho has sinned against Nature and common sense by marrying a young wife' (p 97); Absolon, 'in love with his own image as a courtly lover' (p 97); and Nicholas, 'undone by overelaborating the simple pleasures of sex' (p 98). MilT illustrates man's dissatisfac-

196 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales tion with an earthly Paradise, and curiosity about 'Goddes pryvetee'—a Doomsday joke. It inverts the repressive attitudes to sex found in chivalric romance, which emphasises courtship and desire rather than consummation. The tale also exhibits distrust of the higher faculties of reason, with philosophy and science ridiculed in the speech and actions of Nicholas and John. Among reminders of the Church's place in medieval life are references to Noah and his wife, and the 'travesty of the Song of Songs' (p 102) in Absolon's complaint. Religious comic touches may 'show the Christian reader that s i n . . . is not only wicked but ridiculous' (p 103). In this festive comedy Chaucer achieves a 'comic balance . . . between the sacred and the profane' (p 103), with an effect of innocence not seen in the other fabliaux. Whereas in KnT 'truth means fidelity to a higher principle; the Miller's truth is fidelity to the vital principle of life' (p 105). The Church in the background demonstrates how 'the characters are absurd in their petty world of ephemeral pleasures' (p 103), but the tale is legitimate holiday fun. Ultimately, David sees the Miller as a speaker for Chaucer, and MilTas a new emphasis on the 'subversive' strain in his poetry (p 106). [DJB, RCG] • Review by Chauncey Wood, JEGP 77 (1978), 423-5: 'Those who accept the validity of Professor David's approach will be enthusiastic about this volume. Those who do not will find The Strumpet Muse to be clear, usually cautious and keeping to the middle of the road in criticism of the individual works, often helpful in detailed insights but hypersensitive to the affective impact of literary creations' (p 425). • Review by Howell D. Chickering, Jr., Speculum 53 (1978), 565-7: 'His performance as a critical reader, just and decorous, is perfectly consonant with his main point about Chaucer: the "solaas" of his style is more important than the "sentence" of his argument' (p 567). • Review by Larry M. Sklute, ELN16 (1978-9), 325-8: 'Outstanding among the readings are Mr David's brilliant analysis of the Miller's Tale as a festive comedy of innocence, [and] of the Reeve's Tale as a comedy of experience in which the Reeve's class consciousness controls meaning in the tale . . . One wishes that Mr David had developed more f u l l y . . . his interests in class consciousness and folklore in Chaucer, both of which float around as fascinating yet unanchored and undeveloped prototheses' (p 327). 570 Haskell, Ann S. 'Hende Old St. Nicholas in the Miller's Tale.' In Essays on Chaucer's Saints. Paris and The Hague: Mouton, 1976. Pp 38-45. It is reasonable to turn to the legend of St Nicholas when discussing the name Nicholas in MilT. Nicholas was one of the most popular saints of the Christian canon, his feast day included the election of the Boy Bishop, his legend was well known, and he was patron saint of clerks. However, the relationship between saint and character is 'clearly satiric' (p 38). The

Miller's Tale I \W relationship between Nicholas and John inverts the guest-host relationship in the tale of St Nicholas and the three clerks. MilTdefers to St Nicholas through allusion to the saint's roles as patron of perfumers, clerks, brides and sailors; the singing of the Angelus advirginem relates both to the singing of this hymn at the tenure of the Boy Bishop and the saint's frequent association with the Virgin Mary; elements of the plot recall various of the saint's legends. The window scene is 'an ironic inversion of the ecclesiastical representation, with Absolon's goal not protection from, but invitation to, the young woman's "swyvening"' (p 41). Haskell concludes with the most important allusion to the saint's legends. Lines 3636-37 refer to St Nicholas' frequent representation with the icon of three men in one or three tubs. She suggests that 'the scene of the three naked figures, wearing only pious expressions, rising from the tubs around the elegant bishopsaint, must have been evoked in the minds of the medieval audience by the comically parallel scene of the tub trio in the Miller's Tale, wearing their expressions of fatigue and adultery' (p 43). [DJB] 571 Lanham, Richard A. 'Games and High Seriousness: Chaucer.' In The Motives of Eloquence: Literary Rhetoric in the Renaissance. New Haven & London: Yale UP, 1976. Pp 65-81. A later version of the article annotated at 517, giving substantially similar comment on MilT. [RCG] 572 Ross, Thomas W. 'Notes on Chaucer's Miller's Tale, A3216 and 3320.' ELN 13 (1976), 256-8. 'Why should Nicholas sing the Angelus advirginem and why should his rival Absalon dress "ful smal" (A3216 and 3320)?' (p 256). Ross suggests that Nicholas's singing of the Angelus ad virginem refers to a possible second meaning of the hymn: the angel enters Mary's chamber, and Nicholas intends to enter Alison's chamber. He suggests there is also reference to a medieval tradition that Joseph suspected Mary of having a young lover, and that a connection is intended between the carpenter Joseph and the old carpenter John. The description of Absalon—' Yclad he was ful smal and properly' (3320)—is illuminated by reference to ParsTand Jerome's Epistola ad Eustochium. These parallels indicate that tight clothing—'"smal" means "tightly"' (p 258)—is a sign of vanity and lechery, and is hence appropriate to Absalon. [DJB] 573 Rudat, Wolfgang E. H. 'Heresy and Springtime Ritual: Biblical and Classical Allusions in the Canterbury Tales.' RBPH54 (1976), 823-36. In MilT old John is punished for occupying himself with matters that are God's concern. Rudat draws a parallel with Horace's Carpe diem poem expressing a similar 'Law of Degree'. However, this allusion is ironic, since Nicholas breaks this law in his prediction of the flood—a prediction designed to enable him 'precisely . . . to follow the lesson of Horace's Carpe

198 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales diem poem' (p 834). A further connection is made between God's 'secrets' and Alison's 'private parts' in lines 3357-60 and 3163-6. Rudat modifies the views of Ross 130 and Huppe 508 to speak of 'a blasphemous apotheosis of the woman 'spryvetee with its "God's plenty'" (pp 834-5). [DJB] 574 Beidler, Peter G. 'Art and Scatology in the Miller's Tale.' ChauR 12 (19778), 90-102. MilTis compared with its Flemish analogue, [see 517, pp 112-18]. 'Chaucer is unique among early tellers of the story in having the woman execute the trick [of presenting her buttocks at the window]' (p 92). This change relates to the Miller's desire to 'quite' the Knight by contrasting Alison's realism and sensuality with the idealized Emily ofKnT. It shows the Miller's contempt for the 'dandyish, fastidious, effeminate' Absolon (p 93), and is a more powerful rejection by Alison than Nicholas's presentation of his buttocks would be. Further, 'Chaucer wanted to show this parish clerk worshipping, not the Virgin Mary whom he should have been worshipping, but an earthly woman' (p 94). It also appears Chaucer was the first to introduce the fart into the story. This adds variety to the repetition of the window scene, and helps join the 'flood plot' and the 'kiss-and-burn plot' (p 96). These had been joined by other writers, but the fart gives 'additional warning to the husband that the flood has indeed arrived' (p 97): it is explicitly as loud as a thunderclap. Most importantly, the fart 'intensifies Absolon's punishment' (p 97), and completes the assault on his senses by offending his senses of smell, hearing and sight, about all of which he is shown to be overly sensitive. 'In emphasising Absolon's sensuality early in the tale and his sensory punishment later in the tale, Chaucer was reminding us that he who lives by his senses shall be punished by them, both on earth and in hell' (p 99). The humorous scenes are thus also 'Chaucer's means of underlining a serious theme' (p 99). [DJB] 575 Coletti, Theresa. 'The Meeting at the Gate: Comic Hagiography and Symbol in TheShipman 's Tale.' SIcon 3 (1977), 47-56. The analogy between the meeting of the merchant and his wife in ShTand the meeting of Anne and Joachim at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem is 'outrageous in the same manner as hende Nicholas's "Angelus ad virginem" is in the Miller's story of a cuckolded carpenter and his wife' (p 53). [DJB] 576 Knight, Stephen. 'Politics and Chaucer's Poetry.' In The Radical Reader. Ed. Stephen Knight and Michael Wilding. Sydney: Wild and Woolley, 1977. Pp 169-92. The contrast between 'the grave, stately "Knight's Tale'" and 'the vulgar, riotous "Miller's Tale'" demonstrates Chaucer's deliberate use of'modal and tonal contrasts' in CT(p 175). 'The Gothic structural style is deliberately selected by Chaucer and associated with the serious mode' (p 178), then contrasted with the more 'modern,' 'realistic' style used for the comic mode

Miller's Tale I199 in MilT. The contrast is supported by Chaucer's characterization of the pilgrims: 'those who are dutiful, socially aware, true to an ideal archetype of duty are presented ideally, those who are individualist, greedy, worldly are presented in physical terms' (p 180). Such characterization also occurs in the tales, as in the 'classic contrast' between Emily of KnTand Alison of MilT(p 181), and 'Chaucer relates the two modes of characterisation and the two tales as a whole in an even balance, not giving one an evaluative edge over the other' (p 181). Knight relates the contrasting styles and characters of the ideal and worldly pilgrims to the social structure, when 'feudal collective economic patterns were giving way to individualistic capitalist patterns' (p 184). In this context he notes that 'Chaucer's comic, worldly individuals are also petty capitalists—or private collectors of cash' (p 184). PJB] 577 Strohm,Paul. 'Chaucer's Audience.' L&H5 (1977), 26-41. In CT conflicts between characters are perpetuated rather than resolved, suggesting that Chaucer shows understanding to be dependent on 'simultaneous awareness of different and competing points of view' (p 36). Thus, the Knight's determinism is 'completed' by 'the rampant free will and comic justice of the Miller's Tale' (p 36). Chaucer is committed to juxtaposition, which he achieves by his particular manner of mixing high and low styles, giving 'autonomy and scope to characters like . . . the Miller' who attempt to open up the hierarchy and 'make room for themselves and their distinctive styles' (p 37). Chaucer both challenges the expectations of his audience and creates and frustrates expectations within his work, as 'when he qualifies social or philosophical ideas which his audience probably expected him to let stand' (p 38) in the juxtaposition of MilTand KnT. [DJB] 578 Trask, Richard M. 'The Manciple's Problem.' SSF14 (1977), 109-16. 'The Manciple sets up Phebus as a paragon; Chaucer cuts him down, by setting him against his Knight, his Squire, his Miller's carpenter John' (p 113). ManT\04 repeats verbatim MilT3222, showing Phebus, like John, to be 'a foolish, jealous, about-to-be cuckold' (p 113). [DJB] 579 Blechner, Michael Harry. 'Chaucer's Nicholas and Saint Nicholas.' NM19 (1978), 367-71. Takes issue with Bolton's dismissal of any important reference to St Nicholas of Myra in the story of Nicholas in MilT [501], and suggests rather that the tale is 'a conscious parody of Saint Nicholas . . . as he is presented in The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine' (p 367). The character of Hende Nicholas is a parody of the characteristics described in Jacobus de Voragine's etymology of the name Nicholas—rather than a conqueror of vice he is merely a deceiver of people through vice, and he misuses his clerkly abilities and status. M//ralso recalls St Nicholas as a patron of mariners and boatwrights, and through echoing the story, not in The Golden Legend,

200 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

580

581

582

583

584

in which he uses a pickling-tub to save three clerks. Nicholas parodies the role of St Nicholas by making a prostitute of Alison whereas St Nicholas made prostitutes into wives. Finally, it is appropriate that Nicholas be the object of vengeance since St Nicholas is 'patron saint of those suffering from an error of justice' (371). [DJB] Justman, Stewart. '"Auctoritee" and the Knight's Tale: MLQ 39 (1978), 314. 'Nicholas's"conclusioun"(Miller's Tale, 3402)... somewhatmisfirefs] as he, like Theseus, revises his original plan under the pressure of circumstances' (p 6). In M/r 'it is an absurd formalism that dictates that "handy" Nicholas shall receive a dole of justice one "hande-brede aboute" (3811)' (p 9). [DJB] Mehl, Dieter. 'Chaucer's Audience.' LeedsSEn.s. 10 (1978), 58-71. MilTlines 3857,3858, and 3859-60 provide examples of varied audience reactions, and Chaucer reminds the readers of their own 'freedom to judge and interpret,' but not without some guidance: '[w]e should know best whether we want to join the Reeve in taking offence or enjoy the tale like the majority'(pp 70-71). [DJB] Bishop, Ian. ' The Nun's Priest's Tale and the Liberal Arts.' RES, n.s. 30 (1979), 257-67. Chauntecleer is like Nicholas in MilT'm having 'a naturally winning way with women' and exploiting 'academic training elaborately and obsessively in order to secure the enjoyment of one of them physically' (p 258). Nicholas 'is an accomplished amateur musician,' but as a musician Chauntecleer has more in common with 'the ostentatious and narcissistic parish clerk, Absolon; both have much of the vanity of a leading tenor. Moreover, both Absolon and Chauntecleer are cured of their folly and rally towards the end of their respective tales' (p 258). The only parts of the quadrivium appearing in NPT1 are (as in The Miller's Tale) Music and Astrology' (p 259). pJB] Reiss, Edmund. 'Chaucer and Medieval Irony.' SAC 1 (1979), 67-82. ' [F]or all Chaucer's apologia at the beginning of The Miller's Tale, we realize that the Tale is hardly the drunken ranting we have been led to expect' (p 75). Reiss notes the differences between MilTand ParsT, despite an apparent accord between the Parson's words at I 31-6 and those of GP and MilP: his myrie tale is quite different from the Miller'splesaunce. [DJB] Renoir, Alain. 'The Inept Lover and the Reluctant Mistress: Remarks on Sexual Inefficiency in Medieval Literature.' In Chaucerian Problems and Perspectives. Ed. Edward Vasta and Zacharias P. Thundy. Pp 180-206. See 155. In their dealings with Alison, Nicholas gives 'an instance of high-level sexual efficiency' (p 185), but 'Absolon is a ridiculous hick' (p 186). In MilT

Miller's Tale/201

585

586

587

588

589

590

and rC, Chaucer presents 'a sharp psychological realism of detail' (p 201). Renoir compares and contrasts Alison and Criseyde, Absolon and Troilus, and Nicholas and Diomede, giving copious illustrations. He concludes that there is 'a distressingly negative correlation between earnestness and sexual efficiency' (p 190), and expands his theme by reference to the Gunnlaugssaga Ormstungu. [RCG] Slocum, Sally K. 'How Old is Chaucer's Pandarus?' PQ 58 (1979), 16-25. 'Twice Criseyde laughs about Pandarus' love affair (II, 96-99; 1105-10), but it does not seem to be the kind of laughter evoked by a senex amans like John the Carpenter in the Miller's Tale' (p 21). [DJB] Taylor, Paul B. 'The Canon's Yeoman's Breath: Emanations of a Metaphor.' ES 60 (1979), 380-8. C7rand Mill 'exploit the metaphor of the creative breath . . . in answering the lofty ideals of the tales which precede them directly in performance' (p 387). PJB] Dane, Joseph A. 'The Mechanics of Comedy in Chaucer's Miller's Tale.' ChauR 14(1979-80),215-24. MilTposes a moral dilemma in that Alison, 'a character clearly guilty of lying, treachery, infidelity, adultery, etc.,' escapes without punishment (p 215). This is because of 'the primacy of formal design over both moral sentence and narrative plausibility,' which 'makes the moral facets of the tale irresolvable and ambiguous' (p 215). The purpose of Chaucer's machinations is in all cases the same: to provide for maximum concentration on the moment of denouement, the exquisite "opening of the heavens" in line 3815s (p 215-6). Dane gives a detailed structuralist analysis of Chaucer's manipulation of plot and character to bring about this denouement, with numerous references to lines within MilT. [DPS] Fichte, Joerg O. Chaucer's 'Art Poetical': A Study in Chaucerian Poetics. Tubingen: Narr, 1980. In MilT, lines 3171-5 and 3182-5 'Chaucer uses the device of ironic evasion to shift the blame from the artist to the fictitious tellers' (p 116). [DPS] Kern, Edith. The Absolute Comic. New York: Columbia UP, 1980. Refers briefly to MilT. Alison does not 'get her right deserts in any moral sense of the word, because no one in the realm of fantasy ever considers what may happen after the tale ends . . . What matters . . . is that Alison . . . outwits her jealous old husband in a manner totally unrealistic arid wholly in the spirit of a momentary carnivalesque fantasy triumph' (p 47). The punishment of Nicholas 'belongs to the carnivalesque tradition of the trickster'(p 48). [DPS] Milosh, Joseph E. 'Reason and Mysticism in Fantasy and Science Fiction.' In Young Adult Literature. Ed. M. Lenz and R.M: Mahood. Chicago: American Library Association, 1980. Pp 433-40.

202 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

591

592

593

594

Refers to MilT, lines 3455-6, noting the simplicity of the carpenter's faith: 'No matter what we or Chaucer or Nicholas may think of the carpenter's ironic proud utterance, the carpenter is at least certain that ignorance is bliss'(p 434). [DPS] Nitzsche, Jane Chance. '"As Sweeteas istheRooteofLycorys, or any Cetewale": Herbal Imagery in Chaucer's Miller's Tale.' ChauNewsl2:l (1980), 6-8. In MilT there is a particular association with liquorice and cetewal and this is appropriate given the properties asigned to them by medieval herbalists. Liquorice sweetens breath, improves voice and quenches thirst; cetewal sweetens breath, 'dispels gas or gassiness and purges the body of "bad humors",' and acts as an aphrodisiac (p 7). Under its Latin name, Nardus rustica, cetewal also carries biblical connotations and 'signifies a type of passion of the Lord' as well as being 'associated with the sweet-smelling life of the elect' (p 7). [DPS] Williams, David 'Radical Therapy in the Miller's Tale.' ChauR 15(1980-1), 227-35. Medieval medicine viewed fire as a medicinal agent in the treatment of the complaint known as 'fistula in ano' (p 228). Water was a symbol of the 'original Flood, which was seen as a divine cure in a corrupt world, a washing away of sick flesh and spirit' (p 232). John the carpenter's 'cure' is effected by water, Nicholas's by fire. [DPS] Wolpers, Theodor. 'BUrgerliches bei Chaucer: Mit einer Skizze des spa'tmittelalterlichen London.' In Uber Burger, Stadt und stadtische Literatur im Spatmittelalter: Bericht uber Kolloquien der Kommission zur Erforschung der Kultur des Spatmittelalter s, 1975-77. Ed. Josef Fleckenstein and Karl Stackmann. Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-Hist. Klasse, third series, 121. GOttingen: VandenhoeckandRuprecht, 1980. Pp 216-288. MilT produces a new sense of realism through its concentration on the details of town life, the material environment of private life, and the distinctive actions of individuals. In all these respects, MilT reflects the increasing importance of town and city life in the late medieval culture of Northern Europe (pp 226-8,265-8). [TGH] Cooper, Helen. 'The Girl with Two Lovers: Four Canterbury Tales.' In Medieval Studiesfor J.A. W. Bennett. Ed. P.L. Heyworth. Oxford: Clarendon, 1981.Pp65-79. KnT, MilT, MerTand FranT function as 'variations on a series of connecting themes. As well as the central plot motif, episodes, conventions, images, and ideas are mirrored or distorted among the four tales' (p 65). The 'relationship of tale to teller' follows the 'rhetorical rule of appropriateness' rather than 'medieval psychological or dramatic practice' (p 78). The stories

Miller's Tale 121ft

595

596

597

598

599

600

are 'an artistic creation in their own right... and not just a series of disparate viewpoints brought together by chance' (p 79). [DPS] Friedman, John Block. 'Another Look at Chaucer and the Physiognomists.' SP 78 (1981), 138-52. In M//r'we know in advance that [Alison] will commit adultery' because of 'several physical clues to her moral nature' (p 149). Examples are cited from lines 3225-56. [DPS] Gardner, John. 'Signs, Symbols, and Cancellations.' In Signs and Symbols. Ed. John P.Hermann and John J. Burke Jr. Pp 195-207. See 407. With respect to Mill, 'historical criticism' has resulted in a number of 'gross misunderstandings . . . for instance the scholastically arguable but totally lunatic notion that the Miller's Tale is a "Christian Meditation"'(p 196). Gardner notes the essential comedy of the tale's religious associations. PFS] Gibson, Gail McMurray. 'Resurrection as Dramatic Icon in the Shipman's Tale.' In Signs and Symbols. Ed. John P. Hermann and John J. Burke Jr. Pp 102-12. See 407. In M/rthe 'medieval audience's knowledge of the theologically motivated comedy of the Noah's Flood plays moved beneath the surface to inform their understanding of Chaucer's fictions concerning poor John the Carpenter, his wife, and his tubs' (p 102). [DPS] Goodall, Peter. 'The Figure of Absolon in the Miller's Tale: Chaucer's Most Original Contribution to the Development of a Story.' Parergon 29(1981), 33-6. The treatment of the 'duped lover' theme in five analogues shows Chaucer's characterization of Absolon to be a unique and distinctive feature ofMilT. Goodall notes Absolon's occupation, the trick played upon him by Alison and his subsequent attack on Nicholas. He refers to lines 3737-8,3947-8, 3754-9. pFS] Harwood, Britton J. 'The "Nether Ye" and Its Antitheses: A Structuralist Reading of "The Miller's Tale".' AnM2\ (1981), 5-30. Treats MHT'as myth' (p 5) and as a collection of 'a variety of codes' (p 8). The codes specifically considered fall under the labels of'Cosmological,' 'Acoustical,' 'Zoological,' 'Anatomical' and 'Seduction'; groupings are inter-related as the signification of a given attribute within the story changes depending on the code-grouping under which it is considered. The signification of the 'nether ye' is discussed as an example. [DPS] Kelly, Henry Ansgar. 'Chaucer's Arts and Our Arts.' In New Perspectives in Chaucer Criticism. Ed. Donald M. Rose. Pp 107-20. See 160. Notes inconsistencies in the description of John the Carpenter's house (p 116) in the context of an argument that Chaucer had 'limitations in the area of the visual arts' (p 119). [DPS]

204 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 601 Martin, B.K. The Miller's Tale as Critical Problem and Dirty Joke.' In Studies in Chaucer. Sydney Studies in English. Ed. G.A. Wilkes and A.P. Riemer. Sydney: University of Sydney, 1981. Pp 86-120. Martin considers views of MilT based on personal response to its characters and on historical background, and then discusses the tale as an elaborate dirty joke which employs a number of the stock situations of that genre. He concludes that no one approach can adequately explain the tale and that '[i]t is also possible that dirty jokes are not suitable for poetry after all' (p 115). [DPS] 602 Plummer, John F. 'The Woman's Song in Middle English and Its European Backgrounds.' In Vox Feminae: Studies in Medieval Woman's Songs. Studies in Medieval Culture, 15. Ed. John F. Plummer. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, 1981. Pp 135-54. The fabliaux have been shown by Per Nykrog to have an origin 'as aristocratic as the roman courtois'; and the range of 'courtly taste' was 'from Chretien's romances to the fabliaux, and from Chaucer's "Knight's Tale" to his "Miller's Tale'" (p 136). Chaucer exploits the fact that 'the minor orders were not taken seriously as lovers . . . in giving Absolon . . . lines shot through with the language of amour courtois'' (p 144). Plummer draws a parallel between Willekin's lines in Dame Sirith (II, 233-4) and Nicholas's words to Alison in M/7'3278-9 (p 145). [DPS] 603 Reiss, Edmund. ' Chaucer's Thematic Particulars.' In Signs and Symbols. Ed. John P. Hermann and John J. Burke Jr. Pp 27^2. See 407. M//r3201^ echoes KnT2178-9. Details of the Prologue to WBT also recall MiIT(pp 29-30). [DPS] 604 Stevens, John. 'Angelus advirginem: the History of a Medieval Song.' In Medieval Studies for J.A.W. Bennett. Ed. P.L. Heyworth. Pp 297-328. See 594. Stevens begins his detailed history ofAngelus advirginem, its translations and music, with a reference to Nicholas and his musical instrument, the psaltery. [RCG] 605 Vaughan,M.F. 'Chaucer's Imaginative One-Day Flood.' P060 (1981), 11723. Nicholas's flood story appears to be taken from 'a very popular and widespread late-medieval apocalyptic tradition: the Fifteen Signs before Doomsday,' and this helps to explain John's ready acceptance of Nicholas's prophecy (p 119). Nicholas and John 'share a similar imaginative flaw' and, together with Absolon, each is 'punished by Chaucer's most perfect plot for imagining that the rest of the world works by the principle of repetition, is therefore predictable and within his control' (p 121). [DPS] 606 Rex, Richard. 'In Search of Chaucer's Bawdy.' MSB 8 (1982), 20-32.

Miller's Tale/205

607

608

609

610

Mill rejects the values ofKnT. It is likely 'that the Miller, for all his drunken churlishness, more closely approximates Chaucer's own sentiment when he substitutes earthy reality for the slightly preposterous values idealized in the Knight's Tale' (p 21). Rex refers briefly to MilT, 3172-5 and the Miller's apology for his tale (pp 20-1). He concludes that it is not in the fabliaux that we will find insights into Chaucer's bawdry but in 'a narrative such as the Knight's, where bawdry is wholly gratuitous to the development of the tale. Only in those tales where bawdry serves neither a dramatic nor functional purpose can we be sure that we have found the real Chaucer' (p 29). [DPS] Rudat, Wolfgang. 'The Misdirected Kisses in the Miller's Tale: JEP 3 (1982), 103-S. By a psychoanalytic reading of the misdirected kiss 'Chaucer poetically punishes Absolom by representing his adulterous desires as a regressionto-the-womb fantasy,' because he asks for 'oral rather than genital attentions' (p 104); then his 'involuntary act of (almost-)cunnilingus is followed by what might be called the manifestation of a cleanliness neurosis' (105). He intends 'to follow up the parody kiss . .. with a befitting parody coitus' (p 105), and castrate Alison with the hot coulter: 'to punish the mother figure' (p 106). Unknowingly, he punishes Nicholas, 'who tries to submit him to homosexual humiliation' (p 106). Nicholas is a father figure in an oedipal triangle, and John is a father figure with respect to him. Alison is 'a non-tragic Jocasta figure' in a reading of MilT as 'a story about two overlapping oedipal triangles'(p 107). [RCG] Silvia, Daniel, Donald R. Howard, Beryl Rowland, E.Talbot Donaldson, and Florence Ridley. 'Thwarted Sexuality in Chaucer's Works.' Florilegium 3 (1982), 239-67. Two brief references to MilT take Absolon as an example of a thwarted lover: 'he's so silly that its hard to say he's really hoping for sex' (p 243); he 'seems the perfect de Rougemont courtly lover—so wildly in love with the idea of love as to lose all contact, or possible contact, with the object of his affection'(p 257). [DPS] Gallacher, Patrick J. 'Perception and Reality in the Miller's Tale: ChauR 18 (1983^0,38-48. MilT 'presents us with a pattern of mistakes in perception, a sharp, dramatic contrast between the real and the imaginary' (p 38). Gallacher applies 'a much abbreviated summary of Merleau-Ponty's ideas on perception, the most important of which are immanence and transcendence,' to 'the muchdiscussed portrait of Alison and to the perceptual responses of John, Absolon and Nicholas' (p 38). [DPS] Harris, Richard L. ' The Magus and The Miller's Tale: John Fowles on the courtly mode.' ArielE 14:2 (1983), 3-17.

206 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

611

612

613

614

615

Fowles has borrowed from MilTlo form the characters of Nicholas and Alison in his work, The Magus. [DPS] Jennings, Margaret. 'Ironic Dancing Absolon in the Miller's Tale.' Florilegium5(l983l 178-88. M/r3328-30 contain a series of ironies based on medieval dance practices. A number of contemporary references are cited. [DPS] Kirkpatrick, Robin. 'The Wake of the Com media: Chaucer '^Canterbury Tales and Boccaccio's Decameron.' In Chaucer and the Italian Trecento. EdPieroBoitani. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1983. Pp 201-230. MilT 'parodies the solemn interest that the Knight has taken in love and, in portraying the Carpenter's mystic dabblings, mocks the sea-deep questions of predestination' (p 209). 'Noise, divorced from intelligent application, is something of recurrent interest to Chaucer, from the cacophony of the Parlement ofFoules to the "Tee Hee" of Alison in the Miller's Tale, and frequently . . . it is noise that provides a counterpoint to Chaucer's most lucid writing'(p 217). [DPS] Jordan, Tracey. 'Fairy Tale and Fabliau: Chaucer's The Miller's Tale.' SSF 21(1984), 87-93. Jordan discusses MilT in terms of its ambivalent treatment of sex which is 'regarded at times as something "divinely" beautiful (Nicholas's experience) and, at times, as something that arouses nothing but disgust (Absolon's experience)' (p 87). Alison is 'overwhelmingly physical' (p 87); '[a]ll Nicholas' "intellectual" activities testify to their sexual origins' (p 88). John's love for his wife resembles Absolon's 'for the same woman in that they both deny the real physical nature of their object' (p 91). [DPS] Kane, George. Chaucer. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1984. 'All the fabliaux [of C7], the bawdy tales, are consciously comic; several, notably that told by the Miller, are comedies of reversals of a shapeliness unsurpassed before Moliere' (p 96). Alison is devalued by 'sexual selfishness' which shows itself not in 'the deceit of her husband . . . [but in] the fact that it is she who thinks up the undebatably nasty trick to dispose of her unwanted second suitor' (p 106). [DPS] Reiss, Edmund. 'Biblical Parody: Chaucer's "Distortions" of Scripture.' In Chaucer and Scriptural Tradition. Ed. David Lyle Jeffrey. Pp 47-61. See 421. The scriptural citations in MilT1 alter, pervert, or in some way misapply the biblical original' (p 51). Absolon's song (3688 ff) is an 'echo of Canticles' (p 49); MilT recalls the Flood and the Annunciation (p 49). 'Absolon is hardly the figure of beauty his biblical name would suggest; his love of Alisoun is scarcely the ideal love suggested by the several allusions to Canticles; and notwithstanding Nicholas's singing the "Angelus advirginem" (A 3216), he is no more the angel Gabriel than Alisoun is the Virgin Mary' (p 51). MilT

Miller's Tale 1201 line 3712 is a 'grotesque reversal' of John 8:7 (p 51); and 'Gerveys' sharpening plowshares and making what amount to weapons out of them (3762) acts as an ironic negation of the famous words in Isaiah 2:4 about turning swords into plowshares' (p 51). However, Chaucer's use of Scripture is 'not at all blasphemous or sacrilegious. Rather, it functions as parody . . . Thus in the Miller's Tale the scriptural allusions act as an ironic comment on man's aberrant behavior'(p 52). [DPS] 616 Specht, Henrik. 'The Beautiful, the Handsome, and the Ugly: Some Aspects of the Art of Character Portrayal in Medieval Literature.' SN 56 (1984), 12946. Identifies two 'prevailing techniques' of medieval characterization: the first 'achieved its effects through the representation of the speech, actions and gestures of the object of portrayal,' the second 'consisted in the so-called "formal portrait", which might be defined as an essentially static mode of description' (p 129). Specht focuses on the medieval use of the formal portrait; and the description of Alison (3233-70) is cited as being among 'the classic examples of Chaucer's artistry,' one 'which, far from rejecting the literary tradition which it burlesqued, successfully revivified it' (p 133). PFS] 617 Black, Robert. 'Chaucer's Allusion to the Sermon on the Mount in the Miller's Tale.' RUO 55:1 (1985), 23-32. MilThas 'an oblique mixing of sacred and obscene elements,' and an ironic laughter which results in a 'condemnation of vice' (p 23). Lines 3589-92 allude 'to Matthew 5:27-30, a central part of Christ's sermon which speaks of lust, the hand, and the eye to illustrate the importance of charitable intent' (p 24). The tag hende implies that Nicholas is good with his hands, and there are a number of references in the tale to the use of his eyes (as in his study of'astromye' at lines 3192,4351,3457,3514): the combination implies he 'is representative of the sin of lechery' (p 25). 'Above all, it was lechery, the Parson reminds us ... which God sent the flood to destroy' (p 26). According to the Parson, 'The fingers on (the) lecherous hand represent "lookynge" (852), "touchynge" (853), "foule wordes" (854), "kissynge" (855), and "the stynkynge dede" itself (861). Significantly, the Parson's description is precisely in line with the progressive stages of lechery by which Nicholas wins Alisoun' (p 28). We find 'both hand and eye in one image at the climax of the tale' when Nicholas is burnt on the '"nether ye" a "hande-brede aboute'" (p 28). [DPS] 618 Graybill, Robert V. 'Chaucer's The Miller's Tale: Exemplum of Caritas.' In Proceedings of the Illinois Medieval Association. Vol. 2. Ed. Mark D. Johnston and Samuel M. Riley. Normal: Graduate School, Illinois State University, 1985. Pp51-65.

208 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales In MilT, 'How can one reconcile Christian love and human bawdry?' (p 51). 'Chaucer resolves the dichotomy between the body and spirit with a sense of h u m o r . . . the laughter of a man at ease with himself—shy, whimsical, puckish, bantering, deceptively teasing—the urbane qualities of one serene in his knowledge that every manner of thing will ultimately be well' (p 51). Chaucer inclines to St Augustine's view 'that there (is) no evil, only greater and lesser goods, evil consisting in choosing a lesser good when one can achieve a greater one' (p 53). MilT 'thus reflects God's gift of love to man, since all gifts illustrate the caritas of Chrisitianity and are either analogous to the gospel or mockeries of it that make the principle of caritas all the more a part of everyday medieval life' (pp 53-4). A process of'patristic exegesis' is used to show that' [t]he gifts exchanged between various characters may be for good or evil purpose, b u t . . . all are relevant to the principle of caritas'(p 54). [DPS] 619 Sell, Roger D. 'reliability and Politeness in "The Miller's Tale": First Steps in Literary Pragmatics.' £566 (1985), 496-512. Literary pragmaticists 'ask, not what language is or what language means, but how—under what circumstances, thanks to what mental processes— language does what it does' (p 496). Tellability is a measure of the tale's interest; politeness is an 'essential temper or stance adopted vis a vis the reader' (p 504). Tellability and politeness are 'prerequisites for action of any kind by a narrative text' (p 499). MilThas an '"initial" tellability' relying on being 'in many ways a typical fabliau about adultery whose tellability derives in the first instance from adultery's being a departure from the social norm of marriage' (p 502). Politeness is divided into selectional and presentational categories: the former observes 'taboos and conventions of social and moral decorum' (p 504); the latter is a measure of the extent to which the reader is guided through the text and kept informed of precisely what is taking place at each point in the narrative. Excess of either mode is fatal to literature (pp 504-5). MilT' is a deliberate challenge to socially accepted standards of decorum'; such a challenge has some 'cultural sanctioning' and is also lessened by the use of indirect, reported speech (p 507). Chaucer is presentationally impolite at the climax ofMHTby surprising the reader with the tale's punchline (pp 509-10). See also 428. [DPS] 620 Tripp, Raymond P. 'The Darker side to Absolon's Dawn Visit.' ChauR2Q (1985-6), 207-12. Chaucer does not always present a Boethian picture of an ordered world, but there is 'a deeper and darker justice in the Miller's Tale, which lies outside a Boethian frame of reference' (p 207). KnTand FranTshow darker aspects in the 'dreary rehearsal of horrors' (p 208) in the temple of Mars (1967-9) and in Arveragus's threat to murder Dorigen (F 1479-86). Chaucer shows that love may not be contained rationally. MilT 'involves several

Miller's Tale I'209 "classic" instances of attempting to control and thus offend love' (p 210). John is too old for Alison and watches her jealously; Nicholas tries to trap her; Absolon's attempts at seduction are 'wretchedly amateur and crude' (p 210). Absolon takes himself seriously, and, when he is rejected, 'his passion for Alisoun evaporates and sours into violence . .. The hot coulter . . . is a murderous weapon, intended for the woman Alisoun, not for the rival male Nicholas . . . There is, thus, a darker side to Absolon's dawn visit; and the heart of this darkness is the savage survival of the self (p 211). The offenders in MilT are punished with 'humbling mutilation' (p 211), but Alison remains free, as does love. [RCG] 621 Alexander, Michael. The Miller's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer. Macmillan Master Guides. London: Macmillan, 1986. A students' guide, with background information about Chaucer, MilT and CT, explaining the fabliau form and many allusions, and giving a detailed exposition of the text. Alexander discusses themes, bawdy, parody and the art of the tale. [RCG] 621a Cook, Jon. "Carnival and The Canterbury Tales: "Only equals may laugh" (Herzen).' Medieval Literature: Criticism, Ideology and History Ed. David Aers New York: St. Martins Press, 1986. Pp 169-191. M. M. Bakhtin's account of Carnival illuminates the manner in which Chaucer counterpoints KnTwith MilT: 'After the elaborate, idealised and violent fore-play of the Knight's Tale we are rapidly brought into a carnal world where desire is to be gratified rather than restrained' (p 182). Mil? 'foreshadows . . . occasions in the Canterbury Tales when the pressures of feudal hierarchy are resisted or displaced by carnivalesque values,' a resistance which calls for a revision of David's view [569] that MilT 'deploys burlesque romance to invert the "traditional values of medieval society'" (p 182). If Chaucer's carnivalesque can be seen as more than a simple inversion of authority it sets up 'a contrary set of values based upon an individual and collective freedom of speech . . . a model of secular, social freedom, one that is of continuing value' (p 190). [TGH] 622 Coletti, Theresa. 'Biblical Wisdom: Chaucer's Shipman 's Tale and the Mulier Fortis' In Chaucer and Scriptural Tradition. Ed. David Lyle Jeffrey. Pp 171-82. See 421. Briefly refers to MilT, which 'invites us ... to see John and Alisoun's incongruous congruence with Joseph and Mary (the other cuckolded old carpenter and his young wife)' (p 181). [DPS] 623 Kelly, Henry Ansgar. Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine. Davis Medieval Texts and Studies. Gen. ed. James J. Murphy. Leiden: Brill, 1986. Refers incidentally to Absolon's determination to be awake on Monday and 'his final rejection in the early hours of Tuesday morning' (p 104), and to the ecclesiastical reckoning of time spent together by Nicholas and Alison, so

2107 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales that they 'are said to enjoy themselves in bed much longer than they actually do'(pi 10). [RCG] 624 Prior, Sandra Pierson. 'Parodying Typology and the Mystery Plays in the Miller's Tale.' JMRS16 (1986), 57-73. Parody includes exploitation and amplification of typology in 'biblical figures and events, the contemporary religious drama... a n d . . . the technique of exegesis' (p 57). The figures evoked sometimes produce contradictory effects, eg John suggests Noah and Joseph; Nicholas 'imitates Gabriel in singing the Angelus advirginem'' and also tempts Alison, like the Serpent; '[t]hus in one character... we find types of the Virgin Mary, of Noah's wife, and of Eve' (p 61). Absolon evokes Absolom, Solomon, Christ and Gabriel, through his use of the Song of Songs, so that Alison represents the Bride, the Church and Mary. Absolon is also shown as Herod and Judas, and Gerveys, the blacksmith, as Satan / Vulcan. Most allusions centre on Nicholas, whose manipulation of events suggests the clerical practice of exegesis. He plans a variation of the Pickle Barrel Miracle of St Nicholas, appearing to be 'Dens artifex, the Creator and Lord of history and director of the drama of salvation, a n d . . . Lucifer, the God-Imitator and director of our fall' (p 64), but not a character from the story of the Flood. References to Goddespryvetee recall Noah's need to build his ark in secret. To the suggestion of secrecy of Anna J. Mill ['Noah's Wife Again,' PMLA 56 (1941), 613-26], Prior adds that clom, 'usually read as "hush," or "Mum's the word!" . . . is probably a variant ofcloam, dome... meaning "clay" or "mud"' (p 67), used to seal a coffin or boat. In MilT, English bourgeois cycle drama answers the courtly masque ofKnT. The Miller suggests an ambiguous figure of mystery plays, speaking in Pilate's voys (3124), and wishing to absolve himself of responsibility for his tale. The tale 'paints a vivid picture of what happens to those who assume the roles of God, whether they be clerks, dramatists, actors, or poets' (p 73). [RCG] 625 Schweitzer, Edward C. 'The Misdirected Kiss and the Lover's Malady in Chaucer's Miller's Tale.' In Chaucer in the Eighties. Ed. Julian N. Wasserman and Robert J.Blanch. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse UP, 1986. Pp 223-33. Absolon and Arcite suffer from 'the loveris maladye / Of Hereos' (1373-4). Unlike Arcite, Absolon is cured by the misdirected kiss to Alison, 'in just the way medieval physicians prescribe for the most extreme cases: shocking the lover with the physical reality of sex' (p 227). The authorities cited include Bernard of Gordon, Valescus of Tarenta, Arnald of Villanova, and Avicenna. The kiss is also 'the climax of the Miller's demonstration that the courtly ideal of beauty and conduct is mere affectation... [and]... reminds us that Emelye and Alisoun are no different under their clothes' (p 227). Related to the lover's malady are John's fears for Alison. The Miller shows

Miller's Tale 12\\ 'the common role of image and imagination in John's deluded fear and Absolon's and Arcite's deluded love' (p 226). [RCG] 626 Smith, Macklin. '"Or I Wol Caste a Ston'V SAC 8 (1986), 3-30. Alison's bizarre threat to cast the first stone alludes to the Old and New Testaments, evoking the punishment for blasphemy and the Woman Taken in Adultery. Absolon's wooing parodies the Song of Songs, and medieval commentaries on adultery (especially in ParsT) suggest that all three young people commit this sin either in body or mind. Alison's speech, invoking the ambiguities inherent in 'caste a ston,' paradoxically makes her 'the Adulterous Woman Not Taken' (p 18). The psalms and prayers of Lauds give ironic commentary on the activities of Alison and her clerks, with the service 'a kind of anti-aubade' (p 29). He sees Alison's threat as 'the beginning of a process of vengeful justice culminating in the ruin of marriage and the collapse of mercy' (p 29). We can enjoy 'the justice of pain and humiliation' inflicted on absurd Absolon and stupid John, and the enthusiasm of clever Nicholas and animalistic Alison. The tale is funny 'because of the exquisitely orchestrated climactic chaos, all concentrated in the moment of Nicholas's scream . .. Chaucer encourages an awareness of the ludicrous and instructive discrepancies between the plot of adultery and an otherwise invisible plot of Christian salvation' (p 30). [RCG] 627 Wilson, Katharina. 'Hagiographic (Dis)play: Chaucer's "The Miller's Tale".' In Auctor Ludens: Essays on Play in Literature. Ed. Gerald Guinness and Andrew Hurley. Philadelphia: Benjamins, 1986. Pp 37^45. Some medieval writers, eg Robert Mannyng of Brunne, condemned miracle plays for their irreverent depiction of'hagiographic mysteries and milestones of Christian faith' (p 37). These plays may have fostered 'an entirely secularized and almost frivolous utilization of miracles in secular literature,' which Wilson calls 'hagiographic (dis)play' (p 38), such as the biblical parody and use of lives of St Nicholas in MilT. The words game and play appear in several contexts, including references to the vernacular plays Herod, the Harrowing of Hell, Noah, and Absalom and Theophilus. 'The three major uses of "play" refer to performance (i.e. the playing of a part), to amorous or sexual play, and to play as deception, the outwitting of a foe' (p 39). Wilson sets out schematically inversions of the tresfiliae, tres clerici, Stratilates and Icon legends of St Nicholas. 'Using analogical logic as a satirical tool, Chaucer is able to invoke hagiographic and Biblical parallels to his earthy plot, thereby glossing both sets of texts and enriching the humor of his tale through a wealth of associations and echoes' (p 44). [RCG] 628 Andrew, Malcolm. 'Alison and the Swallow.' Archiv224 (1987), 355-7. To the comments of Kreuzer 492 and Rowland 511 Andrew adds allusions to the story of Procne's transformation to a swallow, as related by Gower and Chaucer, and suggests this as the source of 'the association between

212 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales the swallow and marital infidelity' (p 357). Factors influencing the reader's perception may be the bird's appearance and chatter and its association 'with sexual license and with an ability to foretell the imminent collapse of an unsound nest'(p 357) [RCG] 629 Erzgra'ber, Willi. 'The Origins of Comicality in Chaucer.' In Chaucer's Frame Tales: The Physical and Metaphysical. Ed. Joerg O. Fichte. Cambridge: Brewer; Tubingen: Narr, 1987. Pp 11-33. Modifies 'Stierle's dictum [Karl-Heinz Stierle, 'Komik der Handlung, Komik der Sprachhandlung, Komik der Komodie', Das Komische, ed. W. Preisendanz and R. Warning (Munich, 1976), p 260] "the object of comicality is that which threatens a culture as a system'" to 'that which questions' (pp 26-27), and explores the idea that fabliaux belong to chivalrous or bourgeois poetry. The pilgrims represent the estates of society, and their tales 'contribute to a multiplicity of relations, meanings and effects' (p 23). MilT gives a parody ofKnT, where Absolon is 'a cleric who acts like a courtly lover,' but his 'chivalrous affectations . . . cannot hide his true nature' (p 24). Although Alison is the 'representative of bourgeois morality' her description shows '[s]he is not to be judged according to any social or moral norms'(p 25). Poetic justice comes to Nicholas and John. Chaucer's 'narrative comedy' reacts to 'the interplay of cultural values and systems' (p 32). [RCG] 630 Hanning, Robert W. 'Appropriate Enough: Telling "Classical" Allusions in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.' In Florilegium Columbianum: Essays in Honor of Paul Oskar Kristeller. Ed. Karl-Ludwig Selig and Robert Somerville. New York: Italica, 1987. Pp 113-23. Two classical allusions in MilT add to its richness and complexity. The Miller's drunkenness recalls Silenus and suggests the Miller as 'a figure of Bacchic energy and non-constraint' (p 117) to interrupt the Host's order, with the notion extended to the Cook's actual fall from his horse. Such 'inability to stay astride one's horse . . . carries with it suggestions of moral errancy' (p 117), confirmed by the Host's words '"Tel on, a devele wey!" (3134) [which] remind us of the archetypal rebel' (p 117)—Lucifer. John's concern about the clerk who falls into a marl pit alludes to Alexander and Nectanabus, but 'Alexander's unwitting patricide has been metamorphosed into the medieval equivalent of a skid on a banana peel' (p 121). Snobbish Nicholas is cast as the son, and 'the ironic pessimism of the AlexanderNectanabus story is reworked into the stuff of parody and burlesque' (p 123). [RCG] 631 Lee, Brian S. 'The Position and Purpose of the Physician's Tale.' ChauR 22 (1987-8), 141-60.

Miller's Tale/2\3 Virginia in PhyT invites comparison with Chaucer's other heroines. 'Alison seems a masterpiece of naturalism,' being 'sexually succulent and actively seductive—and immoral'(p 153). [RCG] 632 Fichte, JOrg. ' Hearing and Reading The Canterbury Tales' In Mundlichkeit und Schriftlichkeit im englischen Mittelalter. Ed. Willi ErzgrSber and Sabine Volk. Script-OraliaS. Gen. eds. Paul Goetsch, Wolfgang Raible and Hans-Robert Roemer. Tubingen: Narr, 1988. Ppl2131. Among the devices used by Chaucer to make 'his stories appeal to the auditory imagination' (p 123) are the passages of dialogue in MilT. Many figures can be appreciated best when they are read aloud, including 'passages imitating the style of quick verbal exchanges' and 'the infamous "kisse/pisse" rhyme' (p 123). The fiction of oral communication is not always sustained, since Chaucer 'advises those who do not want to hear the Miller's Tale... to "Turne over the leef" (p 124). [RCG] 633 Fuller, David. '"Hevest up the Dore": Overcoming Obstacles to Meaning in Chaucer's Miller's Tale.' JRMMRA 9(1988), 17-28. MilT is 'a realistic narrative involving ambiguous characterizations and suggestions in a contrived sequence of events' (p 17), where 'Chaucer yokes contradictory elements and obscures an underlying morality,' and 'obstructs and misdirects the reader's recognition that the tale is an allegory and not simply a joke' (p 18). Many physical and figurative barriers and obstacles are mentioned in the tale, affecting the lives of the characters. Chaucer shows why people cannot overcome them and the 'human desire to see beyond the obstacles and contemplate and interpret the meaning of events' (p 20), with interpretations of freedom drawn from Boethius, Hugh of St Victor and Augustine. The drunken Miller's way—force—is used by the characters of his tale, and 'they suffer the consequences of their ignorance, selfishness, and desire for the ... limited goods of the earth,' as they break down doors, 'without reason, "withoute candel light'" (p 22). Chaucer has woven into the joke 'a counter-movement that presents an Augustinian suggestion of charity and hope' (p 23). John's fall suggests hope as a spiritual rebirth. Chaucer interprets the events seriously and scornfully, intending to 'instruct mankind in the ways of the divine and to dramatize what it takes to open one's door with candlelight' (p 26). [RCG] 634 Johnston, Alexandra F. 'Chaucer's Records of Early English Drama.' REEDN 13:2 (1988), 13-20. Many commentators have noted references in MilT to mystery plays, which 'are among the earliest extant references to Biblical drama in England and as such are important records of early English drama' (p 14). There are few other items of 'hard' evidence for such drama, but, among other references, Chaucer's use of 'casual allusions to the stage characters of Pilate and

2147 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

635

636

636a

637

Herod for the characterization of two of his most memorable creations,' shows that they were well known and that 'it was not the tradition that did not exist but the records of that tradition' (p 18). [RCG] Shichtman, Martin B. 'Medieval Literature and Contemporary Critical Theory, a Symposium: Introduction.' PQ 67 (1988), 403-8. The Knight and Miller do not address each other, but' [they] engage in a dialogue in the mind of the reader; their tales continuously gloss one another, continuously illuminate one another' (p 405). This 'confrontation .. . provides something of a metaphor for the current state of medieval scholarship and criticism' (p 403). KnT'is clearly derived from and appropriate to official forms of discourse,' but the Miller is 'disruptive, outrageous, radical'(p 404). [RCG] Beidler, Peter, and Xiao Anpu. 'The Miller's Tale in China.' ChauNewsl 11:2 (1989), 3,8. Fang Zhong's Chinese translations of Chaucer's works are based on Robinson's second edition. Beidler and Xiao examine the reliablity of the work by comparing the versions ofMilT. It is generally accurate, with some discrepancies from changes 'to make the Chinese translation more vivid to a Chinese audience' and omissions 'deemed to be too bawdy for publication' (p 3). Alison is John's first wife, 'considered more likely to be faithful'; he is 'afraid that "he would be a tortoise,'" but 'cheated out of his wife, no matter how closely he watched her' (p 8). [RCG] Campbell, Thomas P. ' Machaut and Chaucer: ArsNova and the Art of Narrative.' ChauR24 (1989-90). Pp 275-89. 'Chaucerian narrative is closely related to the compositions of Machaut— not only poetically, but also musically' (p 275). Although 'an apparent freedom reigned in medieval composition', it is important to remember that '[m]usic was... one of the sciences in the Middle Ages — a mathematical exercise as much as an aesthetic one' (p 283). It is on this level that the connection between Machaut and Chaucer can be seen in Mill: 'The art of . . . [M/77] depends not upon consecutive voices imitating a single theme . . . but, rather, upon simultaneous, separate themes which occur in parallel, but not harmonic relationship' (p 286). A 'legitimate bridging between medieval music and medieval literature will bring about more fruitful ways both to hear and read the works of a culture w h i c h . . . is quite alien from our own' (p 288). [TGH] Cooper, Helen. 'The Miller's Tale.' In The Canterbury Tales. The Oxford Guides to Chaucer. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1989. Pp 92-107. Mill resembles KnTin elements of plot, but is churlish and told by a churl. However, '[a]ny sense of dramatic naturalism i s . . . illusory,'(p 93) and it was created when Chaucer's 'poetic skill was at its most developed' (p 94). It is a fabliau, atypical in 'the sheer detailed brilliance of its handling—of style,

Miller's Tale 12\5 character, narrative structure' (p 95). Cooper surveys analogues and sources and the 'firm grounding in fourteenth-century Oxford' (p 99). 'The narrative pace is fast' (p 100), with a series of scenes after the introductory descriptions of the characters, and 'an account of the structure is almost identical to an account of the plot' (p 99). Characters and plot strands come together at the end, where 'Chaucer gives a four-line plot summary; and the final line of blessing provides as startling a juxtaposition as any in the whole Tales' (p 100). The tale has no abstract themes, but offers 'burlesque of the courtly' and 'ideals of religion' (p 101), and the pervasive motif of pryvetee. The story is 'cheerfully amoral' (p 101), with no uniformly just treatment of the characters. Ascription to the Miller is 'remarkably liberating' (p 102); his portraits in the General Prologue and as the servant Robin undercut moral strictures. The context of MilT enhances its meaning; KnT suggests themes which are reduced and transformed, and later taken up in RvT, with further relations to WBTand CIT. The pace of narrative is related to the preponderance of short words, 'high proportion of Germanic to Romance vocabulary . . . direct speech and its most unsophisticated idioms'; the syntax is 'spare and uncomplicated' (p 104). Imagery and vocabulary are homely and familiar, with many references to animals and plants; speech is expressed with striking 'sensitivity of register' (p 105). The descriptions of Emily and Alison may be compared. Unlike the formal, head to toe effictio used for Emily, Alison's 'starts around her middle, and keeps returning compulsively to that region,' perceiving her 'in terms of the baser physical senses' (p 106). Comparisons in the description of Absolon suggest those of lyric and romance. The word hende becomes associated with Nicholas, as do sely with John andjoly with Absolon, presenting a range of meanings. Incongruity is an element of the style. [RCG] • Review by Charlotte Morse, N&Qn.s. 38 [236] (1991), 203-4: finds Cooper's policy of close reading of Chaucer's texts 'leads her to reject some moral and allegorical interpretations, though without hostility' (p 203). The guide 'presents the lively and generous mind of a serious scholar and a sensitive reader' (p 204). • Review by J.D. Burnley, RESn.s. 42 (1991), 565-6: 'this is a book with much to offer its reader, but one whose conception, hovering half-way between critical treatment and a repository of information, tends to confuse exactly what it is that is being offered' (p 566). • Review by C. David Benson, SAC 13 (1991), 183-6: the guide is 'marked by wit, learning, intelligence, and that rarest of critical virtues, good judgement' (p 183). Cooper 'has produced a genuine guide whose abundant information and good sense make it a sure foundation for serious w o r k . . . this is now the first book on The Canterbury Tales to consult after reading the text itself (pi 86).

2167 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 638 Boenig, Robert. 'Absolon's Musical Instruments.' ELN28 (1990), 7-15. Musical instruments are associated with the Miller, Nicholas and Absolon, who plays the rebec and gittern. The rebec was said to have a strident woman's voice, and the gittern was associated with 'disreputable, low-life sorts' (p 9), such as the rioters of PardTand Perkyn Revelour ofCkT. Illustrations show that although the gittern is 'a perfect instrument for a mobile serenade,' Absolon's hand would be entangled in the instrument, making him 'incapable of retaliating once his misdirected kiss has landed and before Alison claps her window shut' (p 10-11). Contemporary iconography associates the bagpipe, psaltery and bellows, used respectively by the Miller, Nicholas and Gerveys, showing them played by angels, monsters and drolleries. Such a 'collocation of blacksmith's implements, screechy gitterns, a n d . . . psalteries' (p 13) allows us to 'read Absolon's performance in an even more comic light than we have done before' (p 14) and make his revenge seem inevitable and appropriate. [RCG] 639 Fein, Susanna Greer. 'Why Did Absolon Put a "Trewelove" Under His Tongue? Herb Paris as a Healing "Grace" in Middle English Literature.' ChauR25 (1990-1), 302-17. The truelove plant has been assumed to be 'associated with luck in love' (p 302). In folk superstition and religious moralization it is an emblem of divine love: '[its] four leaves signify the four types of proper love, the four aspects of contrition, or the four persons of holy worship, that is, the Trinity and Mary' (p 303); its structure suggests a cross. In Germany it was considered medicinal, but English records suggest its effect was spiritual rather than physical. It occurs in The Charter of Christ, Fasciculus Morum and religious lyrics of the fourteeth and fifteenth centuries, including Quia amore langueo. In The Foure Leues of the Trewlufe, the leaves are explicated as the Trinity and Mary, and Spring under a Thorn 'allusively links the truelove plant and the steadfastness of Mary's love' (p 309). Absolon wants grace from the truelove: 'the verbal grace of a courtly lover' (p 310) and grace from Alison. His speech 'is a bizarre jumble of cliches from the verse tradition of Quia amore langueo and his own proclivity for alimentary imagery' (p 310). Nicholas, Alison and John parody the triangle of Gabriel, Mary and Joseph, with Absolon 'a comic rival "Gabriel" to Nicholas' (p 311); each male character incongruously suggests a type of Christ and the cross, in Absolon's case the Sponsus and truelove. The association of Alison and Mary 'implies a perverse antithesis to the divine mystery of Mary's relationship to the Trinity' (p 312). The cure of Absolon's love longing, after the misdirected kiss, may be a spiritual one attributed to the herb. [RCG] 640 Ganim, JohnM. 'Chaucer and the Noise of the People.' Exemplaria2 (1990), 71-88.

Miller's Tale I'217 Chaucer's comments on social disruption and popular voices may be discerned in TC and in several places in CT. MilT, especially in its ending, gives a mediation between images of rebellion seen in KnTand NPT, where 'the noise of the people is laughter at its own foibles' (p 81). MilT1 is itself a revel' (p 81), and '[i]ts most significant statements are anarchically preverbal or paraverbal' (p 82). Just as the language of intellectual activities generally has 'a sexual or bodily analogue, language itself seems equivalent to sexual activity' (p 82). MilT has echoes of other tales and characters, and references to the mystery plays are a continuing thread, 'Chaucer's most direct ascription of popular discourse' (p 83). [RCG] 641 Gray, Douglas. 'Notes on Some Medieval Mystical, Magical and Moral Cats.' In Langland, the Mystics and the Medieval English Religious Tradition: Essays in Honour ofS.S. Hussey. Ed. Helen Phillips. Cambridge: Brewer, 1990. Pp 185-202. Cats occur in MilT in the reference to the hole through which the cat used to creep, and the description of Absolon watching Alison, like a cat with a mouse, a simile often used of the devil. [RCG] 642 Holley, Linda Tarte. Chaucer's Measuring Eye. Houston, TX: Rice UP, 1990. Architectural design is important in MilT, 'about three carpenters—the Reeve, John and Noah' (p 95), and details of John's house are revealed during the course of the tale. The joke is related to perspectives and the organization of space. It 'depends on the gaze that penetrates a spatial plane—the knave prying into Nicholas' room; Nicholas, into astrological lore; Absalon, at the window—all prying into a "pryvitee"' (p 96). John prepares for the flood, as Noah had done, but his vision is limited. The narrative pattern of MilT differs from that ofKnT, and we may see 'the construct of the Miller's Tale as marginal drollery,' with its end 'an enclosure that borders a space filled with people caping and kiking' (p 99). [RCG] 643 Weissman, Hope. 'Aphrodite / Artemis // Emilia / Alison: The Semiotics of Perception.' Exemplaria2 (1990), 89-125. [See 644.] The stories of Aphrodite, Artemis, Emilia, Emily and Alison can be comprehended in terms of the male gaze; and 'the catalyst of the Miller's anti-epic' is 'the neo-Ovidian rendition of the Venus-Mars-Vulcan story in Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose,' with John 'an anti-intellectual VulcanHephaistos' (p 110). John is deprived of his gaze, and concerned about Nicholas's; Absolon gazes at the parish wives, encounters Alison's nether ye, his cure, and is almost blinded by Nicholas. 'Nicholas poses the question whether a man can have his gaze and eat it' (p 113), and explores the meanings of queynte. The passage describing Robin the servant, as he looks through the door at Nicholas 'may be the first in Western literature to represent the male gaze as a figure of sodomy' (p 114). The Miller's portrait of Alison 'submits her repeatedly to the subjugating gaze of the male

218 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

644

645

646

647

reviewer' (p 115). She plays the gazes of her lovers against each other, and 'in her gesture of reversal... represents the Miller's fabliau translation of Ovidian Diana' (p 116), rewarded by evasion of punishment. Weissman explains Absolon's lack of gaze in Lacanian terms. [RCG] Nichols, Stephen G. 'Empowering New Discourse: Response to Eugene Vance and Hope Weissman.' Exemplaria 2 (1990), 128-47. [See 643.] The response focuses on the RR, ekphrasis and 'the conflicts between the visual and the verbal' (p 139). Nichols compares Alison's brooch with the Prioress's, and proposes a parody of the Perseus and Medusa myth, finding that '[t]he Medusa gaze of Alison's genitalia has the burlesque effect on Absolon of fabliau, rather than the tragic effect of myth' (p 145). The Medusa gaze is most strikingly shown 'in terms of the male anxiety it reveals . . . in the narrative generated by Alison's three eyes, centered on the brooch just above her breast' (p 145). [RCG] Kanno, Masahiko. 'A Note on the Verbal Association in The Miller's Tale.' Studies in Foreign Language and Literature (Aichi U, Japan) 27 (1991), 105-11. Not seen. [RCG] Malone, Ed. 'Doubting Thomas and John the Carpenter's Oaths in the Miller's Tale.' ELN29 (1991), 15-17. Chaucer wants John's reference to St Thomas to be ambiguous, recalling both St Thomas a Becket, who was associated with Oseney, and St Thomas of India, the doubting apostle. Alison's reference is not ambiguous. 'Thomas of India became a veritable patron saint of builders' and 'John the Carpenter is also a builder' and 'would do well to be skeptical' (p 16). [RCG] Neuse, Richard. Chaucer's Dante: Allegory and Epic Theater in 'The Canterbury Tales.' Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1991. Opposition of KnTand MilTinitiates the theatrical process of CT, and 'in "quiting" the Knight's Tale the "churl" initiates a transformation of social and literary values that marks The Canterbury Tales as a whole' (p 129). Parallels in the tales emphasize the Miller's theatrical critique of A>*rthrough reduction of the 'monumental political theater to the intimate dimensions of the carpenter's household' (p 131). MilT reduces 'the fabled center of ancient civilization to contemporary small-town Oxford with its humble "street-theater"' (p 131). Each character's statement is made theatrically. Alison's may be aimed at Absolon 'or, ultimately, at all men and their unceasing quest for "taille"' (p 129); Nicholas's resembles that of the demon Barbariccia. The knave Robin is an image of the Miller, and Gill's name recalls Noah's wife in the Towneley cycle. The Miller is 'extroverted, aggressive, crude' (p 133), but also 'humorous, humble, and reasonable and able to articulate an astonishingly enlightened view of marriage, as witness his diplomatic words to the angry Reeve' (p 135). Its details, especially the

Miller's Tale I'219 bagpipe, suggest that the portrait is 'one great synecdoche, a mask' (p 136). The Miller is 'aware of himself as wind instrument and mask, whose sound is not entirely his own'(pi 36). [RCG] 648 Storm, Melvin. 'The Miller, the Virgin, and the Wife of Bath.' Neophil 75 (1991), 291-303. Commentary made by tales on one another is usually retrospective. Links between Alison of MilTand the Wife of Bath 'carry forward the moral and spiritual implications of the scriptural allusions in the former tale a n d . . . inform and reinforce the audience's response to the Wife of Bath's Prologue' (p 291). Storm surveys allusions in MilTto Mary, Canticles and the Annunciation. References to the weasel, supposed to conceive in its ear and give birth through its mouth, are also significant. There are numerous parallels of character, appearance, speech and situation between the two Alisons, with similarities in description, and references to singing, equine imagery and taste in dress. Links are shown particularly in allusions to the Annunciation. The Wife's views on marriage are entirely antithetical to those in this theme, even in details of 'her deafness, her evident barrenness and her unregenerate nature' (p 299). 'If through the weasel Alison the Wife can be connected to the tradition of auricular conception relating to the Virgin, then her deafness can be seen as integrally related not only to her physical barrenness but to her spiritual barrenness as well' (p 300). [RCG] 649 Allen, Valerie. 'Blaunche on Top and Alisoun on Bottom.' In A WyfTher Was: Essays in Honour ofPaule Mertens-Fonck. Ed. Juliette Dor. Liege: L3—Liege Language and Literature, 1992. Pp22-9. In his use of descriptio, Chaucer revitalizes the portrait of Blanche and reaffirms conservatism in that of Alison. Blanche's eyes show the specific moral virtues which 'ennoble the body as the mediator of virtue' (p 26), reaffirming, not challenging 'the essential hierarchy of reason within her female nature' (p 27). Chaucer's innovation to the fabliau plot allows Alison autonomy, making her bottom as significant as Blanche's eyes, since in 'sticking it out the window, she takes control both of her body and of the tale's ending' (p 28). This act completes her technically incomplete descriptio, and rationalizes her 'carnality as free active choice and narrative autonomy' (p29). [RCG] 650 Bowden, Betsy. 'Fluctuating Proverbs in Three Eighteenth Century Modernizations of Chaucer's Miller's Tale.' Proverbium9(\992), 11-29. Changes in the language suggested that Chaucer's works needed translation in the eighteenth century. Bowden examines three modernizations, 'focussing on one obsolete proverb in the Miller's Tale, one thrice labelled a proverb by Chaucer and embedded in a context of proverbial phrases' (p 12) [3392-3], to compare the work of Samuel Cobb (1712), John Smith (1713) and an anonymous author (1791). For 'Alwey the nye slye / Maketh the ferre

220 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales leeve to be looth,' Cobb gives 'the Nigh are Sly' and concludes with the familiar 'For out of Sight is ever out of Mind (p 16), as does the anonymous author. Smith eliminates the proverbs, and instead 'makes the passage all narrative, with all classical references,' (p 18) thus 'converting the Miller's Tale to the genre of mock epic' (p 19). Bowden comments on the authors' treatment of other proverbial passages, and their use of metaphors with contemporary relevance. In pursuing 'analogous authorial impulses . . . Smith takes the high road; Cobb takes the low road; the anonymous author sidles through the valley of the shadow of censorship' (p 23). See also 52. [RCG] 651 Donaldson, Kara Virginia. 'Alisoun's Language: Body, Text and Glossing in Chaucer's "The Miller's Tale".' PQ1\ (1992), 139-53. Alison is 'both product and object of a male discourse that has maintained power over women by separating women from both their bodies and language' (p 141). The construction of her sexuality borrows from the clerical literary tradition of seduction poems in which the name often appears, and also suggests the Wife of Bath. The Miller and male characters establish her as a text, and 'John, Nicholas and Absolon all gloss Alisoun's sexuality based on their own identity and social position' (p 143). John wants 'the status of having an attractive, young wife'; Nicholas 'performs the role of a seducing clerk' (p 143), encouraged by the tradition of enjoyment of rape; Absolon tries to gain power through courtly love language, and his 'use of an authoritative gloss reduces Alisoun to an object, text and Other by not allowing dialogue' (p 146). He is not dissuaded by her uncourtly response because her language 'is not backed by authority' (p 146). She must 'create herself as her own text by using her body to interrupt and change Absolon's reading of her' (p 147), and he then 'chooses to reclaim her body as a text he can gloss through branding' (p 148). This action exposes the gloss of the courtly lady as 'a manipulative and dehumanizing attempt to control women and their sexuality through interpretation'(pi 50). [RCG] 652 Fletcher, Alan J. The Faith of a Simple Man: Carpenter John's Creed in the Miller's Tale.' M£61 (1992), 96-105. The Church, in Chaucer's time found 'an educated laity... something of a mixed blessing,' and tried to contain it with 'orthodox, approved reading' and 'a healthy regard for utter simplicity in matters of faith' (p 97). John's boasting of knowing only his Creed shows he was not encouraged to learn more. Fletcher surveys sermons which speak of the estates of society and identify 'simple men' who should learn the Creed, not venturing on to 'the turbulent seas of theological debate' (p 99), as Lollards might encourage; he also refers to Pierce the Ploughman's Crede and Piers Plowman. The Reeve, 'another Chaucerian carpenter... is quickly reminded of his social

Miller's Tale I'221 calling when he starts to trespass into the province of preaching' (p 100). John's remarks show 'a normative notion of working-class piety'; the Miller 'trivializes "Goddes pryvetee" into a domestic parity with the inscrutable workings of wives,' but 'equally alludes to the privacy being constructed by the Church around its mysteries' (p 101). John's spirituality includes popular magical beliefs, and apocryphal teachings from the mystery plays. His simplicity is 'relativized and perceived for what it is, a fragile ideological stereotype, astray from a domain elsewhere' (p 101), working 'subversive outrage' (p 102) on the Church's intention. [RCG] 653 Friedman, John B. 'Nicholas's "Angelus ad Virginem" and the Mocking of Noah.' 7ES22 (1992), 162-80. Parodies of the Annunciation and Noah's humiliation are among the biblical echoes in MilT, with Nicholas seen simultaneously and separately as 'an adulterous Gabriel... and as Noah's bad son Ham' (p 163). The apocryphal accounts on which these themes are based show Gabriel as gentle, musical and persuasive, Joseph as an old, jealous carpenter who thinks he has been cuckolded, Noah separated from his wife on the Ark, and Ham as the arrogant, lustful, first astrologer, all suggesting parallels within the tale. Friedman refers to numerous works of art and literature, particularly the mystery plays, showing the expression of these motifs in devotion and parody. In M//7they may be expected 'to be funny in their own right as inappropriate ironic parodies' (p 179). The clash of human passion and the rational faculty may be symbolized by the bagpipe, played by the Miller, and 'stringed instruments of the lyre family' (p 179). The background would be known to the audience. '[T]he inappropriateness of Nicholas as GabrielHam, Alison as Mary, and John as Noah-Joseph is brought into bold relief by the parodic Annunciation, and far from being a part of the process of redemption of human suffering, they are, at least in John's case, the cause of it'(pi80). [RCG]

This page intentionally left blank

The Reeve's Tale

Numerous references to RvT will be found in the section on Sources and Analogues, since many studies have traced analogues of the story and noted Chaucer's adherence to or divergence from the earlier versions. Some stories which appear to be indebted to RvT, are also noted there. Other references will be found in the Linguistic section, where the Northernisms used by the clerks are discussed. The sure, clear realization of setting and characterization in RvT is often noted. The mill (701) and surrounding countryside (706) are acutely described, and the clerks' Strothir (657) and Soler Hall (171, 322, 660, 661, 662, 691) have been identified by several writers. The description of the suggestively named Symkyn (678, 688, 707), with his conspicuous weapons (666) and ostentatious dress (673), creates a sharp impression, and for some critics recalls the pilgrim Miller (682,683,688). His daughter, Malyne, whose name is also of significance (680), is seen less clearly, but nevertheless attracts interest and sometimes sympathy (316, 676, 724). Their shared characteristic of the notorious camus nose is variously interpreted (316,670,676,678). Symkyn's wife, her behaviour (694,718), her convent upbringing (671, 685, 712) and her pretensions to gentility (712) have also gained attention, and she is seen to differ markedly from the analogous character described by Boccaccio (cf. 71, 86). The clerks are variously interpreted as relatively undifferentiated bumpkins or as callous and calculating tricksters who try not to seem so, with John apparently more devious than Aleyn (683, 721). The mixed impressions coincide in the parody of the aube and the callow tenderness of Aleyn's farewell to Malyne (324, 677, 681, 696, 705, 714). Further use of the mock heroic occurs in the part played in the story by the horse, grandly named Bayard (327, 659, 679, 687, 723). Allusions to the law in its most vengeful aspects give a commentary on the tale (182, 445, 664, 665, 682, 689) and are in keeping with the nature of the Reeve, whose bitterness and malice (681, 695, 698, 709, 717, and see also Narrators) deprive the tale (in the opinion of many commentators) of the freshness and joy found in MilT.

224 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 654

655

656

657

658

Skeat, W. W. The Chaucer Canon: With a Discussion of the Works Associated \vith the Name of Geoffrey Chaucer. Oxford: Clarendon, 1900. RptNew York: Haskell House, 1965. In his discussion of the Chaucer 'Canon' and its construction, Skeat examines the passage in RvT 'where the Northern dialect is purposely introduced, with a fair degree of accuracy' (p 3). [GDM] Tatlock, John S.P. 'The Duration of the Canterbury Pilgrimage.' PMLA 21 (1906), 478-85. Evidence given in lines 3906-7 ofRvP that the pilgrims are near Greenwich 'at (say) half-past seven o'clock' (p 482) is part of Tatlock's thesis that the pilgrimage lasted three days. He compares the 'Lo Depeford!' 'Lo Grenewich!' of the above lines with a line in MkP (VII3116) concerning Rochester. [GDM] Hart, Walter Morris. 'The Reeve's Tale: A Comparative Study of Chaucer's Narrative Art.' PML423(1908), 1-44. Cites differences between RvT and its probable source, the French fabliau of the miller and the two clerks, in the treatment of setting, time-scheme, unity of action, emphasis and style, to maintain that Chaucer's tale substantially differs from and excels its original. Hart concedes that Chaucer's tale has many elements in common with the Montaiglon-Raynaud collection of fabliaux. Chaucer's originality lies chiefly in his more complex characters and combination of elements from various fabliaux. RvT anticipates the modern short story in its 'typical unity and concreteness' and 'dramatic concentration'(p 44). [GDM] Wintersgill, A.T. 'Chaucer: "Strothir" in "The Reeve's Tale".' N&Q 10th ser. 12 (1909), 90. Replies by Walter W. Skeat (p 155), A.R. Bayley (p 155), and Wintersgill (p 235). Wintersgill questions the basis of Wright's note on Strothir, in his edition of CT [The Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer: A New Text with Illustrative Notes Ed. Thomas Wright. London, 1847. P 160.], identifying it as the valley of Langstroth, in Langstrothdale. Skeat asserts that 'Strother is really meant and not Langstrothdale at all.' Bayley refers to 'the Strother family of Northumberland... a branch of the Strothers of Castle Strother in Glendale,' and the appropriateness of John's swearing by St Cuthbert. Wintersgill (p 235) acknowledges the replies of Skeat and Bayley, not agreeing with Skeat, and expressing concern about the 'facts behind the ... Wright theory' [RCG] Hutton, Edward. Giovanni Boccaccio: A Biographical Study. London: Lane, 1910. Refers briefly to the plot of RvT, which is 'found in the Decameron, though it is doubtful perhaps whether Chaucer got (it) thence' (p 313, footnote 2). [DPS]

Reeve's Tale 1225 659 Tatlock, John S.P. 'Simkin'sRuse: Reeve's T. 4057-4106.' MLN29 (1914), 142. Simkin's release of the horses of Aleyn and John is similar to a trick 'played by Loki on a mountain-giant, in the Gylfaginning in the Prose Eddcf (p 142). pFS] 660 Kuhl, E.P. 'Chaucer's "My Maistre Bukton.'" PMLA 38 (1923), 115-32. 'Soler Hall (Cambridge)' is given as the scene of part of RvT(p 123). [DJB] 661 .'Chaucer and the Church.' MJV40(1925),321-338. RvTv/as apparently set in Cambridge because 'Gloucester's Parliament met at "Soler Hall" (Cambridge) in September, 1388' (p 337), as indicated in Bukton. Line 4127 shows that the students were from the diocese of Durham, the site of St Cuthbert's shrine. Skirlawe became bishop of Durham on April 3, 1388, at 'the very time that Gloucester obtained control of Parliament, and five months before his Parliament met at Cambridge' (p 338). /?vrthus 'strongly reinforces' (p 338) Kuhl's conclusion that Chaucer's religious and political sympathies were with Richard's party. [DJB] 662 Bond, Richmond P. 'Some Eighteenth-Century Chaucer Allusions.' SP25 (1928), 316-39. Notes the mention ofSolere Hall as Clare Hall in Thomas Fuller's The History of Cambridge, Since the Conquest (1655) (p 317). [DJB] 663 Camden, Carroll, Jr. 'Chaucer and Greene.' RES 6 (1930), 73-4. Osewold's description of himself is echoed in Greenes Farewell to Folly, in Peratio's observation that 'olde men were like leekes gray headed, and oft greene tailde', but '[t]his does not mean that Greene necessarily got the allusion from Chaucer' (p 74). Camden suggests that it may be proverbial. [ROG] 664 Montgomery, Franz. 'ANote on the Reeve's Prologue.' PQ 10 (1931), 4045. In line 3912, the Reeve refers to a legal maxim, vim vi repellere. Roman law, stated in the Digesta of Justinian, recognizes the right of defence against assault or trespass 'by resisting force with force' (p 404), 'in almost the words of the Reeve' (p 404). 'Hence the Reeve knew his law when he said that he was legally permitted to repel the Miller's scurrilous verbal assault upon a carpenter with an equally disparaging story about a miller' (p 404). This reference strengthens Rickert's case that Chaucer had studied law at the Temple, and accords with the character of the Reeve, who should know the law of trespass and his rights. See also 665. [RCG] 665 Myers, Louis McCorry. 'A Line in the Reeve's Prologue.' ML/V49(1934), 222-6. Replying to Montgomery 664, Myers suggests that the Digesta of Justinian is an unlikely source for knowledge of the common law of trespass shown by the Reeve, and hence by Chaucer. He lists other possible sources for the

226 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

666

667

668

669

phrase vim vi repellere, but remarks that 'the doctrine has never been fully adopted in English law' (p 225). [RCG] Herben, Stephen J., Jr. 'Arms and Armor in Chaucer.' Speculum 12 (1937), 475-S7. In a survey of weapons and armour mentioned by Chaucer, Herben describes Symkyn as 'loaded with cutlery: sword, panade, popper, thwitel, knife, and boydekin, A RvT3929,3930,3931,3933,3960' (p 483, note 13). The pilgrim Miller and clerks John and Aleyn 'all bear sword and buckler at their sides'(p 484.) [RCG] Bennett, H.S. 'Medieval Literature and the Modern Reader.' E&S31 (1945), 7-18. Familiarity 'with things such as the medieval conception of the ordering of society, the Feudal System, Chivalry, and Courtly Love, o r . . . the medieval Church' is necessary to fully appreciate the literature of medieval times. 'Unless we are prepared to make such an effort we shall get only the barest surface meaning of our authors, and in particular the subtle, ironic intentions which lurk below the surface of some work will often escape us' (p 18). Of tfvriines 3943 and 3946, Bennett asks how many have read lines 3943 and 3946 'without gaining from them more than their surface meaning, and without realizing how important they are if we are to understand Chaucer's full ironic intention in telling The Reeve's TaleT (p 7). The point of the story will be partly lost without knowledge of the fostering of the female children of parsons in nunneries; we must put ourselves in the place of Chaucer's 'highly sophisticated audience, a large part of whose pleasure arose from their instantaneous taking of all the points Chaucer had to offer' (p 9). [DOM] Whiting, B.J. 'A Colt's Tooth.' In Mediaeval Studies in Honor of Jeremiah Denis Matthias Ford. Ed. Urban T. Holmes Jr. and Alex. J. Denomy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1948. Pp 321-34. The Reeve and Wife of Bath speak of having a colt's tooth with 'no possible ambiguity,' to convey that 'they still feel youthful impulses, especially in regard to love' (p 321). Whiting traces the use of this phrase, 'coltish,' 'colt' and 'colt-evil' in other works, feeling 'reasonably confident that all subsequent uses of the phrase are at first or secondhand from Chaucer' (p 324). Although it is strikingly used by Deschamps, the notion that Deschamps had seen RvP is 'almost too engaging even possibly to be true' (p 327). Whiting posits that Chaucer took the phrase from Deschamps 'or some other French writer... because he found it in some earlier and now lost work of Deschamps or because Deschamps had written comfortably about old age before he had experienced all its woes' (p 327). [RCG] Owen, John. 'A Euphemistic Allusion to the Reeve's Tale? MLN69(\954), 43-4.

Reeve's Tale 1221

670

671

672

673

674

675

Nathaniel Whiting's 'II Insonio Insonadado' (1638), briefly alludes to the miller of RvT, and Owen points out that the allusion was not noted by Spurgeon [283]. Although 'Whiting places Chaucer second among the moderns' (p 43), he finds that 'Old Geoffrey's language was not fit for plea' (p44). [RCG] Turner, W. Arthur. 'Chaucer's "Lusty Malyne.'" N&Q 199 (1954), 232. Malyne's camus nose suggests to Aleyn that she will readily accept him, even if she is 'neither deceived nor wooed'. Such a nose, 'although not pretty, would be sexually attractive and promising'; its meaning would be noted by Aleyn, who could feel confident in his approaches. [RCG] Pratt, Robert A. 'Chaucer and the Holy Cross of Bromholm.' MJV70(1955), 324-5. Symkyn's wife's cry for help, invoking the Holy Cross of Bromholm, has startling parallels to an account of miracles written by Roger of Wendover. The speech is 'a masterpiece in miniature' (p 324), showing the wife's fear of demons, her broken heart and apprehension of death—all of which had been overcome by the Cross of Bromholm. Her knowledge may come from her father, the priest, or as local knowledge, because Trumpington was only seventy-five miles from the Priory of Bromholm. [RCG] Alderson, William L. 'On Two Chaucer Allusions.' MLNll (1956), 166-7. Commenting on Owen's note [669], about Whiting's allusion to RvT, Alderson asserts that it had already been noted by Thornton S. Graves (SP 20 [1923], 473-4). [RCG] Jones, George Fenwick. 'Sartorial Symbols in Mediaeval Literature.' M/£25 (1956), 63-70. Red hose, (3955) were 'the rightful monopoly of the upper classes. . . [which] also served to symbolize presumptuous commoners, such as Chaucer's arrogant miller in the Reeve's Tale' (p 66). [RCG] Block, Edward A. '"... And It is Half-Wey Pryme.'" Speculum 32 (1957), 826-33. The Host refers to the mid-point of the canonical period of Prime. Since monastic hours were not of uniform duration, this is likely to be 6:30 a.m. rather than 7:30, because 'prime in the sense of the period from sunrise until three monastic hours later, involved the principle of monastic time, whereas prime in the sense of the period from 6 A.M. to 9 A.M. involved a modern hour concept' (p 829). The time taken in travelling suggests that the Host refers to monastic time. If 'half-wey pryme' means 6:30 rather than 7:30, then they have been travelling at a faster pace than previously considered. This seems likely, although there is some discrepancy in the time allowed to tell KnTand MilT, which could not have been told by 7:30 either. [RCG] Brown, Calvin S. 'Yet Once More "For the Nones.'" BUSE3 (1957), 228-30.

228 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales In refuting Montgomery's suggestion ['"For the Nones" Once More', BUSE 3 (1957), 177-8] that nones inLGWF Prol. 296 refers to the canonical hour Nones, Brown points out that 'the names of the canonical hours in English . . . are normally employed without an article' (p 230). Chaucer's only use of an article with a canonical hour is the indefinite article, in the phrase 'swilk a complyn' (RvT4lll\ where 'the reference is not to compline but to a sort of compline of drunken snores' (p 230). [RCG] 676 Emerson, {Catherine T. 'The Question of "Lusty Malyne.'" N&Q2Q2 (1957), 277-8. We should not be surprised that Malyne does not resist Aleyn's advances; Emerson's observations add to Turner's note [670] on the camus nose. Their familiar greetings suggest that Aleyn and John are old acquaintances of Symkyn's family (4022-3). Further evidence comes from words spoken of and by Malyne. The term wench, applied by the Reeve (3973,4167,4193, 4194) and by Aleyn (4178), and Malyne's ready use oflemman (4240,4247) point to a wanton nature. 'If her looseness was readily recognizable to Aleyn, presumably it was to others as well; and it thus adds irony to Chaucer's description of the pride of Symkyn and his family in their fine lineage' (p 278). [RCG] 677 Kaske, R.E. 'An Aube in the Reeve's Tale.' ELH26 (1959), 295-310. Aleyn's and Malyne's farewells, not in analogues of RvT, parody the aube tradition. The context, the name Malyne and the 'uncouth Northernisms' (p 301) with which Aleyn vows to be her clerk, and Malyne's confession about the cake, a 'comically abrupt descent' (p 304), all suggest parody, as does the frame of the speeches, with Aleyn's weary leavetaking and Malyne's nearness to weeping. John's warning parodies a watchman's warnings. He 'grumbles briefly over not having attempted the lady's virtue himself (41994208), resourcefully engineers his own romance with the lady's mother, and in the crisis is the last one to be wakened into action (4292); the lover finds himself announcing the night's achievements gleefully into the ear of the/o/ gelos himself; and the result (4273 ff) answers the absorbing question . . . what happens when the/o/ gelos finds out' (p 308). This reading prevents the lines from 'generating a sporadic and unsatisfied sympathy for Malyne . . . Instead of narrowly escaping the role of romantic hero, Aleyn remains the compeer of John in upholding clerkly traditions; Malyne remains the undifferentiated "daughter of the house" who is swyved for the story's sake; and the fabliau remains consistently a fabliau' (p 310). See also 681, 696. [RCG] 678 Steadman, John M. ' Simkin's Camus Nose: A Latin Pun in the Reeve's TaleT MLN15 (1960), 4-8. The word camus, for Symkyn's celebrated nose, is an example of word-play, involving the Latin simus, 'flat-nosed' or 'snub-nosed' and his name

Reeve's Tale I'229 Simond/Symkyn. 'Such word-play on name and physiognomy could be supported both by Pliny's Natural History and by medieval rhetorical theory .. . [which] placed nomen at the head of the list of eleven attributa personae derived from Cicero' (pp 4-5). This physical feature also emphasizes Symkyn's moral nature. In the violation of Symkyn's daughter, Steadman finds allusions to Simulus, whose daughter was seduced by Demea's son in Terence's Adelphoe, to the tricking of Simo by Pithias in Horace's Ars Poetica and of Simo Senex by Davus in Terence's Andria. The French fabliau source of RvTis about a nameless miller, but in using of the name, notatio and argumentum a nomine, 'Chaucer was employing a device, already well-developed in an allied genre' (p 8). [RCG] 679 Fisher,JonnH. 'Chaucer'sHorses.' £4060(1961),71-9. Chaucer's horses contribute to the characterization of their riders. The term capul, a northernism, is applied to the students' horse (4099,4105), in contexts suggesting it is uncomplimentary; its name, Bayard (4115), had become mock heroic by Chaucer's time. The Reeve rode a good stot. A line in Thop, 'and pryked as he were wood' (VII774), echoes line 4231 of RvTbut this 'may be no more than coincidental' (p 79). [RCG] 680 Hinton,Norman D. 'TwoNames in TheReeve's Tale.' Names9(\96l\ 11720. The name Malyne has been related to Malkyn and glossed as dishrag or oven-mop, for no obvious reason. 'Malyne has no character at all, either sluttish or otherwise. We know that her figure is well-developed (A 39723976), that she has brought the food from town (A 4136), that she sleeps in the same room as her parents (A 4142) and that she snores (A 4167). We also know that Aleyn has spent the night with her. None of this demands or even suggests that the girl should be named "dish cloth'" (p 118). The joke is not funny and the connection with Malkyn not close enough. The names Malyne and Aleyn should be taken together, as bilingual puns with the Old French words alignier and malignier. [RCG] 681 Copland, M. ' The Reeve's Tale: Harlotrie or Sermonyng.' M^E 31(1962), 1432. Addresses 'the aesthetic status of what are, after all "nothing but dirty stories'" (p 15). In 'a defence of Chaucer's fabliau tales' (p 16), Copland compares RvTand MilT, relating each to its teller and the teller's contrasting attitudes, and to the fabliau form in general. RvTand MilT 'become contradictory or complementary merely by being placed side by side' (p 30). He stresses the freshness and colour of MilT; RvTis 'a grey tale for grey and depressing people . . . decorously placed in the mouth of the grey, ascetic Reeve . . . [and] contains in artistic terms, a critique of that aesthetic vision of life supplied by Chaucer which is the equivalent in the realm of art to the life-attitudes embodied in the behaviour of the "real-life" Miller' (p 30).

230 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

682

683

684

685

Copland disagrees with Virginia Woolf and D.H. Lawrence on the social value of the behaviour described in the fabliaux, but considers their criticism has freed some modern readers from inhibitions which prevent enjoyment of the tales. He takes issue with Kaske 677 on the parting of Aleyn and Malyne, and with Tolkien 100, who 'misses... the veritable respectability of the attitudes enacted in The Reeve's Tale' (p 31). [RCG] Olson, Paul A. 'The Reeve's Tale: Chaucer's Measure for Measure.' SP 59 (1962), 1-17. The character of Symkyn maliciously parodies that of Robin the Miller. The tale reveals attitudes of Chaucer the narrator and the Reeve, showing Osewold as a 'merciless judge' (p 16), since it 'not only exhibits Robin for what the Reeve would have his hearers believe that he is; it also punishes him vicariously' (p 11). 'The tale, more than a simple joke, thus takes its place in Chaucer's ordered view of man's moral experience' (p 17). [RCG] Wilson,RobertC. 'Chaucer'sTheReeve'sTale.' Expl24(1965),item32. Discussing the 'popular concept' that John the carpenter in MilT'is actually Osewold the Reeve,' Wilson suggests that Osewold retains the name John to represent himself in his own story, for 'this John is as wise as Osewold himself.' John stands over the Miller and makes sure he doesn't steal the corn—it is Aleyn's fault it is stolen. Aleyn goes to the daughter's bed, but John has the wife come to him. 'Osewold the Reeve repays the Miller with a tale in which he himself plays a leading part. John the carpenter (Osewold) has become John the scholar (Osewold) who gets the best of the Miller by sleeping with the Miller's wife. The pilgrims would not have missed the link merely because John is a scholar.' [DOM] Coghill, Nevill. 'Chaucer's Narrative Art in The Canterbury Tales' In Chaucer and Chaucer ians. Ed. D.S. Brewer. Pp 114-139. See341. One of the 'canons' of Chaucer's narrative art 'is that which condemns irrelevance' (pp 125,126); Coghill considers the little girl who accompanies the merchant's wife in ShTv/hen she meets her 'cousin'-monk 'a distracting irrelevance who never reappears' (p 126). By contrast, the seeming irrelevance of the little child in its cradle in /?v 7X3670-72), subtly alerts a reader 'to that crucial cradle' (p 126). [DOM] Correale, Robert M. 'Chaucer's Parody of Compline in the Reeve's Tale.' ChauR 1(1966-7), 161-6. Aleyn's words deploring the loud snoring of Symkyn and his family (416878) raise it 'in a precise musical progression from a simple "melodye" to a fuller "sang" to a complete "complyn" service.' Some of Chaucer's audience would have noted Aleyn's curses of the miller and his family as incongruous with Compline, which begins with a blessing (p 163). The wife's outcry (4286-91) when Symkyn is flung on top of her by Aleyn, 'includes part of the short responsory prayer said at Compline... Like the entire Compline

Reeve's Tale 1231 service, this prayer was meant to be said before retiring as a petition for protection during the night. It was part of a larger night prayer for a secure and a chaste sleep. The wife, however, bellows it at dawn when she is rudely awakened from a drunken sleep during which her daughter and she have been violated by the clerks... Simkin's wife, whose father was "person of the toun," who had been educated "in the nonnerie," and who knew how and when to invoke quite accurately a famous relic, should certainly have known how and when to pray her "hours." By implying that she does not, Chaucer strips her of her social and ecclesiastical pretensions and thereby keeps her in her proper fabliau role' (p 165). [DOM] 686 Delany,Sheila. 'ClerksandQuitingmtheReeve'sTale: MS29(1967),35156. The clerks in RvTand MilTare 'agents of the kind of retributive justice called "quiting"' (p 351). Delany considers why Chaucer should have thought 'the clerk to be a particularly suitable agent of quiting' (p 352). Part of the answer is the traditional role of clerks in the French fabliau, but more important is 'the actual social position of the medieval clerk' (p 353). In medieval English intellectual life '[t]he nascent aristocracy of intellect found its natural ally in the courtly aristocracy. The two were united partly by a common opponent, the bourgeoisie' (p 354). Thus, '[t]o maintain perspective on the almost-bourgeois Simkin, then, the Reeve's Tale requires a hero whose social position is fluid enough to be considered inferior by the cuckolded miller, and at the same time to be recognized as inherently superior by an aristocratic audience.' It is not simply the analogues that control the presence of the clerks, ' b u t . . . the moral structure of the tale itself (p 356). [DOM] 687 Friedman, John Block. 'A Reading of Chaucer's Reeve's Tale.' ChauR 2 (1967-8), 8-19. Bayard, the horse, is given 'the passion of lust as a motivation for his flight, and by making him particularly wily in avoiding his masters, Chaucer suggests in a humorous way the familiar figure of the horse and rider as it was depicted in medieval art and literature' (p 9). This figure symbolises the 'relationship of reason and the passions in the soul of man' (p 9), and '[t]he poet's use of Bayard to open the action of the tale sets the moral tone for what is to follow and suggests that the narrative is to deal with the ungoverned passions of man' (p 11). Symbolism suggests that '[t]he animal comparisons of the Reeve's Tale serve as an ironic and corrective commentary on the social and intellectual pretensions of the characters' (p 18). POM] 688 Biggins, Dennis. 'Sym(e)kyn/5/m/a: The Ape in Chaucer's Millers.' SP 65 (1968), 44-50.

232 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

689

690

691

692

'Simond/Symkyn involves a pun on the Latin word simia, "ape"' (p 44). Symkyn is likened to an ape (3935) in a description which accords with that of the Miller in the GP, and he exhibits many of the bad qualities traditionally attributed to apes. [DOM] Baird, Joseph L. 'Law and the Reeve's Tale.' NM10 (1969), 679-683. What Chaucer 'succeeds so well at establishing' in the tale 'is a standard by which one law is measured by another—the old by the new, the Continental by the English, the private by the public, the Mosaic by the Christian' (p 680). ' [I]t has not heretofore been observed that Symkyn the miller employs the same kind of forced (or, perhaps better in this context, inverted) form of legalism that Aleyn uses in his famous legal justification of his ensuing actions' in lines 4179-82 (p 680). Symkyn's words, at lines 4051-52, are ironic, because they justify 'thievery in that particular legal—albeit ignorant and degraded—terminology which condemns thievery' (p 681). Both these justifications are 'perversions of the law' (p 681). The end of Osewold's prologue, lines 3919-20, refers to the wider context of the Sermon on the Mount, counterposing the doctrine to the old Mosaic doctrine of vengeance. 'It is, of course, to the old law of vengeance that colerik Osewold and hoot deynous Symkyn subscribe, and it is by this law that they are measured. For "with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again'" (pp 682-3). [DOM] Rowland, Beryl. 'The Mill in Popular Metaphor from Chaucer to the Present Day.' SFQ33 (1969), 69-79. Explores the uses of the mill as an erotic metaphor, deriving from the time when wheat-grinding 'was seen as analogous to the creative act' (p 70). In flvr'[t]he concluding summation uses wheat-grinding in a metaphorical as well as a literal sense to illustrate the totality of the Miller's discomfiture' (p 73). [DOM] Brewer, Derek S. The Reeve's Tale and the King's Hall, Cambridge.' ChauR 5 (1970-1), 311-17. A further consideration of'Soler Halle' (3990) as King's Hall, in the light of the study by A.B. Cobban [The King's Hall within the University of Cambridge in the Later Middle Ages (Cambridge, 1969)]. ' Soler' should be understood as 'Scholer(s) Hall' rather than solarium. Because of the endowment of the college by Edward II and subsequent monarchs, to ensure a regular supply of ecclesiastical and secular graduates for the king's service, and the notoriety of King's Hall because of bad management, it is argued that it would have been 'an excellent subject for a pointed joke with Chaucer's courtly and university-educated audience' (p 312). There is also an argument in favour of Aleyn and John as King's Scholars. [HMcG] Delasanta, Rodney. 'The Bartenders in Eliot and Chaucer.' NM12 (1971), 60-61.

Reeve's Tale 1233 The call 'HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME' in 'A Game of Chess,' in The Waste Land resembles Harry Bailly's urge to 'his charges to similar haste' (p 60). There is a further parallel in RvP, 'where Chaucer personifies Death as a bartender who presides over an almost empty cask' (p 61). The Reeve's 'lament for old age, which in medieval iconography equals the personal waste land of the Old Adam, the vetus homo... carries a minor variation of the larger eschatological warning to haste' (p 61). [RCG] 693 Frank, Robert Worth, Jr. The Reeve's Tale and the Comedy of Limitation.' In Directions in Literary Criticism: Contemporary Approaches to Literature. Festschrift for Henry W. Sams. Ed. Stanley Weintraub and Philip Young. University Park: Pennsylvania State UP, 1973. Pp. 53-69. RvT 'has not received the critical attention it deserves' because it has been overshadowed by the narrative brilliance ofMilT. Its placement confirms the intention to establish sequence as a 'fundamental technique' for the aesthetics and thematics of CT. The conflict established between the worlds of the Knight and the Miller is continued in RvT, where 'human imperfection' gives rise to the conflict between the Miller and the Reeve. RvP introduces another feature of CT, the 'confession.' The Reeve's confession is that of the 'old man' topos, Chaucer's working of a tradition going back to the elegies of Maximian—the 'comic confession of human limitation; without dignity himself, he tells of an undignified and unrestrained scratching of the common natural itch' (p 55). Frank gives a detailed re-consideration of Hart's view that Chaucer's was a realistic portrayal of literary character [656], concluding that in Chaucer's time there was a rhetorical rather than 'psychologically coherent' view of narrative character. [HMcG] 694 Gosselink, Robert. 'The Miller's Wife in Chaucer's Reeve's Tale.' EQ 6 (1973), 59-^6. 'The actions of the miller's wife are crucial' to the symmetry of RvT, but her motives have been ignored. She must have realized during 'lovemaking' with John that he was not her husband, and failed to resist or give the alarm because she was a 'bastard child of the town priest,' and inherited characteristics predisposed her (and her daughter) to enjoy such 'amoral' behavior. [HMcG] 695 Knight, Stephen. 'The Reeve's Prologue and Tale.' In The Poetry of the Canterbury Tales. Pp 37^0. See 547. In GP and RvP the Reeve is 'presented as a choleric, grasping man' (p 37), who speaks of old age in the style of a preacher. The tale is sour and 'more bitterly comic than the Miller's story,' with 'less richness, less description of the characters, less realisation of them as human beings' (p 38). Knight compares the language and mood with those ofMilT, referring to the descriptions, where 'emphasis falls on words which condemn the characters,' and to the action, which is 'fast, full of verbs and has very little

234 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

696

697

698

699

elaboration' (p 39). The tale is of vengeance, 'the product of a mean man roused to anger' (p 40). [RCG] Brown, Emerson, Jr. 'Chaucer and the European Literary Tradition.' In Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. George D. Economou. Pp 37-54. See 139. Brown refers to Kaske 677. He notes that' [fjar from leading us away from the text, Kaske's discussion of other poems in the dawn-song tradition makes us aware, for the first time, of what the text of those lines in the Reeve's Tale really is' (p 49). [DJB] Shallers, Paul A. "The "Nun's Priest's Tale': An Ironic Exemplum.' ELH42 (1975), 319-337. Referring to Muscatine's classification [324], Shallers notes that in writing RvTChaucer used the 'bourgeois, naturalistic style' (p 321). [DJB] David, Alfred. 'The Comedy of Experience.' In The Strumpet Muse. Pp 10817. See 569. RvTis a 'funny, exuberant story' of retribution, superficially like 'the Miller's festive comedy,' but 'darker, more corrosive... more nearly attuned to the modern sense of irony, which tends to be destructive rather than charitable' (p 108). The Reeve's character is developed and exposed as that of 'a vindictive, salacious and servile old man,' (p 109). His bitter monologue shows old age, 'as though the wholesome and appetizing images in the Miller's portrait of Alison had rotted and decayed' ( p i l l ) . RvTgives 'more than revenge-upon the over-bearing Miller' ( p i l l ) . Sexual references are 'more graphic, coarser, and more animalistic' (p 111), in Malyne's description, the clerks' speech and the seductions. David contrasts these with Alison's portrait, the 'courtly preliminaries of Nicholas and Absolon' and the imagery of lovemaking in MilT, finding sex in RvT 'the principal instrument in a savage class satire' (p 112). Seductions crush the pretensions of Symkyn and his wife, to whom the clerks consider themselves superior. They show contempt for the miller and his family, as does the Reeve, who takes pleasure in 'aggressive male sexuality' (p 114) and revenge. RvTis 'closer to the French fabliaux' (p 114) than MilT. 'The Miller... is the voice of holiday misrule. The Reeve is the voice of the establishment and everyday "morality"' (p 115). To Nykrog's contention: 'the fabliaux constitute... an aristocratic genre, which treats the parvenu middle class with relentless hostility', David asks why 'Chaucer's fabliau tales [are] told by churls, bourgeois pilgrims or debased ecclesiastics' (p 116). He suggests Chaucer is 'making a comment about the genre,' which provokes 'churlish... pitiless laughter' (p 117); in judging the Reeve, we judge ourselves. The best response is 'not dogmatic judgement but the laughter of Roger the Cook' (p 117). For reviews of this book, see 569. [DJB, RCG] Fox, Alistair. 'Thomas More's Dialogue and the Book of the Tales of Canterbury: "Good Mother Wit" and Creative Imagination.' In Familiar

Reeve's Tale I'235

700

701

702

703

704

Colloquy: Essays Presented to Arthur Edward Barker. Ed. Patricia Bruckman. Ottawa: Oberon, 1978. Pp 15-24. Fox notes an echo of RvTl'mes 4064-66 in More's Dialogue (136, G-H). [DJB] Nicholson, Peter. "The "Shipman's Tale" and the Fabliaux.' ELH45 (1978), 583-596. In RvT and SumT 'both the butt of the joke and the purpose of the teller are clear'(p 584). [DJB] Brown, Peter. The Containment of Symkyn: The Function of Space in the Reeve's Tale.' ChauR 14 (1979-80), 225-36. Space plays an important part in the plot of RvT: 'the dimensions of the material world are deliberately linked to the themes of the poem; and space moves in a subtle way between the status of fact and metaphor' (p 226). Symkyn's bedchamber is given 'a convincing three-dimensional interior' in order to provide a 'strong visual image' of the containment of his 'influence and pretension'(p 235). [DPS] Heffernan, Carol Falvo. 'A Reconsideration of the Cask Figure in the Reeve's Prologue.' ChauR 15(1980-1), 37-43. RvT lines 3888-98 suggest phallic and baptismal imagery. The 'streem of lyf at line 3895 is compared with the Christian notion of the 'Fons vitae aeternae' and baptism and rebirth in Christ (p 39); the tap of the cask is likened to a phallus with connotations of the 'Fountain of Life' (p 40). The image of the phallus's declining power is counterpointed by one of baptism and rebirth, giving the passage 'the enormous irony that Oswald, morbidly obsessed with passing time, cannot see the answer to the dilemma contained in his very own words' (p 42). [DPS] Stiller, Nikki. Eve's Orphans: Mothers and Daughters in Medieval English Literature. Contributions in Women's Studies, 16. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1980. RvT is a fabliau, and hence 'not an attempt to describe the people of the third estate realistically' (p 46). The miller does not blame his wife or daughter, and 'his wife is not presented as blaming the daughter' (p 46). [RCG] Fleming, John V. 'Chaucer and the Visual Arts of His Time.' In New Perspectives in Chaucer Criticism. Ed. Donald M. Rose. Pp 121-36. See 160. In RvTthe 'major themes and subjects cohere wonderfully in the visual idea that animates the poem's principal actions—Alan and John's runaway horse' with its clear 'sexual implication' (p 132). Fleming briefly refers to echoes of this image within the text and to RvT4Q&2-3. He also notes the expression cake of half a busshel which occurs in RvTand is 'probably a large loaf of common bread' (p 135). [DPS]

236 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 705 Fries, Maureen. 'The "Other" Voice: Woman's Song, Its Satire and Its Transcendence in Late Medieval British Literature.' In VoxFeminae. Ed. John F. Plummer. Pp 155-78. See 602. In RvT Chaucer uses his knowledge of the 'continental alba' to create 'comic sex-and/or class-role reversal' (p 161). RvT4236-l and 4239 parody a farewell between an 'albic knight'and his lady (p 161). [DPS] 706 Leland, Virginia E. with John L. Leland. '"According to the Law of the Marsh and Our Realm of England": Chaucer as Commissioner of Dikes and Ditches, 1390.' MichA 14 (1981), 71-9. Notes the 'fenny setting' of RvTand refers to lines 3964,4065,4106-7. The events of the tale are effectively '"contained" by the marsh to the limited space of the mill' (p 78). [DPS] 707 Herzman, Ronald B. 'The Reeve's Tale, Symkyn and Simon the Magician.' ^5^33(1982), 325-33. There was widespread medieval concern over simony and interest in 'the original simonist of Acts viii. 18, Simon Magus or Simon the Magician as he was called in the Middle Ages' (p 325). This background to RvT is important because the 'perception of Symkyn and his family that they are better than anyone else is mirrored in a story that gives a definitive rendering to the fate of such pride,' and 'the reader is reminded that even in his most secular tales Chaucer demands that the characters in the tales . . . be judged by the ideals of pilgrimage' (p 332). [DPS] 708 Murphy, Michael. 'North: The Significance of a Compass Point in Some Medieval English Literature.' Lore&L 3 (1983), 65-76. Discusses the negative connotations of the North for a medieval English audience. Murphy refers briefly to RvT and suggests that 'Chaucer the Londoner, clearly inherited.. . mild contempt for the North. The only characters in the Canterbury Tales who are given dialects are the northern students in the Reeve's Tale' (p 73). [DPS] 709 Plummer, John F. 'Hooly Chirches Blood: Simony and Patrimony in Chaucer's Reeve's Tale.' ChauR 18 (1983-4), 49-60. Although the bitter tone of RvT is often seen as simply a product of the Reeve's personality, the 'bleakness of the Reeve's vision is ... also in orthodox conformity to the vision of late medieval reformers' (p 49). The miller is heir to an estate stolen from the church, and his punishment is achieved through his daughter, as the 'concentration of the patrimony and other wealth' which she represents 'makes her the perfect avenue of destruction of the miller' (pp 57-8). [DPS] 710 Vasta, Edward. 'How Chaucer's Reeve Succeeds.' Criticism25 (1983),!12. Vasta considers the 'motif of "pryvetee" which runs through all of Fragment I and centers conspicuously around the Reeve' (p 3). Pryvetee is associated

Reeve's Tale I'237 with notions of 'privation, isolation, and darkness' (p 4). Deprived of positive resources the 'Reeve is successful for the same reason that the devil is successful: because the Reeve is a kind of "ruler of darkness'" (p 6), and 'virtually a domesticated, hence comic, personification of the Adversary'(p 8). [DPS] 711 Shaw, Judith. 'Wrath in the Canterbury Pilgrims.' ELN2l:3 (1983-84), 7-10. Shaw refers to RvT 3919-20: 'He kan wel in myn eye seen a stalke,/ But in his owene he kan nat seen a balke.' It is ironic that such tales as RvT 'rebound' on their teller as the Christian concept of wrath sees this emotion not only as 'spiritual homicide' against the object of the attack but as 'equally, if not more harmful, to its perpetrator' (p 10). [DPS] 712 Grennen, Joseph E. 'Tudd, TibbysSonne, andTrowletheTrewe: Dramatic Complexities in the Chester Shepherd's Pageant.' SN 57 (1985), 165-73. 'The notion that Tudd ought to be taken as a priest's bastard would . . . account for the hauteur he occasionally displays, the kind of baseless but somehow understandable preening we are all familiar with from the miller's wife in Chaucer's Reeve's Tale, the absurd pride in being the daughter of the town parson and in being convent bred as a result. Tudd may not be, like her, "as digne as water in a diche", but he does show a curious pride of degree that is utterly unmotivated by anything specifically mentioned in the pageant'(pi 67). [DPS] 713 Brewer, Derek. 'The Reeve'sTale.' In Chaucer's Frame Tales. Ed. JoergO. Fichte. Pp 67-81. See 629. RvT is a traditional 'example of the International Popular Medieval Comic Tale' (p 68); two German analogues are Das Studentenabenteuer and Irregang und Girregar. Brewer emphasizes that 'our present-day normal assumptions, expectations and even literary theories unless they are adjusted are the product of modern literature' (pp 68-9). In traditional literature, story pattern is fundamental, although versions may differ in attitude, settings, characters, motives and purposes, as may characters and characterization, the accidents of a story. The pattern of RvT 'shows the victory of the young over the old' (p 72), and may be compared with the relations of parents to children and with fairy tales. It 'implies no concern with justice, decency, honesty or generosity,' but 'Chaucer modifies the cruel pattern of the comedy of Nature' (p 74) by ingenious cross-patterning and parallel themes, giving details which make RvT 'a counter-weight to The Miller's Tale' (p 76). Characterization makes sexuality the instrument rather than the motive for Symkyn's sufferings, so that the structure of Chaucer's story pleases morally as well as aesthetically. There is a 'strong sense of the difference between educated and uneducated men' (p 78) in RvTand MilT. The style of RvT is 'full-Chaucerian' with its structure 'adapted to suit the

2387 Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

714

715

716 717

general dramatic situation of the Reeve's quarrel with the pilgrim-Miller' (p 81). [RCG] Scattergood, John. 'The "Bisynesse" of Love in Chaucer's Dawn-Songs.' EIC37 (1987), 110-20. Chaucer comments 'on both a serious and a comic level' (p 111) on the labour of love and the lover's exhaustion. Aleyn's farewell speech to Malyne gives a parody of the aube, and he needs rest after his work of lovemaking. Similarly in MilT, Alison and Nicholas spend the night 'in the labour of illicit love' (p 117), and the poet contrasts their activity with that of Gerveys and the friars, since Nicholas 'though a clerk, is engaged in a "bisyness" which is secular and illicit' (p 118). The 'conception of "bisynesse" in love . . . is related almost exclusively to sexual activity' and comes from the aube, having' [l]ike much of Chaucer's coarse humour... a learned literary basis' (p 118). [RCG] Azuma, Yoshio. ' Recurring Words in The Reeve's Prologue and Tale.' In Essays Commemorating the Retirement of Professor Sachiho Tanaka.' Tokyo: Kirihara Shoten, 1988. Pp 123-39. In Japanese. Not seen. [RCG] Sudo, Jun. 'Chaucer as a Herbalist.' In Sachiho Tanaka. Pp 25-39. See 715. Not seen. [RCG] Cooper, Helen. 'The Reeve's Tale.' In The Canterbury Tales. See 637. Only the Reeve objects to Mill. His prologue, 'the first of the "confessional" prologues' (p 108), develops the portrait in GP, with everyday imagery which negates the vitality ofMUT, to prepare for a tale similar in genre, but different in tone. The close relationship suggests a similar date of composition. RvTs sources are analogues (French, Italian and German), MilTand contemporary Cambridge; the tale is told in a low style, 'given a vividness found nowhere else' ( p i l l ) , with references recalling MilT, details which 'give an illusion of realism to an outrageously implausible story' (p 112), and some which appear innocuous have great significance. It is a tale of sex for revenge, but 'is more moralistic in its manner of narration than the Miller's' (p 113), condemning the vices shown in Symkyn, his wife and her father. Most damage is done to the miller, 'where it.is most deserved' (p 113); everybody else, 'it would seem, has had a good time' (p 114). The Reeve's former occupation of carpenter, professional enmity of reeves and millers, and his name Osewold, rhyming with 'cukewold' make the tale a fitting one. Chaucer manipulates details of RvTto enhance comparisons with MilT. The styles ofRvP and RvTmay be contrasted; the tale 'stresses narrative speed' (p 115) and is written in plain style, which 'can be superb' (p 116). Animals used in imagery 'have connotations of sin' (p 116). The

Reeve's Tale I'239

718

719

720

721

clerks' northern speech would be instantly recognized by a contemporary audience. For reviews of this book, see 637. [RCG] Balliet, Gay L. 'The Wife in Chaucer's Reeve's Tale: Siren of Sweet Vengeance.' ELN2%:\ (1990-91), 1-6. Symkyn's wife is 'the true victor in this battle of wits' (p 1). Having the 'motivational artillery' of'her personality, psychological make up, and her ancestry' (p 1), she deliberately attacks Symkyn. She realizes her infidelity, and wishes to conceal it and exact 'a long-desired retribution upon her husband' (p 2), becoming 'a Chaucerian woman whose wit and style rivals that of the Wife of Bath' (p 2). /farresembles the analogue Le Meunier et les II clers, with physical rather than verbal confrontation. Symkyn and Aleyn are doubles: tricksters and fools. Thus the wife 'does not think she has hit Aleyn, the clerk, but her husband—the moral and emotional equivalent of that clerk' (p 3). Deceit is inherent in her nature and ancestry; she must long for revenge for 'subservience and secondary status beneath her husband' (p 4), and her mind is keen and well educated. That she does not call out her husband's name (as in some analogues) suggests she knows her partner is a clerk. She feigns distress to assist in concealing infidelity and gaining revenge. [RCG] Baylor, Jeffrey. ' The Failure of the Intellect in Chaucer' s Reeve's Tale.' ELN 28:1(1990-91), 17-19. The clerks' success does not depend on their learning, and the 'antiintellectual, anti-educational bias [of RvT]... taints, if not eradicates, any true sense of the victory for Alan and John' (p 17). The analogue, Le Meunier et les II clers, resembles RvT in presenting a miller with 'the vestiges of the thieving, corrupt spirit of Chaucer's Symkyn,' but the clerks 'do not go to the mill in order to match their wits against the miller's' (p 17). Aleyn and John must use Symkyn's own methods and steal from him. Thus the tale must be seen as 'a denouncement of the university system and its participants' (p 19). [RCG] Jimura, Akiyuki. ' Some Notes on Hypocritical Vocabulary in The Reeve's Prologue and Tale.' Philologia 22 (1990), 143-51. Not seen. [RCG] Cowgill, Bruce Kent. 'Clerkly Rivalry in The Reeve's Tale.' In Rebels and Rivals: The Contestive Spirit in The Canterbury Tales.' Ed. Susanna Greer Fein, David Raybin and Peter C. Braeger. Studies in Medieval Culture 29. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute, 1991. Pp 59-71. The relationship of the clerks in RvT is 'a comic subplot that sharpens the tale's central theme—its vivid evocation of domineering one-upmanship— by playing John as cleverer clerk off against his more brazen but slowerwitted companion' (p 60). The two are not distinguished in De Gombert et des II clers and Le Meunier et les II clers. Aleyn has most of the menial

240 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales chores; John is in charge of the horse and money, and knows the way to the mill. John speaks more lines of dialogue, including instructions and tonguelashings for Aleyn, and his aphorisms give his speech 'in relative terms at least, a patina of rustic wisdom' (p 63). He is greatly concerned for his own reputation, and so humiliated by Aleyn's success, 'with nary a hint of cleverness or guile' (p 66). His 'deceptive transfer of the crib . . . reinforces our sense not only of John's greater craftiness, but also of his prudent caution' (p 67) until he becomes desperate. The clerks' 'largely unspoken rivalry [is] set as ironic backdrop to their boisterous mutual combat with Symkyn' (p 69), and continues the motif in Fragment I, reduced in scope from the epic struggle in KnTand the mock-epic war in MilT. [RCG] 722 Fein, Susanna Greer. '"Lat the Children Pleye": The Game Betwixt the Ages in The Reeve's Tale.' In Rebels and Rivals. Pp 73-104. See 721. Elements in Rv T recall iconography of the cycle of life: the wheel, time as a stream, the fluid vital spirits drying as life proceeds, the cradle and coffin housing the body, as it houses the soul. The Reeve's figure of the cask and his self-portrait express these concepts. MilT 'sanctions laughter at the old and foolish' (p 75), inducing the Reeve 'to speak on the misery of old age' (p 76), although he 'does not want to play because "playing" when one is old invariably means losing to the young' (p 76). His profession puns on reven, to rob, and millers, Time and Death are also thieves; his name recalls 'St. Oswald, apuersenex ripe in wisdom before his natural time,' and his 'morbid obsession with time' (p 79). The allusion to hopping suggests the hopper of the mill and 'the incessant urgings of the flesh' (p 80). Props of the various ages are suggested in attributes of the characters. The clerks and Symkyn, juvenes and vir, struggle for top position on the wheel; the baby and the dying manciple represent infans and vir senex. Many references recall fluids and the stream of life. Trumpington suggests the meaning 'cheat' for trump. The baby is 'an innocent accomplice' but foreshadows that the clerks will succumb to his generation. The 'tap-of-life metaphor' is 'the key to Chaucer's creation of The Reeve's Tale,' and emblem of ages iconography: 'the casket of life and death, that is, the mortal bodily frame, the "soulhouse" that encloses the fluids of our existence, carrying each of us from womb and then cradle to deathbed and then grave' (p 95). [RCG] 723 Feinstein, Sandy. 'The Reeve's Tale: About that Horse.' ChauR26 (1991-2), 99-106. It has been assumed that the horse, Bayard, is a stallion, because he joins the wild mares. Early instructions suggest that a gelding would be more likely to be used by the clerks to transport their goods, as clerks would not have been involved in breeding horses or able to care for a stallion. A gelded horse could not breed, but '[a]s the Reeve himself points out, incapacity does not quiet desire' (p 103). In the source, the corresponding

Reeve's Tale 1241 animal is a mare, 'but changing... to a horse with a male name does not identify a stallion, just a bay' (p 103). The assumption that Bayard is a snorting stallion suggests that he 'serves to represent both the clerks and the miller' (p 104). As a gelding, he could represent the Reeve, 'a sympathetic exemplum of frustrated impotence rather than of satisfied lust' (p 104). [ROG] 724 Kohanski, Tamarah. 'In Search of Malyne.' ChauR 27 (1992-3), 228-38. Ambiguity in Malyne's character casts doubt on 'traditional expectations of the fabliau female' (p 228) from Le Meunier et les II clers, and the assumption that she is an agreeable, unprotesting wenche. Fair hair, grey eyes and round breasts offset her coarse features—her nose and buttocks—suggesting high birth. The description hints at 'mixed ancestry, not her sexuality' (p 230), unlike wenche. Chaucer 'may be refusing to define Malyne explicitly as a "fabliau female" while keeping the possibility open' (p 230). Aleyn's conquest seems easy, but Malyne cannot protest, and Chaucer does not tell 'what she does, or how she feels' (p 232), unlike the French source. ' [M]ock-romantic parody is not the only force at work' (p 233) in the dawn scene. Critics have found comedy, naturalism or pathos there; its ambiguity allows sympathy and laughter. Malyne may be seen as 'an unimportant vehicle, or even as a cheerful participant,' but she may also be 'a victim' (p 234). When we consider poetic justice in the tale, we find that only she acts decently, and 'is the one who suffers most' (p 236). Ambiguity in her character 'demands that we look beyond the simple interpretation to question what we think we know, and what we ought to accept' (p 236). [RCG]

This page intentionally left blank

The Cook's Tale

The brevity of the abruptly curtailed tale has ensured that relatively little has been written about it. Indeed some critics have expressed relief, since it was clearly not to have a high moral tone, and does not appear to illustrate a warning against sin (726, 727). Manuscript studies have offered some explanation for the ending of the tale (740, 742, 747,752, 753), and some ideas for continuation have been advanced, as in Pasolini's film (745, 754, 754). It has been suggested that the tale comments on apprentices, their conditions and education (732, 733, 734, 748, 749). Other details which have attracted interest are the possible identity of the Cook (729, 731, 736), his mormal (728, 735) and the fish he sold (744, 750).

725 Kittredge, George Lyman. The Date of Chaucer's Troilus and Other Chaucer Matters. Chaucer Society Publications, 2nd Series. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Oxford UP, 1909. Kittredge quotes Tatlock's opinion [265] that Lydgate's list of Chaucer's works in the Fall of Princes, which includes CAT, is 'roughly but rather strikingly chronological,' but concludes: 'The roughness of the chronology is more obvious than its strikingness' (p 31). [GDM] 726 Tupper, Frederick. 'Chaucer and the Seven Deadly Sins.' PMLA 29 (1914), 93-128. Briefly considers whether or not CAT may be regarded as one of the 'Sins Tales' of CT. 'The story itself has certainly some of the earmarks of a tale of Gluttony, for it is told by a glutton (cf. the Manciple's Prologue) and has much in common with the tavern setting of Gluttony and its accessories in the Pardoner's Tale' (p 113). However, CkT 'has nothing of the framework of a Sins story. In his [the Cook's] Prologue there is no suggestion of Gluttony, nor does the framework contain any "morality" against the Vice. The unfinished sketch, therefore, stands apart from the stories of the Sins' ( p i 14). See also 727. [DPS]

244 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 727

728

729

730

731

. 'Chaucer's Sinners and Sins.' JEGP 15(1916), 56-106. A defence by Tupper of his previous article [726], following a review by J. Koch (Anglia Beiblatt 25 (1914), 327-32) and a reply from J.L. Lowes ['Chaucer and the Seven Deadly Sins,' PMLA 30 (1915), 237-371, neither article annotated for this volume.] 'Koch rightly claims that the Miller and the Cook are greater drunkards than the Pardoner; but the drunken Miller has nothing to say against drunkenness, and the Cook's love of wine and ale is not even mentioned in the special prologue to his fragment.... Our concern is only with those contributions that bind together, by conflicting precept and example, Sins and Sinners' (pp 58-9). [DPS] Curry, Walter Clyde. Two Notes on Chaucer.' MLN 36 (1921), 272-6. The second note (pp 274-6) classifies the 'mormal' as malum mortuum, 'produced by the corruption in the blood of natural melancholia' (p 274). Curry notes the connection between the Cook's 'mormal' (386) and his drunkenness and dirtiness, and considers it fortunate that his tale 'ends where we are told that the heroine "swyved for hir sustenance" (A,4422),' (p276). [DJB] Rickert, Edith. 'Chaucer's "Hodge of Ware".' 7X5(20 October 1932), 761. Chaucer used a real name for the Cook, as he did for the Host. Rickert cites references to Roger de Ware, a cook who lived in London in Chaucer's time. If he was Roger Knyght de Ware, cook, then the reference in ManP to 'a fayr chyvachee of a cook' (450), may have suggested 'a point, quite missed by us, which would have raised a great laugh among those who knew the man.' [RCG] Grauls, Jan, and Jan F. Vanderheijden. 'Two Flemish Proverbs in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.' RBPH 13 (1934), 745-9. In the Prologue to CAT the Cook quotes what he claims to be a Flemish proverb 'sooth pley, quaad pley' (4357). 'The fact is, that there is nothing Flemish about the proverb except the word quad [sic], though there may have been an equivalent proverb in that language. We must take Chaucer's remark to mean that "Sooth play is what a Fleming would call quaad play"; which is then quite correct' (p 749). There is a brief discussion of an equivalent Flemish proverb. [DPS] Lyon,EarlD. 'Roger de Ware, Cook.' MLN 52 (1937), 491-4. Roger de Ware had few grounds on which to object to the character of the Cook in CT. Lyon quotes the Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls. . . of the City of London, 1364-1381, to show that he had been presented to a jury as a 'common nightwalker,' 'guilty of wandering about the streets after curfew' (p 492). His admission of the offence suggests a character likely to be 'involved in false dicing, wenching, fighting, or the unlawful frequenting of taverns [who] could expect to be "lad with revel to Newegate" or the

Cook's Tale I 245

732

733

734

735

736

Tun; in some cases, again, "with trumpets and pipes," to the pillory' (p 493). [ROG] Blenner-Hassett, R. '"When He His 'Papir' Soghte," CT A4404.' MLN 57 (1942), 34-5. The v/ordpapir in line 4404 'seems to have puzzled the editors'; Robinson [14] for example 'seems to regard the line as referring to the victualler and his account books' (p 34). Blenner-Hassett argues thatpapir refers to an apprentice's indenture, and that Perkyn 'was seeking to end his apprenticeship before its legal expiration' (p 34). [DOM] Braddy, Haldeen. 'Chaucerian Minutiae.' MLN 58 (1943), 18-23. Perkyn 'violated all three agreements stipulated' in an Indenture of Apprenticeship dating from 1396, but the penalty 'was distinctly not always permanent expulsion' (p 19). 'In any case, the agreement between the descriptions in the Cook's Tale and this contemporary historical record attests to Chaucer's superb realism. If in the completed narrative Perkyn was returned to his apprenticeship, it is significant that the plot would appear to involve the "expulsion and return" motif of the Tale ofGamelyn, which in a number of MSS follows the Cook's fragment' (pp 19-20). [DOM] Call, Reginald. '"Whan he his Papir Soghte" (Chaucer's Cook's Tale, A 4404).' MLQ 4 (1943), 167-76. Like Blenner-Hassett [732], Call believes this disputed line to mean '"when the apprentice asked for his certificate of completed apprenticeship,'" but he draws more extensively on contemporary sources to suggest thatpapir refers to such a certificate, and that acquitance (4411) 'means more than the abstract noun "release."' The word was used 'invariably in connection with business dealings and in actions at law' (p 173). He concludes that Perkyn 'was almost out of his apprenticeship' and though he 'had lived a somewhat riotous life in the entire period' his master was fond of him. However, when Perkyn asked for his release, 'the master thought to himself that it was better to be rid of this riotous apprentice than to have him ruin all the other servants. So his master gave Perkyn the documentary proof of his service, and sent him off to his own sorrow and ill luck' (p 176). [DOM] Braddy, Haldeen. 'The Cook's Mormal and its Cure.' MLQ1 (1946), 2657. Early commentators, including Skeat [1], believed the mormal to be a cancer; examining contemporary sources, Braddy suggests that 'the mormal . . . was an ulcer or a sore, not a cancer. The evidence, moreover, seems to favor not a "dry" but a "running" sore' (p 267). [DOM] Lisca, Peter 'Chaucer's Gildsmen and Their Cook.' MLN 70 (1955), 3214.

246 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

737

738

739

740

In the ironic description of the guildsmen and cook, given in GP, the cook is 'the final satiric touch' (p 323). Lisca agrees with identification of the cook as the disreputable Roger de Ware, and finds the apprentice described in CAT is strikingly similar to him. 'It does not seem incredible that the combination of his filthy personal habits, his rioting and drunkenness, and his contagious mormal had resulted in his being discharged from some more worthy post than cooking for these tradesmen, who have thus probably been able to engage him at a bargain' (p 323). [RCG] Pierce, Marvin. 'Another Chaucer Allusion: 1692.' N&Q 202 (1957), 2-3. The physican in The Dumb Lady fears that he will 'gain the character of Chaucer's seamstress, for says he, "She keeps a shop for countenance, But bawdeth for her sustenance'" (p 2). Pierce notes 'the rarity of Chaucerian references in Restoration drama and . . . Lacy's translation of two lines from [C7] into seventeenth century English'(p 3). [RCG] Biggins, Dennis. 'Erroneous Punctuation in Chaucer, Cri(A) 4394-96.' PQ 44 (1965), 117-20. The renderings of Skeat [1], Manly [17], Robinson [15] and Cawley [26] strain the sense of line 4396, 'Al konne he pleye on gyterne or ribible.' Biggins suggests that 'he in both line 4394 and line 4396 refers to the master, and line 4395 is a parenthesis' (p 118). The lines may then be paraphrased, '"Since theft is the counterpart of riotous living, his master has to pay in his shop for the apprentice's revelling, even if he himself has no share in such entertainment, although he may well know how to enjoy it." . . . [Thus,] [i]nstead of a simple contrast between the dishonest, libertine apprentice and the defrauded sober-living master, we are left with the suggestion that the latter is himself not altogether above reproach . . . It is yet another token of Chaucer's sophisticated art' (pp 119-20). [DOM] Lumiansky, R.M. 'Chaucer's Cook-Host Relationship.' MS 17 (1965), 208-9. 'Chaucer meant to cancel the Cook's Prologue and Tale and to introduce the Cook for the first time in the Manciple's Prologue' (p 208). The quarrel is based on business rivalry; innkeepers were not allowed to sell food in competition with victuallers, and the Host did not want the Cook to raise matters about the Tabard Inn. When the Cook became contentious, the Host welcomed the Manciple's offer to tell a tale. Lumiansky suggests that 'the two scenes make up a single dramatic antagonism involving Host, Cook and Manciple, three businessmen who are very touchy about certain details of their operations'(p 209). See also 317. [RCG] Dwyer, Richard A. 'The Appreciation of Handmade Literature.' ChauRS (1973^1), 221-40.

Cook's Tale I 247

741

742

743

744

745

746

Refers to non-authorized additions to and revisions of medieval manuscripts, including those of CT. The scribe of MS Lansdowne 851 indicates that, if he wished, he could have finished CkT. [HMcG] Knight, Stephen. 'The Cook's Tale.' In The Poetry of the Canterbury Tales. Pp41-2. See 547. CkT is 'an odd mixture of fluent verse and educated language with blunt verse and colloquial language' (p 41). Chaucer uses some words only of Perkyn Revelour and Absolon: gaillard, gyterne, ribible and acquitance', joly is also associated with them. CkT is 'no more than a demonstration of the mobililty and variety of Chaucer's poetry' (p 42). [RCG] Donaldson, E.T. 'The Manuscripts of Chaucer's Works and Their Use.' In Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. Derek Brewer. Pp 85-108. See 376. The reason that CkT is missing from eleven manuscripts of CT is probably that it is unfinished. [RCG] Pearcy, RoyJ. 'Does the Manciple's Prologue Contain a Reference to Hell's Mouth?' ELN 11 (1974), 167-75. The Manciple 'dwells particularly on the Cook's open mouth' (p 167), [lines 35-40 of ManP]. The image of Hell's Mouth may be associated with the Cook's drunkenness or with 'the infernal abode destined at the Last Judgement for those who die in mortal sin' (p 168), and recalls the Miller's mouth in GP. [RCG] Magoun, P.P., Jr. 'The Cook's "Jakke of Dovere", CTA4347-48.' NM11 (1976), 79. The Jakke of Dovere is 'Dover Sole . . . a proper specialty of Dover and virtually a trademark as opposed to lemon sole' (p 79). [Contrast 750.] [DJB] Green, Martin. 'The Dialectic of Adaptation: The Canterbury Tales of Pier Paolo Pasolini.' Literature/Film Quarterly 4 (1976), 46-53. 'Pasolini is concerned with middle-class morality and with problems of sexuality'. In his retelling of RvT, MilTand CAT the 'theme of sexuality dominates, the juxtaposition of tales and narrative styles presenting multiple perspectives on human sexual conduct.. .the Miller's and Reeve's tales attempt, not always successfully, to portray insouciant, light-hearted, and liberated sexuality. The Cook's Tale, however, does succeed in this attempt' (p49). Pasolini's Perkyn is 'self-indulgent, irresponsible, and riotous . . . and his fantasy life is one continuous pornographic dream' (pp 49-50). Perkyn is used by Pasolini to contrast the dark sexuality of the Pardoner's Tale. The 'rendering of Chaucer's fragmentary original' is 'most ingenious' (p 50). [DPS] David, Alfred. The Strumpet Muse. See 569.

248 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales

747

748

749

750

CAT and the rest of the fabliaux were probably written early in the CT, and soon after the GP. The fabliaux may have brought the CT into existence through the creation of the tellers. [DJB] Stanley, E.G. 'Of This Cokes Tale Maked Chaucer Na Moore.' Poetica 5 (1976), 36-59. When compared with the endings of other tales, 'it becomes clear that [CkT] breaks off incomplete' (p 42). As a result, '[t]o Chaucer critics The Cook's Tale seems an unsatisfactory thing, and they leave it alone' (p 44). The implication in ManP (IX. 11-19) that the Cook has not yet told a tale has added to the belief that Chaucer may have intended to edit out both CkT and CkP from CT, thus confirming their insignificance. Stanley argues, against these views, that in an analysis of CkT and CkP 'we must content ourselves with the perfection and consistency of the First Fragment' (p 46). This approach leads, through a discussion of the Cook's 'momentary philosophy' concerning herbergage (14328-34), to the conclusion that ' [t]he last few lines of The Cook's Tale give the recipe for carefree herbergage.. .The three tales of the First Fragment, if seen by the Cook as consequences of incautious herbergage, are answered by the formula of the situation described at the end of [CkT]... .There is no more for him to say on that subject' (p 59). [See Joseph 355 for a discussion of 'the argument of Herbergage.'] [TGH] Orme, Nicholas. 'Chaucer and Education.' ChauR 16 (1981-2), 38-59. Chaucer's references to education are 'generally random and selective' (p 39). Apprenticeships, although a 'widespread institution,' are mentioned only in Canines 4365-422 and 'even here the poet's interest in the subject is a limited one' (p 41). 'The humorous tone of the fabliaux . . . precludes any deep or serious treatment of the educational theme . . . It is by contrast in the "Marriage Group" that we find discussion of education both on a large scale and in a serious way' (p 55). Chaucer's view seems to be that although education is desirable, it must be supplemented by 'age and experience' (p 57). [DPS] Scattergood, V.J. 'Perkyn Revelour and the Cook's Tale." ChauR 19 (1984-5), 14-23. Contemporary literary types on which Chaucer may have drawn for the character of Perkyn Revelour indicate the 'possible type of story in which Chaucer intended to involve him' (p 15). There are references to popular notions of apprentices and their supposedly riotous behaviour. Chaucer may have had in mind a tale which would offer social comment on 'contemporary mores' or 'social class,' or comedy which would have turned on the youth of Revelour or 'on trickery, or even crime' (p 21). [DPS] Cochran, Leonard. 'Chaucer's Fish.' Verbatim 10(1984), 8.

Cook's Tale I 249

751

752

753

754

The Cook's Jakke ofDovere has generally been explained as a kind of pie, probably reheated. But, since he has 'already used a pie to point out Roger's tight-fistedness, a poet of Chaucer's range would select another example.' If Jack could mean 'joint,' and reheating food was common in Dover, a 'dover joint' could be 'synonymous with warmed over food.' If Jakke ofDovere could mean John Dory, the fish of Dover, 'how much more pungent Chaucer's line when we know he is speaking of a warmed-over fish.'[Contrast744.] [RCG] Pearcy, Roy J. 'Chaucer's Cook's Prologue, 1.4326.' Expl 45:3 (1987), 34. The Cook feels he is experiencing 'the medieval custom whereby a guest was routinely scratched and/or massaged . . . (tastoner) when a solicious host(ess) prepared him for bed and a good night's rest' (p 3). His enjoyment comes from 'a story in which a reluctant host's attempt to cheat his guests leads them to retaliate by secretly engaging the host's wife and daughter in activities which the custom . . . was often suspected of promoting'(p3). [RCG] Seymour, M.C. 'Hypothesis, Hyperbole, and the Hengwrt Manuscript of the Canterbury Tales.' £S68 (1987), 214-19. The Hengwrt scribe left a blank leaf after the last leaf of CkT. Its incompleteness suggests that '[i]f the Canterbury Tales originally circulated in booklets . . . a completed Cook's Tale had lost its final leaves' (p 216), causing a scribe to claim that it was unfinished. If MS Hengwrt had been commissioned to preserve tales 'subject to hazard in booklet form,' then '[t]he claim that of this cokes tale maked Chaucer na moore may not therefore be true' (p 217). This evidence and some from other tales indicates that 'it may be prudent for editors and critics alike to treat the text of MS Hengwrt with cautious reverence' (p 219). See also 753. [RCG] . 'Of this Cokes Tale.' ChauR 24 (1989-90), 259-62. Differences in ink suggest the scribe of MS Hengwrt tried to find more copy of CkT, before giving his explanation in the margin, but was this based on knowledge or assumption? Seymour proposes '[a] simple bibliographical explanation . . . for the present defective state of the Cook's Tale' (p 260), based on the quiring of the manuscript and Chaucer's vigorous composition of a tale which might be expected to be about 700 lines. The last quire of the booklet with MilT, RvTand CkT may have been lost. See also 752. [RCG] Cooper, Helen. 'The Cook's Tale.' In The Canterbury Tales. Pp 118-21. See 637. The Cook responds to RvT, but it could not be a typical fabliau, because 'after the description of Perkin the tone turns pervasively moral' (p 119), with many aphorisms. Endings written for the tale in the fifteenth century

250 / Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales 'despatch Perkin Revelour to a speedy sticky end' (p 119). The professional enmity of tavernkeepers and cooks is seen in exchanges with the Host, and there may be a topical allusion since the two have the names of historical characters. Sources and analogues are not obvious and this may be the reason for the tale's being unfinished, although there is some analysis of the Reeve's theme of herbergage, which runs through the tales of the First Fragment. [RCG] 755 Burrow, John. 'Poems Without Endings.' The Biennial Chaucer Lecture. The New Chaucer Society Seventh International Congress, August 6-11, 1990. The University of Kent, Canterbury. SAC 13 (1991), 17-37. The scribes of the Ellesmere and Hengwrt manuscripts left room to continue CkT, and put no explicit after the tale, although the Hengwrt scribe added a marginal note that Chaucer had abandoned it. In MS Rawlinson 141 and MS McCormick, added couplets make 'a startlingly abrupt conclusion, disposing of the apprentice's friend, the friend's wife, and presumably the apprentice too' (p 23). CkTappears simply to 'set up the situation for a comedy of the London underworld' (p 31), but thematic conclusion may be seen if it is thought to suggest 'the danger of entertaining young men overnight in one's house' (p 31) [cf. 747] or 'a pattern of increasingly active participation by women in the stories' (p 32). [RCG]

iNDEX

References are to item numbers. Boldface identifies the author or editor of an item, regular typeface indicates that the person or topic is discussed in that item, and a bold lowercase r following an item number indicates that the person named is the author of a review of that item. Thus 'Blake, N.F. 45, 49r, 179' indicates that Blake is the editor of item 45, reviewed item 49, and is mentioned in item 179. Chaucer's works are entered under their full names, not their abbreviated titles. Biblical references are grouped together under 'Bible' and manuscripts under 'manuscripts'; saints are entered individually under 'St'. Aarne, Antti 270A abacus 460,487 Abel 247 Absolom 483,495,498 Absalom and Theophilus 627 Absolon 598,620; arrogance 189; association with Cancer 373; beauty 27; characterization 189,418, 423, 495, 520, 544; clerk 383; clothing 103, 490, 501, 572; clown 551; compared to: Absolom 379, 507, 522, 558, 615, 624; Arcite 379, 625; Blanche 284; Bridegroom 498, 503, 550, 558; cat 641; Chauntecleer 582; Christ 624; David 379; devil 546; figure in analogues 598; Gabriel 624, 639;

Herod 558,624; Horn 183; Judas 624; Luxuria 522; Miller 522; Nicholas 397, 496; Palamon 434,493; Rimmild 183; StNeot 557; St Nicholas 562; Solomon 624; Squire 508; Troilus 584; Ydelnesse 522; courtly language 85,651; courtly lover 103, 556, 569, 602, 608, 629, 639, 651; descant 474; diction 136; dancing 611; description 2, 103, 272, 284, 291, 294, 298, 310, 311, 318, 358, 480, 637; desire 500; effeminacy 393, 456; fool 141; gaze 642, 643; gifts to Alison 510; hair 352, 483; humiliation 180;yo/y 189; kiss 55,151; love for Alison

252/Index 155,187; love lyrics 362; musical instruments 638; myrie child 183; name 132, 324, 379; need for water 512; opportunism 349; perceptual responses 609; physiognomy 539; playing of Herod 259, 292, 548, 558, 624; plumpness 189; prettiness 189; pride 142, 321,507,522; psychoanalytic comment 607; punishment 381,574, 605; pursuit of wisdom 391; rejection 620,623; representing ecclesiastical establishment 247; sexuality 189,613; sinner 509; shoes 297,380, 522; solas 97,98; Song of Songs 247,362,372,399; speech 547; thwarted lover 608; tonsure 502; use of truelove 639; vanity 499; vengeful nature 513; visit to Gerveys 532; voluptuary 549 accidence 89 acquitance 734, 741 Adam Scotus 483 Adelphoe 678 adnominatio 110 Adriano 71 adulescens 437 adultery 325, 372 Aers, David 431 aesthetics 516 afterlife 246 age 209,214,223,240,246,250, 252,298,330,423,692; effects on amorous clerks 230 ages of man 722 agriculture 3 73

al-Khwarizmi 96 alazon437 alba 705 Albrecht, W.P. 485 aldermen 359 Alderson, William L. 354, 672 Alexander 630 Alexander, Michael 621 Aleyn: clerk 307,383,505; disparagement of Malyne 182; farewell to Malyne 330, 324,372,677,681,714; and horse 327,659; King's Scholar 691; knowledge of Symkyn's family 676; and law 689; and Malyne's nose 670; name 680; oaths 126,685; and Pinuccio 71; proverb 356; redress 372; slow-witted 721; and wisdom 391; weapons 666 Alfred 557 Alfriston 266 algorism 460 algorismus 96 alignier 680 Alison: association with Cancer 373; beauty 249, 286; brooch 644; character 443; characterization 311, 388, 394, 423, 495, 544; clothing 103, 127,335,352,501; coler 127; compared to: Alison (niece/ gossib, WBP) 232; bird in cage 560; Blanche 284; Bride 498, 503, 550, 558, 624; Church 624; Criseyde 584; Emily 309, 312,379,389,397,568, 574, 576, 625, 637; Eve 533,558,624;Heile88;

Index/253 ingenue 551; Jocasta 607; lecherous wives 507; Mary 372,533,558,568,615,622, 624,639,648,653; mouse 641; mother figure 607; Noah's wife 624; prostitute 579; St Nicholas 540; swallow 492,511,628; Viola 88; Virginia 631; weasel 363,369,510,567, 648; Wife of Bath 225,507, 648,651; woman taken in adultery 330; cry of harrow 104; description 2, 27, 88, 102, 103, 131, 151,284,290,291,294, 295,298,310,311,316, 318,320,324,330,348, 352, 358, 369, 377, 387, 432,443,470,481,485, 497,508,518,544,547, 609, 616, 637, 649; diction 102, 109, 136,446,651; dismissal of Absolon 289, 321; ecclesiastical reckoning of time in bed with Nicholas 623; equine imagery 327, 363; escape without punishment 72, 379, 381, 496, 496, 499,500,513,569,587, 589; eyebrows 504; freedom 620; hole 456; isolation from John 529; mast-like stature 562; name 128, 132; oath 126, 150, 646; nonce words 156; object of gaze 643; pa 164; parody of Annunciation 399; physignomy 539, 595; pryvetee 141, 174; pursuit of wisdom 391; representative of bourgeois morality 629; response to:

Absolon 522; John 150; Nicholas 312; sexuality 569, 613,614,651; social position 85; song 511; source of Alison in The Magus 610; source of positive values 349; threat to Absolon 626; threatened by Absolon 620; as Wife of Bath 232 allusion, biblical 482 allegory 265, 298, 330, 351, 519 Allen, Judson Boyce 406 Allen, Valerie 649 alloy: ally 113, 117 allusions 125, 283, 354, 378; biblical 72, 139,227, 372, 394, 404, 424, 482, 503, 550,568,575,615,617, 622, 624, 626, 627, 639, 648,653702,707,711; classical 122, 630; Cornish 289; courtly 438; in CkT 297; in MilT 297; literary 142, 432; religious 542; secular 542; to CkT288, 737;toM/ri05, 115,281, 473;to/?vr281,288;to saints 562, 570, 627, 646 ally el 13 Almagest 487 ambiguity 85 Ames, Percy W. 257, 457 analysis, case 188 Andersen, Jens Kr. 364 Anderson, Robert 402 Andersson, Theodore M., 66 Andreas Capellanus 517 Andreas, James R. 414 Andrew, Malcolm 628 Andria 678 Angelus ad Virginem 241,409, 447,474,533,538,570,572,

254/Index 575,604,615,624 anger 252, 325 Annunciation 187, 192, 241, 533, 553, 624, 653 Anon. 470 antifeminism 530 apes 172, 363 Aphrodite 643 apology: for MHT526, 583; for MilTandRvT2\l,265,219 appetite 439 apprentices, behaviour 749 apprenticeship 732, 734, 748; certificate of completion 734; indenture 732, 733 Apuleius 66 Arber, Agnes 95 Arcite 155,406,436,493 argument 112 argumentum a nomine 678 Aristophanes 59 aristocracy: courtly 686; of intellect 686 armour 666 Arnald of Villanova 625 Ars Amatoria 515 Ars Poetica 678 art 330, 410; and experience 229; medieval 361 De Arte Honeste Amandi 517 Artemis 643 Arthur, Ross G. 248 arts, visual 409, 419, 600, 704 Arveragus 620 Assumption of Mary 550 Astrolabe 552 astrolabe 534, 552 astrology 142,221,436,443, 487,491,500,512,521,534, 536,552,582 astromye 143, 154, 166, 167, 487

astronomy 415,534 astronomye 166 Athelstan 509 attitudes 309 Atus215 aube330, 677, 705, 714 Auberee, la vielle maquerelle 72 audience: Chaucer's 577; of fabliau 399; of MilT 518; pilgrim 581 augrym 96; augrym stones 460, 487 August 373 Augustine 155,395,633 Aurora 483 avarice 242, 330, 436 avaunting 325 Avicenna 625 Axon, William E.A. 53 Ayenbite oflnwyt 529 Azuma, Yoshio 715 ba\64 baby (RvT) 722 Bacon, Roger 297 bagpipes 180,638,647,653; courtly image 241; and gluttony 207; and lechery 207 Bailly, Harry see Host Baird, Joseph L. 149, 689 baisier 164 Baker, Donald C. 43 Bakhtin, M.M. 249 Baldeswelle 179, 196, 197, 224 Balliet, Gay L. 718 baptism 115,512,519,536,702 Barnouw, A.J. 58, 459 barriers 633 Earth, John 69,81,83 basium 164 bathos 454

Index/255 Batt, Catherine 443 r Baugh, Albert C. 29, 154, 304 Baum, Paull F. 112, 117, 121, 326 bawdy 124, 130, 131, 135, 136, 176, 178, 349; in KnT and M//r606;inM/7r621 Bayard 129, 327, 363, 409, 679, 687; as gelding 723; as stallion 723 Bayley, A.R. 657 Baylor, Jeffrey 719 Bazire, Joyce 165r beard 204, 483; beard-making 170, 175 Beauchamp, Sir William 197 beauty 316, 324; feminine 483 Beichner, P.E. 108, 483, 495 Beidler, Peter 87, 574, 636 beliefs, religious 142 bellows 638 bells, church 72 Bennett, J.A.W. 37, 324r, 374 Bennett, H.S. 667 Benson, Larry D. 49, 66,178, 375 Benson, C. David 432, 435r, 446r, 637r Bentley, Joseph 513 Berangier au long cul 66, 70, 184 herd 455 Berenger of the Long Arse, see Berangier au long cul Berkhout, Carl T. 171 Bernard of Gordon 625 Besserman, Lawrence 442 Betterton, Thomas 52 Bestiary 511 Bible 441,442; Acts (7:18) 707; Apoc. (8:3-5) 541; 2 Corinthians (2:14-15) 541;

Ecclesiasticus (23:24,49:1-2) 541; Isaiah (2:4) 568,615; John (8:7) 615; Matthew (5:27-30)617; Biggins, Dennis 688, 738 bigyle 158 Birney, Earle 347, 481, 496 Bishop, Ian 443, 582 Een bispel van .ij. clerken 87, 88 bisynesse 714 Black, Robert 617 blacksmiths 463, 638 Blake, N.F. 45, 49r, 145,153, 154,160, 179,181, 423r Blamires, Alcuin 440 Blanche, description 649 blasphemy 558, 626 Blechner, Michael Harry 579 Blenner-Hassett, R. 732 Block, Edward A. 207, 674 Blodgett, E.D. 141 blood 112, 113 Bloomfield, Morton W. 528 blue 522 Blum, Zevi 360 Blyth, Charles 389r Boccaccio 53, 58, 62a, 86, 88, 269,321,358,461,462, 464; Decameron 53, 58, 71, 62a, 86,88,248,286,287,358, 461,464,564 Bodel, Jean 63, 66, 84, 87 body, as soul-house 722 Boece 184 Boenig, Robert 241, 638 Boethius 355, 398, 559, 560, 620, 633; Consolation of Philosophy 560 bolt upright 510 Bolton,W.F.501,579 Bond, Richmond P. 288, 662 De Bono Conjugali 527

256/Index Book of the Duchess 649; courtly love 556 Book ofNoria 363, 558 Boothman, Janet 506 bore 111 Bosch, Hieronymus 207 Bove, Jean de 53, 58 Bowden, Betsy 52, 650 Bowden, Muriel 335 Bowen, Robert 494 Bowers, R.H. 305 Bowker, Alvin Willington 551 Boy Bishop 568, 570 Boyd, Heather 411 Braddy, Haldeen 124, 343, 480, 733, 735 Bradshaw, Henry 3 brass 113 Braswell, Mary Flowers 446r Bratcher, James T. 61, 537 Brathwait, Richard 305; Comments 305 breath: creative 586; of God 447 brestes 178 Brewer, D.S. 33, 62,311,312, 316,332r, 376,377,384, 404A,415,416,417,424A, 516r,518,691,713 Bride (Song of Songs) 498 Bridegroom (Song of Songs) 498, 553 Brodie, Alexander H. 222 Brody, Saul N. 560 Bromholm: Holy Cross of 671; Priory 196, 671 Bronson, Bertrand 497 Brown, Calvin S. 675 Brown, David 98 Brown, Emerson, Jr. 223 Brown, Peter 701 Brown, William J. 217 Brueghel, Pieter 207

Brusendorff, Aage 14,466, 471 Btthler, Curt F. 482 Bukton66Q, 661 Bullough, G. 55r Burbridge, Roger 67 Burchfield, Robert 409 Burgess, Anthony 360 Burkhart, Robert E. 522 Burley family 197 Burlin, Robert B. 392, 405r Burne-Jones, Edward 28, 40 Burnley, J.D. 146, 179, 443r, 637r Burton, Francis 288 Burrell, Arthur 8 Burrow, John 324r, 326r, 333r, 350,419r, 755 Cain 247 cake of half a busshel 704 Calendar of Pleas and Memoranda Rolls . . . of the City of London, 1364-1381131 Call, Reginald 734 Caluwe-Dor, Juliette de 41, 47, 400; see also Dor, Juliette Cambridge 320, 384, 412, 717; colleges 691 Camden, Carroll, Jr. 473, 663 Campbell, Thomas P. 636a camus 172, 670, 676, 678 Cancer 373 candlelight 633 Canterbury Tales: characters 382; editing 422; fabliaux tales 301, 746; frame tale 304, 308, 366; and Decameron 364; genre 437; influences 351; link 427; manuscripts 264; modernization 8; modifications 261; order of composition 365;

Index/257 order of tales 5,260,264,406, 725; parallel passages 265; as sermon 359; Six-Text edition 264; sources 9; themes 337 Canon's Yeoman 137 Canon's Yeoman's Tale 9, 82, 201,586 Canticle of Canticles, Canticum Canticorum', see Song of Songs cap 243 cape 134 capitalism 251, 576 capul 327, 679 caritas 618 carnality 498 carnival 589, 62la carpenters 642 Carroll, William 199 Carroll, Virginia Schaefer 444 Carson, Ricks 193 Castelain, M. 9 cat 348, 641 Gather, Willa 204 Cato 96 causality 190 cautery 558 Cauthen, I.B., Jr. 115 Cawley, A.C. 26,327 Caxton, William 37, 260, 422 Cazamian, Louis 19, 59 censing 558 Cespedes, Frank V. 235 cetewal 591 Chamberlain, David 407 characterization 31, 44, 81, 138, 143, 150,220,227,234, 235,236,273,277,296,298, 303,306,311,312,318,339, 344,349,388,389,390,412, 416,418,423,423,426,429, 453,477,576,595; conven-

tions 245; dramatic irony 55; fabliau 73; through horses 679; medieval 616; in MilT 495; psychological 693; in RvT437; rhetorical 693 charity 498 The Charter of Christ 639 Chaucer, Goeffrey: as individual: biography 514; annual butt of wine 210; and Lionel of Ulster 196; as page 502, as poet 236, 371, 377; personality 348; reading 35 preferences to education 748; reputation 130; retraction 472; sense of humour 618; use of taboo-words 176; views 265 348; and other poets: Boccaccio 321; Eustache Deschamps 668; as pilgrim-narrator 208, 217, 317, 348, 439, 682; and Miller 208; and Reeve 208; as Nicholas 348 Chaucer's works: background 396; chronology 265, 276; influence 261; modifications 261; sources 396 cheating 326 cherls 309 Chester Shepherds' Pageant 712 Chesterton, G.K. 280 Chiarini, Cino 22 Chickering, Howell D. 569r child \%3 chivalry 222 chorll 99 Christ, symbols 639 Christianity 372, 596 Church 447, 652; authority 349;

258/Index and everyday life 569 churls 303, 365, 453; diction 290; and their tales 212 Chute, Marchette 306 chymbe 117 city life 416, 593 Clameur de Haro 104 Clare 196, 197 Clare Hall 171,662 Clark, Cecily 161, 405r Clark, Roy Peter 147,546,568 class: social 245, 278, 398, 518; conflict 377, 698; consciousness 455; ecclesiastical 247; peasant 247; seigneurial 247 Cleobolus471 clergy, children of 667,712 Clerk of Oxford 307, 505 clerks 27, 307, 320, 335, 374, 383, 505; in fabliaux 686; parish 548; social position 686 clerks (MilT) 403, 714 clerks (RvT) 403, 714; learning 719; as pigs 363; rivalry 721;andSymkyn719, 721; and Symkyn's family 181, 698; see also Northernisms Cline, Ruth Huff 299, 502 Clogan, Paul M. 385, 401 clom 624 clum 115 Cobb, Samuel 52, 650 Cochran, Leonard 750 Cockelreas, Joanne 142 coffin 722 Coffman, George R. 198,487 Coggeshall, John M. 77 Coghill, Nevill 25, 38, 300, 320, 333r, 684 cokewold 123 Colbert, Henry 204

Coleman, Janet 436r coler 127 Coletti, Theresa 575, 622 Collins, Fletcher, Jr. 97, 98, 475 colloquialisms 109, 135 Colmer, Dorothy 182 coltes tooth 225 comedy 59, 72, 139, 141,272, 290,311,312,332,333, 341,346,384,390,394,395, 415,416,432,436,437,438, 457,477,503,535,544,563, 565,574,576,589,601,614; Chaucer's and Shakespeare's 352; Christian and pagan 437; of class 705; coarse 714; ofM/r587;ofsex705;of stereotypes 332 comicality 629 communication, oral 632 community 251 compaignye 136 competition, male 449 Compline 675, 685 conclusion 112 conditions, social 237, 238, 323 Condren, Edward I. 425 conflict 577 Conlee, John W. 69 Constance 335 context: dramatic 429; historical 667; social 426, 667, 686 Cook: associated with Aquarius 221; diction 300; dirtiness 736; drunkenness 222,348, 398,630,727,728,736,743; lack of principle 309; meanness 750; associated with Mercury 373; mormal 728, 735,736; mouth 743; name 297,729; narrative style 364; and other pilgrims 277;

Index 7259 Guildsmen 736, Host 27, 231,233,277,317,381, 739, 754; Manciple 237, 278, 739, 743; Miller 743; response to RvT84, 292, 315, 698, 754;useoff/ioi/ 148 Cook, Jon 62la Cook, Robert 389r Cooke, Thomas D. 72 cooks, and tavernkeepers 754 Cook's Tale: aphorisms 754; characterization 303; comment on: aldermen 359; city life 312,397; love 372; sexuality 745; soul 394; vices 324; date of composition 746; diction 741; effect on Host 399; ending 4,6,91,264,286,287, 296,300,311,317,334,338, 365,388,389,728,747,740, 752,753,754,755; genre 262; heroic couplets 364; illicit love 275; manuscripts 742, 752, 753; additions 740; revision 91; variations 275; and other tales: Tale of Gamelyn 733; ManP 726, 147; MilT 141; PardT 745; RvT 141, 306; possibilities 349; punctuation 738; as'Sin Tale'726; tone 338,754; connection with Virgo 373 Cooper, Helen 412, 594, 637, 717, 754 Cooper, Geoffrey 157 Copland, M. 681 Correale, Robert M. 685

Corsa, Helen Storm 332 Corson, Hiram 2 Cosmos, Spencer 150 Costigan, Edward 168 costume 335 coulter 540, 558 Coulton, G.G. 266 courtesy 330 couth 125 covetousness 325 Cowen, J.M. 183 Cowgill, Bruce Kent 721 Cowling, George H. 286 cradle 722 Craik, T.W. 332r, 333, 535 Creed 652 Criseyde 295; description 387; criticism: historical 596, 597; patristic 314; rhetorical 240; social 227, 230, 576; surveyed 375, 376,440,451 Cropacius, Caspar 66 cross, symbols 639 crouch 125 Crow, Martin Michael 101, 326r cruelty 551 crull 125 cuckolding 300, 448, 450 Cuentos espanoles de Colorado y de Me 'jo 61 cukewold 117 culture 335, 377 Cummings, Hubertis M. 464 cupiditas3\4 cups 119 Curry, Walter Clyde 195, 328, 728 Le Cuvier 61 Dame Sirith 80, 602 dancing 266,611

260/Index Dane, Joseph A. 587 Darton, F.J. Harvey 6 Davenant, John 162 David, Alfred 245, 569, 698, 746 Davis, N. 134 Davus 678 Day, Mabel 55r days, unlucky 563 de Bury Richard 307 De Selincourt, Ernest 290 de Ware, Roger 729, 731, 736 Dean, Christopher 523 death: apprehension of 671; Black 238; personified as bartender 692, as Reeve 255, as thief 722; sermons on 228 debauchery 407 Decameron, see Boccaccio deception 161,170,175; in Fragment I 315 A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures 115 decorum 310, 368 deerne 155,187,455; deerne love 103,372 defamation 325 Delany, Sheila 686 Delasanta, Rodney 692 Delattre, Floris 19 Delcourt, J. 9 Deliorgis, Stavros 386 Dempster, Germaine 54, 55, 63 Dent, A.A. 327 Deptford 655 Derocquigny, J. 9 descriptio, see rhetoric Descriptio Norfolciensium 242 descriptions 131,322,324,329; conventions 387; rhetorical 387 determinism, Boethian 513

Devereux, Sir John 197 devices, poetic 362 devil 255,400,419,710; anal character 546; as cat 641; 'the hammerer' 216; stereotype 244 Devol, George H. 199 Di Gagni, John J. 552 dialect 143, 145, 179, 565; London 179; North Midland 101; Northern 324, see also Northernisms dialogue 335, 399 Diana 373, 643 Dianthus caryophyllus 95 dicing 325 Dicta Insignia Septem Sapientum Graeciae 471 diction 100,290, 156 digne 125 Dillon, Bert 378 discord 508 discourse: astrological 249; biblical 249; courtly 651; male 651; popular 640 disparage 182; disparagement 445 distaff 159 Disticha Diversorum 471 Disticha Faceti 471 distinction, social 167 Divine Office 553 don auxiliary 92 Donaldson, E. Talbot 27,103, 111,154,163,208,231, 347, 498, 529, 608, 742 Donaldson, Kara Virginia 651 Donner, Morton 151 doors, breaking with head 200, 210 Dor, Juliette 179; see also Caluwe"-Dor, Juliette de

Index/261 Dorigen335,620 double entendre 110,129 Doyle, A.I. 43 dramatis personae 277 dress 112 dress, and rank 211 drinking 410 drunkenness 222, 325, 630, 633 Dryden, John 149 The Dumb Lady 737 Dunbar, William 176 Duncan, Edgar H. 371 duration of pilgrimage 655 Durham 661 Dutescu, Dan 34 Duxworth, John 101 Dwyer, Richard A. 740 easement 112, 121 eating 410 Ebel, Julia G. 516r Ebin, Lois 239 echo, verbal 493 Eckhardt, Caroline D. 226 Economou, George D. 227, 561 Edden, Valerie 85, 333r, 508r education 652 Edward II 691 Edward III 127 effects, auditory 362 efficiency, sexual 584 Ekwall, Eilert 224 elements, courtly 426 Eliason, Norman E. 113, 117, 131,132,367,371 elision 114 Ellinwood, Leonard 205 Elliott, Ralph W.V. 126,135,137, 179,351 Ellis, Deborah S. 255 Ellis, F.S. 40 Emerson, Katherine T. 676

Emily 155; description 387,432, 443; dress 335 Emmerson, Richard K. 419r enclosure 355 De L 'enfant quifu remis au soleillM, 437 Engelhardt, George J. 379 envy 250 'Envy' (poem) 250 epic 436 ernest 326 error, scribal 166, 169 Erzgraber, Willi 441, 629 estates 530, 652 etymology 132, 151 events, political 436 Everett, Dorothy 14r, 18r every dee I 150 evil 379 Ewald, Wilhelm 272 exegesis: biblical 533, 541, 550, 553, 634; patristic 439, 498, 503,572,596,597,618,633 exempla2S4, 356 expectation, narrative 85, 388 eyebrows, black 504 eyes 362 Fable of a Priest and a Simple Rustic 66 fabliaux 9, 60, 62, 66, 67, 72, 88, 184,237,268,298,320, 323,338,344,348,358, 367,381,384,432, 435, 436, 437, 438, 450; Chaucer's 59, 73, 324, 339, 501; and churls 403; comedies of reversal 614; criticism 227; and education 748; English 80; French 59, 73,80, 153, 319, 321; genre 237, 629, 681,698; image of

262/Index woman 567; naturalism 103; and novella 71, 86; origin 294; plot 342; relation to MilT, RvT, CkT342; style 408 fabula528 falding 478 family resemblances, theory of 88 fantasy 384, 426, 589 Farnham, Willard 465, 467 Farrell, Thomas J. 184 fart 447, 574 Fasciculus Morum 242, 639 Fasti II122, 515 Fein, Susanna Greer 639, 722 Feinstein, Sandy 723 feminism 384 fen 706 fer north 100 ferre leeve 650 feudalism 251 Fichte, Jorg 588, 632 Fifteen Signs before Doomsday 605 final e 114 fire 373 fires, St Fursey's 246 fish 750 Fisher, John H. 42, 154,365, 368, 433, 679 fistula in ano 592 flatulatee, flatulator 494 flatulence 546 flatus 494 Fleming, John V. 358r, 704 Fletcher, Alan J. 242, 652 flood 373,562,564; date 512,536; Noah's 180,192,404,491, 592,597,605,617,624; time 534; Flood Play 624 flour ofil endyng 129 flower:flour 112

fluids, vital 722 Foligno, Cesare 22 folktale 60; Appalachian 68; Ozark 77 folklore 58; of truelove 639 Folz, Hans 66 for the nones 107 Forde, Thomas 281; Familiar Letter'$281 Forehand, Brooks 209 form: inorganic 516; organic 240 forms, Platonic 410 Fortune 528; Fortune's wheel 559 The Foure Leues of the Trewlufe 639 four-stress line 479 Fowles, John, The Magus 610 fox 363 The Fox, the Wolf and the Husbandman 356 Fox, Alistair 699 Foxley 197 Fragment I 141, 233, 244, 309, 332, 355, 368, 389, 406, 413, 429; characterization 83; herbergage 754; plot 83; themes 345, 315 Francis, W. Nelson 313 Frank, Robert Worth, Jr. 693 Franklin's Tale 466, 620; of girl with two lovers 594 freedom 439 Freiris ofBerwik 79 French, Robert Dudley 287 Frese, Dolores Warwick 393 Friedman, John Block 595,653, 687 Friend, A.C. 488 Fries, Maureen 705 Frost, George L. 476

Index 7263 Frost, William 24 Friar's Tale 549 Fuller, David 633 Furnivall, Frederick J. 1,3, 12, 264,422 Gabriel, prefigured by Serpent 533 \see also Nicholas gaillard74l Gallacher, Patrick J. 609 Gallick, Susan 228 Gallo, Ernest 240 Galway, Margaret 18r, 203 game 337; Christmas 568; taletelling 398 game 326, 355,517, 533,627 Ganim, John 43 6r, 640 Garbaty, Thomas Jay 46a, 179, 224 Gardner, John 394, 596 Garrett, R.M. 94 gaze 642; male 643 gazetteer 329 geen and neen 100 Gellrich, Jesse M. 538, 553 General Prologue 227, 265; and pastourelle 82 genre 412, 438, 439 gentilesse 325 gentils 309, 365; response to tales 212 Geoffrey of Vinsauf 358, 387 Gerveys 509, 520, 532, 557, 615; compared to: devils 532; millers 532; St Nicholas 562; Satan 624; Vulcan 532; name 132; oaths 532 Gesta 437 Giaccherini, Enrico 71, 72r, 75, 86

Gibbon, John Murray 474 Gibson, Gail McMurray 597 Gill, Eric 13 Gill, and Noah's wife 647 gittern638,741 Globe Chaucer 3 glossing 256, 651 Gloucester, Duke of 661 gluttony 726 gwo/99,134,185,193 gnost 185 God 624 god 145 Goddes pryvetee 55, 173, 184, 187,429,446,569,573, 624, 652 gods, pagan 443, 500, 568 Godwin, William 385; comments on M//rand RvT3B5 gold 540; rusting 250 The Golden Legend 579 Golden, Samuel A. 125 goliardeys 263 De Gombert and the Two Clerks 9,58,66,84,86,87,88,446, 721 Gomez Solino, Jose S. 177 good\\2 Goodall, Peter 76, 78,190,194, 598 Gosselink, Robert 694 Gower, John 628 Gradon, Pamela 361 grammar 153; transformational 85 Grauls, Jan 730 Graves, Thornton S. 281,672 Gray, Douglas 641 Graybill, Robert V. 618 Green, A. Wigfall 307 Green, Martin 745

264/Index Greene, Robert 663; Farewell to Folly 663 Greenfield, Stanley B 389r Greenwich 147, 265, 266, 655 Grennen, Joseph E. 172, 712 grey 112 Grose, M.W. 342 Grymbald, Robert 203 Guernsey 104 Guerin, Richard S. 62a Guerin 66 Guild of St Nicholas 490, 548 Gunnlaugssaga Ormstungu 584 Guy, Earl F. 397r Gwynn, Stephen 267 Gylfaginning 659 gyterne63&, 741 hair 483 Hales, J.W. 269 Ham 247, 455 Hamlet 352 hammer 216 Hammond, Eleanor Prescott 260 Handling Sin 529 Hanks, D. Thomas 173 Hanna, Ralph III 50, 256 Hanning, Robert W. 174, 229, 630 Hansen, Elaine Turtle 432r Hanson, Thomas B. 539 hapax legomenon 106 Harder, KelsieB. 490, 501 Harley, Marta Powell 246 harlotry 325 harlotry 210, 326, 351 Harrington, Norman T. 230 Harris, Richard L. 610 harrow 104 Harrowing of Hell 627 Harry Bailly, see Host Harsnet, Samuel, A Declaration

of Egregious Popish Impostures 115 Hart, Walter Morris 56,63,656 harvest 373 Harvey, R.W. 218 Harwood, Britton J. 599 Haselmayer, Louis A. 294 Haskell, Ann S. 540, 562, 570 Haskins, Charles Homer 96 Hatton, Thomas J. 541 haulte voyx 205 Hayward, Thomas 210 head, strength of 199 headlinks 365 Heath, H. Frank 3 heavy 112 Heffernan, Carol Falvo 702 He He van Beersele 88 Heist, William W. 58 Hell's Mouth 743 Helming, Vernon P. 15r 'Hen. Nicholas' 473 Hench, Atcheson L. 123 hende25,85, 103, 108, 142, 347,362,425,455,495, 501,505, 560,617,637 Henryson, Robert 176, 356 Henshaw, Millet 104 Herben, Stephen, Jr. 666 herbergage 355, 747, 754 hereos 625 heritage 182 Herod 484, 533,634 Herod 621 heroines, description 316 Hertog, Erik 88 Herzman, Ronald B. 395, 419r, 707 Heseltine, Janet E. 293 Hieatt, Constance B. 36 hierarchy 251 Higden, Ranulph210

Index/265 Higuchi, Masayuki 158 Hill, Betty 358r, 362,369 Hinckley, Henry Barrett 263 Hinton, Norman D. 121, 680 Hirsh, John C. 563 history, social 707, 709, 749 Hodge, name 132 Hoffman, Richard L. 122, 515 Hogge, Roger 297 hole 456 holes 554 Holley, Linda Tarte 642 Holy Week, gospel readings 205 homonymity 132 hood 243 ho(o)lyl\2, 113, 117 hooly chirches blood 330, 709, hoot \ 12 Horace 573, 678 Hornsby, Joseph Allen 445 horsemanship 222 horses 327, 363, 419, 659, 679, 687, 704, 723 hose, red 673 hospitality 170 Host 228, 446, 674, 692; and pilgrims 231: control 226, 230, 233, 345; and Cook 426; and Manciple 148; and Miller 212; and Reeve 279, 292; tale-telling competition 231 hours, monastic 674, 675, 685 How Howleglas Deceived His Ghostly Father 88 Howard, Donald R. 35, 334, 389, 526, 542, 608 hue and cry 445 Hugh of St Victor 155,483,633 Hulbert, J.R. 202 humiliation, homosexual 607 humility 243

humour, goliardic 263 Hunt, Leigh 401 hunting 348 Huntsman, Jeffrey F. 143,167 Huppe, Bernard F. 508, 573 Hussey, Stanley S. 418 Hussey, Maurice 336 Hutton, Edward 358 hyophthalmos 369 idealization 309 ideals: chivalric 315, 569, 586; comic 27; of community service 238; courtly 39, 103, 420; religious 586, 637, 707; social 458 idiom: courtly 431; popular 181

ikS9

imagery 347, 369, 380, 419, 432; of age 722; alimentary 639; animal 127,363,411, 485,496,500,513,687, 717; auditory 496; Christian 173; of cycle of life 722; of enclosure 419; equestrian 106; equine 232; fabliau 73, 358; of freedom 419; herbal 591; kitchen 419; of KnT 523; literary 361; of MilT 523; of mouth 180; musical 411; olfactory 496; oral 496; phallic 297, 702; recurrent 31; sexual 395; taste and smell 513; visual 701; youth 722 images: bell 214; bird in the cage 561; coals 214; coin 369; colt's tooth 363,668; hair 214; horse 214; horse and rider 363, 687; leek 214, 289, 663; medlar 214; pan of brass 238; rusty blade 209,

266 / Index 250; sow 219; tow on distaff 159; weasel 363,369; wine cask 214,692,702,722; of old age 214; of women 377 imagination, auditory 632 incongruity 637 indecency 262 Indenture of Apprenticeship (1396)733 inefficiency, sexual 584 infans 722 infinitive 92 influence(s): French 343, 346; Italian 62a, 346; literary 362 information, geographical 322, 329 // Insonio Insonadado 281, 669 instrument 136 intercourse, marital 527 interpretation: biblical 421; humanistic 429; philosophical 429; of signs 421; structuralist 158 interruption 247 iron 540 irony 73, 144,241,279,299, 330, 346, 347, 358, 399, 404,425,485,496,499,500, 557,588,590,611,615,617; dramatic 55,468 Irregang und Girregar 113 isolation 250 Jack, R.D.S. 79 Jackson, W.T.H. 340 Jacobus de Voragine 579 Jakke ofDovere 128,288,744, 750 Jambeck Thomas J. 138 Jankyn and Aleyson 66 Jankyn (WBP) 232 January (MerT) 223,506

jealousy 325,448 Jean de Meun 560 Jennings, Margaret 611 Jensen, Emily 449 Jerome 530; Epistola ad Eustochium 572 Jimura, Akiyuki 720 jingle 110 John (MilT): avarice 142, 507, 522; association with Cancer 373; beliefs 292; builder 646; call to St Frideswide 299,555; carpenter 642; characterization 72,120,311,312; compared \.o:jaloux 507; January 55, 314, 506; Joseph 192,372,533,558, 622, 624, 639, 653; Knight 249; Noah 512, 533,536,558,624,653; Reeve 683; Symkyn 535; Theseus 174; VulcanHephaistos 643; concept of sin 529; concern for Alison 55, 303, 348, 397, 625; concern for Nicholas 137,299,348,397,487, 630; cuckold 500, 578; cured by water 592; deceived 272; description 85, 272, 358; diction 136; fall 633; father figure 607; gaze 643;gm?/185, 193; gullibility 356; house 409, 600; husband 651; ignorance 590; image of Palamon 379; image of the Reeve 450,683; jealousy 355,620; learning 471,491,569,652; lover 556; madness 247; magic 180; name 132; need for separation from Alison 543; need

Index 7267 for water 512,592; night-spell 111,291; perceptual responses 609; pride 531; pryvetee 141,174; proverbs 362; punishment 381,573, 605;rank237;*afyl20,157; sensibility of impermanence 524,525; sexuality 613; senex amans 585; simplicity 286; sin against wisdom 391; straight man 551; superstition 563; suspicion 531; sympathetic portrayal 438; treatment by poetic justice 629; vanity 499; wealth 324, 369 John (RvT): care of horse 327, 659; clerk 307, 383,505; cleverness 721; compared to: Adriano 71; watchman 677; cry of harrow 104; fear of ridicule 259; King's Scholar 691; oath 126, 299; pursuit of redress 372; pursuit of wisdom 391; and Reeve 683; sophist 437; and Symkyn's family 676; and Symkyn's wife 694; weapons 666 John Dory 750 John of Garland 368, 437 John of Gaunt 514 Johnson, Judith A. 148 Johnson, Lynn Staley 252 Johnston, Alexandra F. 634 yo/F 189,495,637,741

Jones, George Fenwick 211, 673 Jones, H.S.V. 18r, 277r Jonson, Ben 297 Jordan, Robert M. 516 Jordan, Tracey 613 Joseph 192,404; trouble with

Mary 572; see also John (MilT) Joseph, Gerhard 355 Josipovici, G.D. 337 jubbe 409 judgement, moral 72, 394, 629 June 373 Jupiter 491 jurisdiction, ecclesiastical 383 justice 72, 184,332,379,394, 399, 626, 686, 689; poetic 544, 629, 724 Justinian, Digesta 664, 665 Justman, Stewart 404, 580 juvens 436, 722 juxtaposition 577 Kane, George 614 Kanno, Masahiko 169,191, 645 Karpinski, L.C. 460 Kashkin, LA. 20 Kaske, Robert E. 347, 371, 498, 503,677,681 Kean, Patricia M. 366 Kelly, Henry Ansgar 623, 600 Kelmscott Chaucer 28, 40 Kemmler, Fritz 48 Kendrick, Laura 446 Kenyon, John Samuel 92 Ker, W.P. 277r Kern, Edith 589 kernels, narrative 85 Kiernan, Kevin S. 387 kiken 134, King's Hall, Cambridge 171,691 The King's Tune 476 The Kinges Note 474, 475, 476 Kirby, Thomas A. 68 Kirkpatrick, Robin 612 kiss: misdirected 520, 607, 625; of peace 164 kisse:pisse rhyme 632

268/Index kissing 3 84 Kittredge, George Lyman 202, 277, 725 Kleinstuck, Johannes Walter 321 Knapp, Peggy A. 249, 253 Knight: as narrator 432; perspective 500; presentation of chivalric ideal 308; quitting by Miller 568, see also Miller; rational capacities 244; seriousness 526; view of marriage 372 Knight, Stephen 434, 547, 576, 695, 741 knights (KnT) 403 Knight's Tale: 174, 184, 406, 426,428,437,454, 62la; comment on: Boethian prison 355; courtly love 330, 556; divine love 372; idealism 397; intellect 389; marriage 330; order 180; Providence 190; pryvetee 186; reality 508; read by Dorothy Wordsworth 402; relationship to Mill and RvT 83, 721, see also MilTand RvT; rhetorical structure 411; tale of girl with two lovers 594; temple of Mars 620 Koch, John 12,14,727 Kohanski, Tamarah 724 K6keritz,HelgellO, 113 Kolve,V.A.51,380,419 Koonce, B.J. 541 Kreuzer, James R. 492, 511 Kuhl, E.P. 463, 660, 661 kultour 568 kymelyn 409 kynde 184 kyndely\M Kynges Noote 533, 538; see also

Nicholas La Fontaine, Jean de 9 labour, of lovemaking 714 Lacy, John 737 Lambdin, R.T. 185, 193 Lambert, Mark 165r Lancashire, Ian 129 Langland, William 242, 270, 529 Langstrothdale 657 Langstrother 657 language 89, 91, 131, 135, 180, 266, 420, 640; authoritative 249; courtly 319, 560; derived 151; of love 518 Lanham, Richard A. 517, 571 lathe 327 Lauds 626 law, natural 455; in RvT 182, 372, 689 Law, Old 372, Lawler, Traugott 405 Lawlor, John 344, 508r Lawrence, C.E. 282 Lawrence, D.H. 681 Lawrence, William Witherle 301, 458 le Leu, Gautier 64 learning 348, 397, 439, 468 lechery 159, 250, 325, 330, 359, 563,572,617 Lee, Brian S. 631 Lee, Sidney 269 Legenda A urea 215 legende 198 Legouis, Emile 9 Leicester, H. Marshall 249 Leland, John L 706 Leland, Virginia E. 706 lemes 112 lemman 676

Index 7269 lenger 110 Lenne, FrereN. 552 Leo373 Lewis, Robert E. 80, 127 Leyerle, John 554 Leyland A. 555 Liber Catonis / Dicta M. Catonis 471 liberal arts 487 Liddell, Mark H. 3 ///198,449 liminality, in pilgrimage 237 Lindahl, Carl 446r, 450 Lindley, Arthur 432r line study 469 lineage 182,330 links, between tales 293 Linthicum, M. Channing 478 Lionel of Ulster 197, 196 liquorice 591 Lisca, Peter 736 literature: classical 318; Gothic 377; medieval 361; modern 713; traditional 713 location 416 Logan, Grace B. 188 Logan, Harry M. 188 logos 533 Loki 659 Lollards 652 London 179,292; migration to 224 Long, Charles 225,232 Loomis, Dorothy Bethurum 352 Lounsbury, T.R. 4 love 367, 371, 410; animal 331; carnal 27; courtly 103, 266, 319,320,324,330,331, 351,372,420,431,435, 443,506,531,544,545, 556,602,651; divine 331,372; and flesh 332; illicit 155,340;

in*>j7'370;inM/7 1 370;in RvT31Q; secret 187, see also deerne love; and spirit 332 lovemaking, in RvTand MHT698 Lowes, John Livingston 277r, 291, 727 Lucifer 624 Liideke, H. 202 Ludus Coventriae 533 Lumiansky, R.M. 21, 107, 317, 739 luxury 436 lycorys 591 Lydgate, John 725; Fall of Princes 725 lyf 198,449 lying 325 Lyon, Earl D. 731 lyre 653 lyrics, love 362; Middle English 155,270, 318, 639; popular 146; Provencal 155 MacCracken, Henry Noble 11 Macdonald, Angus 509, 557 MacDonald, Donald 356 Machaut 63 6a Mackail, J.W. 270 MacKaye, Percy 10 MacLaine, A.H. 214 Madden, David 68 Madden, William A. 212 madness 247 magic 652; in fabliaux 78; in M/778 Magoun, Francis P., Jr. 322, 329, 744 Makarewicz, Sr Mary Raynelda 314

malignier 680 Malkin, name 128,132 Malone, Ed 646

270/Index Malone, Kemp 114 malopropism 154 malum mortuum 728 Malyne: Aleyn's conquest 724; ambiguity 724; camus nose 362,670; characterization 724Compared to: Alison 698; daughter in French analogue 318; daughter in De Gombert et des deux clers 294; daughter in Le Meunier et les II clers 294; description 178,291,316, 318,358,387,698,724; disparagement 182; eyes 362; farewell 677, 681; freedom from blame 703; gift of cake 55; name 128, 132, 133, 680; passivity 443; pryvetee 174; sexuality 724; victim 724; wantonness 676 Malyne \\2,132,133; and malignier 680; and Malkyn 132,680 Man of Law's Tale 524; and Fragment I 365; read by Dorothy Wordsworth 402 Manciple 398; and Cook 148 Manciple's Prologue 27, 222, 729, 739 Manciple's Tale 9,264,578; bird in the cage image 560; themes in common with CkT 423 Mandel, Jerome 236, 420 Manly, John Matthews 17,18, 94, 95, 196, 284, 285, 422 Manning, Robert 529 manuscripts: of C7293; marginalia 265; modernizations 91; named: Arch. Seld. 265; Bern

354 54; Bodleian Add A. 267,288; Bodleian Ashmole 59 563; Cambridge 106,264; Corpus Christi, Oxford 99; £//eswm? 1,2,11,12,45, 50,99,264,439,466; En 122; Hamilton 275, Berlin 54; Harleian 264; Harleian 2320 465; Harleian 7322 250; Harleian 7334 1,91; Harleian 7335 91; Hengwrt21,43,45,46,264, 752,753,155',Lansdowne 85114Q;McCormickl55; Paris \Q\;Py\22; Rawlinson 141 755; Rylands English 63 99; University of Pennsylvania, French 15 82; scribe ofEllesmere 755 marie pit 554 marriage 182, 335,432,443; clandestine 445; discussion in Fragment 1309; sin in marriage 325,527 Marriage Group, and education 748 marsh 706 Martin, B.K. 601 Mary 373, 404, 639; as Bride 503; cult 568 massage 751 mastery 446 Masuccio di Salerno 9, 66, 85, 88, 262, 459 matins 241 matrona436,431 'Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John' (song) 474 Matthews, William 359 maturity 25 5

Index 7271 Maxmian 693 McCann, Garth A. 370 McCormick, W. S. 3 McCormick, William 293 McCracken, Samuel 548 McGrady, Donald 564 Mclntosh, Angus 224 medicine, medieval 592 medley 478 Medusa, gaze 644 Mehl, Dieter 435, 581 melancholia 728 melodye 136,407; made by Alison and Nicholas 241 Merchant 565 The Merchant Who Was Afraid of Judgement Day 66 Merchant's Tale 314, 437, 448; of girl with two lovers 594; pseudo-preaching 144 Mercury 373 Merleau-Ponty, M. 609 Merton College 374 Metamorphoses 405, 515 Metham, John 539 metre 89, 145, 479; revision 91 Le Meunier et les II clers 9, 54, 55, 56, 58, 67, 70, 76, 86, 87,88,358,437,656,718,719, 721 Meyer, Emil 273 Michael of Northgate 529 miles gloriosus 436 mill, as erotic metaphor 690 Mill, John Stuart 128 Miller 179, 180,204,310,446, 495,499, 512; animal capacities 244; bagpipes 207,219,638,653;beard211; a Cancer 373; characterization 76,211,220,243,266, 357,544; cheat, 326; door-

breaking 213; clothes 211; compared to: Absolon 180; Robert Grymbald 203; Herod 490; John (MilT) 180; Lucifer 630; Nicholas 180; Pilate 215, 216, 256, 379, 490; Robin (servant in MilT) 225, 232, 317, 637; Satan 379; Saturn 379; John Shirley 256; Silenus 630; Symkyn 245, 682; Thenot 252; cupidity 540; debased piety 530; description 211, 328, 647; drunkenness 198, 212, 219, 222, 225, 233; 727; gaze 643; harlotry 326; head 199, 210, 216; ill manners 309; lack of humility 243, lechery 387; a Leo 221; nose 245; Pilate's voice 221, 484, 624; popular image 254; relationship with other pilgrims 277: Host 231, 233; Knight 138, 198, 381,394,397,435,635, 693; Monk 198,381; Reeve 179, 180,227,237, 252,258,315,389,713; Parson 583; quarrel with Reeve 212, 217, 251,262, 285,292,304,305,321, 337, 344, 364, 397; relationship with tales: KnT 229, 365; MilT202, 280; as teller 136,432, 637; animal images 363; apology 606; diction 295, 300; interruption 226,229, 230,247,249,251,262,294, 403; narrative voice 234, 235,236,364,381; parody

272/Index 186; perspective 500,530; rhetoric 138; role 392; style 138; use offeree 633; use ofthou 148; views on: courtly love 625; love 308; marriage 647; vulgarity 137; weapons 209, 250, 666 miller 532 Miller, Robert P. 396, 397r, 519, 530 The Miller and the Two Clerks/ Clerics 51, 56, 66 'The Miller is a Churl' 6 millers 320, 374, 450; and carpenters 717; and devil 216; and Pilate 216; association with St Paul 522; social position 455; stereotypes 211,285 The Miller's Daughter 66 Miller's Prologue, abbreviation 313 Miller's Tale: abbreviation 313; analogues 57, 225, 287, 300, 537, 549; anonymous translator (1791) 650; antifeminism 384; apology for 212; astrology 39; authenticity 357; bawdiness 636; and Cancer 373; characterization 124,262,306,384,392,637; Chinese translation 636; and Christmas 192; coarseness 274; comedy 142; 146,257, 272,282,311,312,340,386, 569,596; comic ideals 27; comic irony 346; as complaint 530; and Cook 131; and courtly literature 178, 637; and courtly love 330,

340,372; cruelty 397; date of composition 276,287; descriptions 300,306,454; devaluation 135; devil 400; diction 637; as dirty joke 601; eighteenth-century modernizations 650; as epic 441; exemplum of cupiditas 314; expectations 388; and fabliau 46a, 55, 62, 131, 331,384, 394, 437; as feminist fabliau 312; of girl with two lovers 594; goliardic 263; and harlotry 270; heroic couplets 364; homoeroticism 393; idiom 103; and illicit love 155; imagery 358; and intellect 389; inverted world 395, 62la; irony 146, 399; as joke 249; justice 190; language 85, 139, 165, 181, 384; love relations 325; manuscript study 99; marriage 330; mistakes in perception 609; mood 698; as moral theme in C7503; and mystery plays 384; as myth 599; narrative 637; nonce words 156; opening 284; and Oxford 269, 374; paraphrase 338; parody 384; and pastourelle 82; peasant consciousness 247; plot 85,168,249,339, 360,377,637; prophecy 55; proverbs 650; puns 389; read by Dorothy Wordsworth 402; realism 286; and Reeve 131,249; relationship to other tales: an 36; ClT631;FranT 536;KnT21,103,131,136,

Index/273 138,141,142,173,180,184, 230,231,249,251,268,309, 310,311,315,324,332,334, 336,349,360,361,362,379, 389,394,397,398,399,427, 431,443,446,508,528,547, 554,556,560,566,567,568, 576,577,580,603,606,612, 629,635,637,640,642,647; MerT506; MT640; PardT 235;ParsT583;RvT16, 131,141,227,266,268,334, 389,437,438,528,637; SqT 267; 7U270,362; WBT6Q3, 637; relationship to other works: Aeneid 394; Dame Sirith 80; Decameron 53; La mujer y los tres amantes 61; Old Hogan 's Adventure 394; Ozark folktales 77; The Sot-Weed Factor 83; rhetorical devices 284; and romance 131; and saints' lives 131;scatology 124; setting 291, 306; seventeenth-century retelling 467; sex 124; sexuality 745; sins 325, 330; and Song of Songs 498; sources 55, 57, 262, 310; structure 636a, 637; students' guide 621; style 138, 165, 324, 339; syntax 165; and theatre 647; themes 637; tone 296,324; vices 325; view of reality 508; virtues 325 milling 129, 394, 690 mills 532 Milosh, Joseph E. 590 Milton, John 486

Miners, Tom 289 Minnis, A.J. 412r Minsheu, John 125,354 miracle plays see mystery plays miracles 562, 570, 671 Mirk's Festial 543 Mirth (RK) 495 Mirthful Peasant Play 66 Miskimin, Alice S. 402, 565 misrule 568 mistranslation 123, Mitchell, Jerome 371 modernizations: eighteenthcentury 52, 650; twentiethcentury 38 Mogan, Joseph J., Jr. 524, 525, 527 Moliere614 Monday 373, 563, 623 money 448 The Monk Who Prophesied an Earthquake 66 Monk's Prologue 655 Montgomery, Franz 664, 665 moon 373,465,563 Moore, Bruce 250 moot 112 morality 212, 213, 217, 237, 268,389,391,472,569, 587, 589, 713; middle class 745 moralizing 310 More, Thomas 699 Moritz, Theresa Anne 406 Morlini 66 mormal317,735 morphology 101 Morris, William 28, 40 Morrison, Theodore 23 Morse, Charlotte 637r mortality 230 Mortimer, plates in Tyrwhitt

274/Index edition 402 motifs 60; branding 57,61,64, 501,537; conflict 403; cradle 71,84; flood 9,57,66,501, 574; girl with two lovers 594; hot iron 66; king-in-disguise 254; kiss-and-burn 55,574; magic ring 67; misdirected kiss 57,66,459,501,537 mouth, itching of 186 mouthes 554 Mroczkowski, Przemyslaw 302 Mullany, Peter F. 215 Mulvey, Mina 338 Munson, W. 516r Murphy, Michael 708 Muscatine, Charles 138, 324, 341, 697 music 97, 241,330, 348,407, 553, 582, 636a Mustanoja, Tauno F. 128 mutability 524, 525 Myers, Louis McCorry 665 Mylner ofAbyngton 78 myrie 183 mystery plays 192, 215, 259, 292, 348, 443, 484, 490, 522, 543, 548, 624, 627, 634, 640, 647, 652, 653 Nachtbiichlein 9 names 128, 132, 133,678,680; Chaucer 147; Nowel/Noel 192; pronunciation 131; proper 378 Nardus rustic a 591 narrators of CT, as poets 432 narrative 384, 388, 516, 684; theory 85, 158 Nathan, Norman 118 Nativity 192 natural 184

Natural History 678 naturalism 567,637,697 nature 184 nature 447 nay 150 Nectanabus 630 nether ye 554, 599, 617 Neuse, Richard 500, 647 Neuss, Paula 136 Newbolt, Henry 274 Newgate 112,731 Niccolosa 71 Nicholas 487, 491,496, 500; Angelus advirginem 372; Annunciation 399; association with Cancer 373; astrology 187,247,309, 513, 534, 536, 642; bedroom 190, 194; call for water 55; chamber-deacon 383; characterization 103,108,190, 394,495,544; charm 310; clerk 307,548,552,651; cry of harrow 104; compared to: Absolon 370, 397, 620; Arcite 27, 434; Barbariccia 647; Chauntecleer 582; Clerk of Oxford 29 l;Diomede 584; Gabriel 533, 558, 615, 624, 639, 653; Ham 653; Lucifer 624; Miller 379; Palamon 27; St Nicholas 540,562,579,624; the Serpent 624; Willekin (Dame Sirith) 602; cunning 286; cured by fire 592; deception of John 55, 150,529,543; description 85, 108,291,294,318,358; diction 109, 136,446; ecclesiastical reckoning of

Index 7275 time in bed with Alison 623; father figure 607; impudence 295; justice 580; language 180; learning 539, 569; lechery 142, 507, 522; love for Alison 155; musician 582; mystery plays 247; name 132, 379; need for water 512; oath 126; parody of courtly lover 556; perceptual responses 609; play director 551; poetic justice 629; prediction 573; pride 321; prophecy 309, 465, 605; pryvetee 141, 174; psaltery 553, 604; punishment 190,379, 381,580, 589, 605, 607; recreator of biblical history 535; representing seigneurial establishment 247; room 380; scream 626; secret love 187; selfsufficiency 349; sexuality 613; songs 241,474,475,538, 572; source of character 610; speech 547; studies 194; use of double entendre 499; use of proverbs 356; vanity 499; and Wife of Bath 232; wisdom 391 Nicholas of Lynne 552 Nichols, Stephen G. 644 Nicholson, Lewis E. 164 Nicholson, Peter 700 'Night Shift'68 night-spell 291,479 nightwalker 731 Nist, John 531 Nitzsche, Jane Chance 591 no 150 Noah 154,627 Noah 187,192,247,292,363,436,

455,491,569; as astrologer 512, 536; in Book ofNoria 558; as carpenter 642; flood 394; wife 569 Noel's Flood see Nowel noise 612 Nones 675 Norfolk 89, 179, 224, 242, 255, 450 nortelry 151 North 708 Northernisms 9, 44, 89, 91, 93, 100, 101, 134, 135, 145, 153, 156, 161, 169, 181, 224,234,266,287,291,292, 300,303,306,310,324,327, 335,336,339,425,432,435, 654,717; old a 89; preterite 89; social value 708 Norton-Smith, John 381 nose, camus 316,328,670,676, 678 noses 245,362,670,676,678 «oto//o240,358,443,678 novelettes: German 9; Italian 9, 564 Novelli, Cornelius 520, Nowel, Nowelis 154, 192; Nowelisflood 143, 184, 568 Noyes, Alfred 472 Nun's Priest, as preacher 144 Nun's Priest's Tale 265, 347, 582; and Qzark folktales 77 nurture 151 nye stye 650 nyghtes nerye 111 oaths 126,135,299 obscenity 310 obstacles 633 O'Connor, John J. 491,521 Ogle, George 52

276/Index O'Keefe, Timothy J. 133 Old Hogyn 's Adventure 66 Olson, Glending 51,63,70,72r, 436r,450r Olson, Paul A. 436, 507, 541, 682 oral tradition 57 order, of tale-telling 231 order, social 172, 212, 233, 439 originality 416 Orme, Nicholas 748 Oseney Abbey 502 Osewoldlll Oswald, name 132 Ovid 122,515 Owen, Charles A., Jr. 165r, 206, 213, 308, 315, 345, 397, 412r Owen, John 669, 672 Oxford 299, 320,412, 647 Oxford Chaucer 7

pa 164 Pace, George B. 504 pachycephaly 199 Palamonl55,406,436,493 Palomo, Dolores 388, 566 Pamfilo 248 Pandarus 585 panne of bras 117 panne:pan 113 papir 732, 734 parallelism 389, 397; in Fragment I 315 Pardoner 308; and drunkenness 727; eloquence 235; as preacher 144 Pardoner's Prologue 337 Pardoner's Tale 337, 638; and Ozark folktales 77 Paris, herb 639 Parker, Roscoe E. 484

Parkes, M.B. 43 Parliament of Fowls 612; courtly love 556 parody 63,142,186,270,310,336, 362,372,377,384,389,399, 413,414,432,436,448,558, 560,630,639; biblical 615; in MilT 621; MilT as parody of /C«r412,413,415,423,434, 439,452,453,456,458,493, 500;ofaube677,705; of farewell 705; of mystery plays 490; of Song of Songs 503, 507, 550; religious 568 parson (RvT) 23 8 Parson 308, 617 Parson's Tale 137, 184, 541; as gloss on MilT 529 Pasolini, Pier Paolo 745 pastourelle 82 Patch, Howard R. 295, 326r Patrick, David 258 patrimony 709 patterns, story 713 Patterson, Lee 247, 398, 455 Payne, F. Anne 408 Payne, Robert O. 331 peace 508 Pearcy, Roy J. 64, 84, 72r, 437, 743, 751 Pearsall, Derek 357, 426, 438 peasants 247, 256; resistance 455 Peasants' Revolt 233, 247; literary 569 Peck, Russell A. 421 Pembroke 196 penance 391 Pepys, Samuel 37 Peratio 663 Perkyn 310; and Absolon 741; as adulterer 112; allegorical

Index 7277 personification 298; apprenticeship 733,734; characterization 168,296,311,749; description 2,292,294,318; as goldfinch 289, 363; and master 738; and Mercury 373; and Roger de Ware 736; sexuality 745; singing 225 perled 131 perspective 642 Peter Riga 483 Phaedrus 147 phallus 702 Phebus 578 Phelan, Walter S. 152 Philobiblon 307 philosophy: Boethian 528; medieval 404 phonology 89, 101, 153, Physician's Tale 631 physiognomy 245, 328, 504, 539, 678 Physiologus35& Pichaske, David R. 233 Pierce the Ploughman's Crede 652 Pierce, Marvin 737 Piers Plowman 242, 652 piggesnye 94, 95, 131, 330, 369 'pig's eye' 94 pigs 363 Pilam215 Pilate 205, 215, 216, 484, 634 P Hates voys 205,221,256 piled:P'Hate 216

pilgrimage 180, 237; duration 308 pilgrims: and estates 629; quarrels 265, 278, 727; social relations 251 Pison, Thomas 237

pillory 310,731 Pinuccio71 pisse 137 Pithias 678 places 322, 329 play 355, 410, 446, 533, 722 play 627 play of Noah 543 pleye 136 Pliny 678 plot 311, 390, 412, 434;M//r 477, 537 ploughshare 615 Plummer, John F. 602, 709 poetics, Aristotelian 414 Poetria 368 poetry: alliterative 336; social significance 542 polemic 218 politeness 428, 619 Pollard, Alfred W. 3, 271 Polychronicon 210 popelote 131 portraits 294,616 position, social 324 Poteet, Daniel P., II 543 Potz McGerr, Rosemarie 49r poverty, moral 453 Le Povre Clerc 79 Powley, Edward B. 196, 197 pragmatics, literary 428, 619 Pratt, Robert A. 31,32,119, 201, 204, 671 prayer, John's 486 preaching 144,227,324 predestination 612 Preston, Raymond 310 Du Prestre crucifie 184, 437 pretensions, social 248, 324 pricking 112 pride 321, 325, 330, 373,436 priests 320; priests' bastards 712

278/Index Prime 674 primervie 330 principle, dramatic 277,317 Prior, R.C.A. 95 Prior, Sandra Pierson 624 Prioress: brooch 644, nose 245 privacy 184, 190, 194 prive(e) 187, 194 prively 184 privete see pryvetee privy 184 Procne 628 pronouns, of address 148 pronunciation 114 pronuntiatio 565 Prose Edda 659 prosody 89 Prototype-theory 88 proverbs 356, 362, 488, 650; Flemish 730 providence 141, 184, 190, 394 Provost, William 371 prowess, sexual 252 prudery 178 prymerole 94,369 pryvetee 99, 112, 136, 141, 149, 168, 173, 174, 180, 184, 186, 187, 190, 194,394, 446,449,455,456, 508, 554,573,637,642,710 psaltery 553, 638 psychoanalytic approaches 607 psychology 370 Ptolemy 487 punishment 159 puns 110,112,117,121, 136,175, 180; grammatical 427 purification 519 purveiance 99 Pyle, Fitzroy 479 quoad 13Q

quadrivium 487,582 querelle desfemmes 278 questions, rhetorical 493 queynte 136,180,194,249,449, 456, 547, 643 Quid amore langueo 639 Quinn, Esther C. 139 quite 508 quiting21, 332, 429, 493, 686 Rabelais, 59 Rael, JuanB. 61 Raleigh, Walter 468 Ramsey, Vance 346 rank 398, 426 rape 445, 651 RaufCoilyear 254 Ray, John 288 reader-response 577, 581 readings: dramatic 439, normative 428, thematic 439 realism 82, 240, 296, 298, 323, 341,344,384,397,404, 413,426,435,508,576,584, 633,693 rebec 638 rebellion 436, 640 red 373, 480 Redstone, Lilian J. 197 Reed, Mary Brookbank 120 Reeve 179,197,247; age 195,209, 214,223,230,239,240,250, 330,692,695,698,722; anger 381; Baldeswell 196; Bayard 723; blade 250; carpenter 277, 490,642,717; characterization 209,218,220,244,303, 306,357,379,418,423; cheat 326; colt's tooth 668; compared to: Bayard 723; Cuddie 252; death 255; the devil 244,255; January

Index/279 (M?r7)223;John(M/7) 206,248,507; Miller 435; St Fursey 246; description 255,328,426, 663; diabolical capacities 244; disloyalty 238; efficiency 238; fighting 308; frustrated sexuality 348; harlotry 326; hypocrite 144; identified with: John (MilT) 201,225,232,317; ill-nature 309; impotence 723; judge 682; judgement of 698; law 664,665,689; a Libran 221; Londoners 179; meanness 27; Norfolk 242; personality 339; physiognomy 195; popular image 254; pryvetee 174; relationship with other pilgrims: Host 231,233; Miller 27, 63, 83, 170, 195,218,220,227,229,315, 349; quarrel with Miller 201,209,213,218,225,239, 248,285,317,332,324,364, 394; other pilgrims 277; relationship with tales: MilT 225, 310, 717; RvP 117; RvT202, 248, 280, 338, 397; shade 255; speech 224; as teller: 228, 246, 279, 432, 695; diction 300; narrative voice 234,239,364; role 392; sermon 195,228, 446; use ofthou 148; vindictiveness 438; vulgarity 137; wench 676 reeves 238; and millers 340; stereotypes 242,285

Reeve's Prologue: as confession 717; eighteenth-century modernization 52; pseudopreaching 144; as sermon 228; style 717; theme of age 298 Reeve's Tale: abbreviation 313; and age 395; analogues 44, 54,287,300,713,717; animal imagery 687; antiintellectualism 377; and Cambridge 269, 374; characterization 44, 67, 124, 713; coarseness 274; comedy 272, 282, 311,312, 386, 394; comment on churls and gentils 365; and courtly literature 178; date of composition 276, 717; deception 170; descriptions 44; devil 400; dialect 153, 286, see also Northernisms; disparagement 182; as epic 441; exemplum of cupiditas 314; and fabliau 70, 86,248, 698; French influence 163, 346; goliardic 263; and harlotry 270; heroic couplets 364; homoeroticism 393; horse 380; imagery 358; insertion of e's 91; and intellect 389; inverted world 395; irony 399; as joke 682; justice 262; language 695; legal terms 182; and Leo 373; and love 330; modernization 288; mood 695,698; moral structure 686; narrative style 271,717; naturalism 324; nonce words 156; Northernisms see separate entry; opening 284; and

280 / Index pastourelle 82; plot 339,360, 377; and pride 379; puns 389; realism 44,81,86,3 89,703, 717; relationship to other tales: CkT44; KnT 361,456; MHT44, 141,227,277, 286,298,303,312,333, 340,349,359,384,399,415, 427,434,443,456,681,693, 695,713,717;Swwr700; 7U362; relationship to other works: Berangier au long cul 70; Een bispel van ij clerken 87, 88; Le Bouchier d'Abbeville 437; Decameron 53, 71, 86, 269, 286, 384; De Combert et des II clers 63, 87, 88; Le Meunier et les 7/C/er563,67,70,76,87, 88,286,369; Mylner of Abyngton 65, 78; Ozark folktales 77; Le Prestre et le chevalier 437; The SotWeed Factor 69,81,83; Studentenabenteuer 88, 713; The Waste Land 692; and revenge 27, 70; ribaldry 124; satire 295, 437; scribal additions 100, 101, 169; semantic density 152; setting 286,287,291,706; sexual imagery 395; sexuality 698, 745; as short story 656; social ranks 182; sources 56, 339, 656, 717; space 355; structure 713; style 165, 324, 717; syntax 165; tone 296, 324,338,341,349,357, 709; verbal integrator 158;

vindictiveness 397 reformers, medieval 709 Regan, Charles Lionel 175 Reiss, Edmund 155,216,371, 372, 532, 556, 583, 603, 615 relationships: of marriage 439; of master and apprentice 439; social 148, 251; spatial 439 Remus Hans 90 Renoir, Alain 584 repetition 362 Revard, Carter 159 Revelour, Perkin 638 revelry 151 revenge 229, 248, 370, 372, 379, 394 revision, scribal 91 Rex Gloriose Martyrum 474 Rex, Richard 606 rhetoric 144,239,240,284,358, 361,411,594; adnominatio 110; conventions of description 316; descriptio 361, 443, 649; effictio 294, 358, 637; folk 450; pastoral 318 rhyme 89 rhythm: comic 381; falling 454; rising 454 ribaldry 213, 368 ribible 741 Richard II 127,352,661 Richards, Mary P. 557 Richardson, Janette 358 Richer, Carol F. 81 Rickert, Edith 18, 422, 729 Ridley, Florence 608 Ring 66 riot 325 rivalry, in A>?rand MUT315 Riverside Chaucer 49 Robbins, Rossell Hope 65,533

Index/281 Robert Mannyng of Brunne 627 Robertson, D.W., Jr. 238,330, 249 Robin, name 132,206,317,379 Robin, servant in MHT317, 642; gaze 643; and Miller 225, 450, 507, 647; and Robert Grymbald 203 Robinson, Duncan 40 Robinson, F.N. 14, 15, 422, 732 Robinson, Ian 544 Rochester 655 Roger of Ware 338 Roger of Wendover 671 Roger 132 Rogers, P.W. 516r Rogers, William E 439 romance 432, 435, 438; chivalric 566; minstrel 566 romances, and gentils 403 Romaunt of the Rose 183, 443, 522,560,643,644 Rooney, Anne 451 Roos family 197 Root, R.K 262, 422, 461 Roscow, Gregory 165 Rosenberg, Bruce 450r Ross, Thomas W. 46,130,166, 167, 176, 572, 573 Rowland, Beryl 73, 347, 363, 399,510,511,533,558, 608, 690 Rudat, Wolfgang E. 573, 607 Ruggiers, Paul G. 43,62a, 339, 390,410 412r, 422 Runner, O.B. 20 Rutledge, Sheryl P. 373 Ruud, M.B. 14r Sachs, Hans 66 saints 126, 299 Saintsbury, George 268

Salmanticae471 Salmon, Vivian 140 Samson 436 Samuels, M.L. 224 Sapphira and the Slave Girl 204 Satan 546 satellites, narrative 85 satire 70, 437, 438; class 456 Saturn 221, 379, 491; as sender of floods 534 sautrie, sawtrie 425, 538 scale, hexachord 97 scatology 368, 546 Scattergood, John 714, 749 scepticism 646 Schaar, Claes318 Scheps, Walter 156, 231 Schichtman, Martin B. 635 Schlauch, Margaret 102, 109, 323 Schmidt A.V.C. 435r scholarship, survey 375 Schuman, Samuel 427 Schumann, Valentin 9, 66, 262 Schwank 450 Schweitzer, Edward C. 625 Scott, A.F. 382 Scott, Kathleen L. 219 Scott, Walter 105 Scottish Metrical Psalter 476 scribes 91 sea 562 second sight 492, 511 secree, 187 Seer eta Secretorum 539 seemliness 212, 413 selfhood 455 Sell, Roger D. 428,619 sely&5, 120, 157,637 senex 436, 437, 722 sensynge 180 sentence 377

282/ Index sententiae 284, 356 seriousness 410, 517 Serlo of Wilton 488 Sermon on the Mount 617, 689 sermons 227, 543 servus 437 settings 322, 329, 430 Severs, J. Burke 324r, 383 sex 448; and revenge 713, 717 sexuality 230, 410, 423, 426, 560, 569 Seymour, M.C. 752, 753 Shakespeare, William 59, 352 Shallers, Paul A. 697 Shaw, Judith 711 sheep 363 Sheol 379 Shelly, Percy van Dyke 296 Shepherd, Geoffrey 559 The Shepheardes Calender 252 Shipman's Tale 265, 341, 437, 575,684; and courtly works 178; sin 325 Shirley, John 256 shot-window 131, 554 sickerly.likerous ye 110 Siegel, Marsha 429 Siegel, Paul N. 499, 501 significatio 110 signs 380 Silar, Theodore I. 189 Silvia, Daniel 608 simia 688 similes 298 Simmonds, James D. 505 Simo 678 Simo Senex 678 Simon the Magician/ Simon Magus 707 Simon, name 132 simony 707, 709 simus 678

sin: within marriage 527,529; against nature 569; Seven Deadly Sins 726,727; of the Tongue 278 Singh, Brijaj 545 Sir Gawayn and the Green Knight 316 Sir Thopas 156, 183,310,490; and/?v7679 Six-Text Edition 1, 12 Skeat, W.W. 1,5,7,51, 123, 264, 287, 422, 654, 657, 735 Skirlawe, bishop of Durham 661 Sklute, Larry D. 423, 569r Slaughter, Eugene Edward 325 slik 100 Slocum, Sally 585 Smith, J. Norton 324r Smith, John 52, 650 Smith, Macklin 626 Smith, Roland M. 105 Smith, Sarah Stanbury 243 The Smith in the Kneading Tub 66 Smyser, Hamilton M. 534 Snell, F.J. 259 snoring 363, 675, 685 society, orders of 436 solarium 691 solas 97, 98, 136,377 sole: Dover 744; lemon 744 SolerHall 171,660,661,662, 691 solmisation97 Solomon 498 Song of Songs 216, 347, 399, 443,498,503,514,522, 541,550,553,569,615,624 sophistry 437 Sot Chevalier 64, The Sot-Weed Factor 69, 81, 83 soul-house 722

Index 7283 soutere 147 Southernisms 100 sow 363 space 701,706 spanking 162 Spearing, A.C. 44, 336, 397r, 508r Spearing, J.E. 44 Specht, Henrik 616 speech, colloquial 140 speed 117 Speght, Thomas 33, 422 Speirs, John 298 Spencer, William 221 Spitzer, Leo 106 sponsa5Q3,55Q sponsus 550,639

Spring under a Thorn 639 Spurgeon, Caroline 283,305,354, 669 squires (MerTand FranT) 403 Squire's Tale, bird in the cage image 560 StAethelbert475 St Augustine 155, 527,618 St Cuthbert 126, 170, 175, 299, 657 St Edmund 475 St Edward 475 St Frideswide 299, 502; and chastity 555; and healing 137; and mental disturbance 555 St Fursey 246 St Jerome 314 StNeotl26,502, 509,557 St Nicholas 192,436,562,579; and gold 540; legends 570, 627; patron of brides 570; patron of clerks 570; patron of perfumers 570; patron of sailors 570; pickle barrel

miracle 624 St Oswald 722 St Paul 395,424,522 St Paul's, windows 297 St Peter 486 St Thomas Becket 126, 502, 646 St Thomas of India/ Doubting Thomas 646 Stanley, E.G. 46r, 747 Steadman, John M. 678 Stephen, Leslie 269 stereotypes 245, 344, 450, 88 Stevens, John 604 Stiller, Nikki 703 Stillwell, Gardiner 319 Stokoe, William C. 309 stone, casting 626 Stone, Brian 452 Storm, Melvin 648 The Story ofPinuccio and Adriano 51 slot 679 Stow, John 422 stream: of life 702,722; of time 722 streem 0////702 Strode, Ralph 269 Strohm, Paul 251, 403, 577 Strother\QO, 657 Strothir 657 Stroud, Theodore A. 549 structuralism 587, 599 structure 341, 516; comic 384; narrative 139, 520 stryf449 Das Studentabenteuer 88,713 The Students' Adventure 66 style 150,330,368,432,434; Chaucerian 428, 619; Gothic 576; high 493, 577; low 577; mixed 324, 341; narrative 271; naturalistic 697;

284 / Index revision 91 Sudo, Jun 716 suffixes 151 Summoner, eyebrows 504 Summoner's Tale, preaching 144 sun 373 superbia 321 swallow 492; song 511 Sweetland, Laura 233 swynesheed363 swyving 449 symbolism 404, 407, 419; colour 480, 522 symbols, sartorial 673 Symkyn: alozon 437; ancestry 113; animal images 363; ape 688; attitudes 324; bagpipes 207; bedchamber 701; characterization 27, 397, 713; and clerks 258, 339, 377; compared to: Aleyn 718; Robert Grymbald 203; Guildsmen 310; innkeeper of Decameron (9.6) 71, 248; John (MilT) 333; Miller 273, 310, 328, 332, 357, 450, 682, 688; miller in Le Meunier et les II Clersl\9confrontation with wife 63; cry of harrow 104; description 2,291,324,341,348,358; discomfiture 690; disparagement 182; dress 673; drunkenness 1 \9;fol gelos 677; head 216; and horse 129,327, 659; a Leo 373; and law 689; and learning 719; lineage 182; marriage 182,211; miles gloriosus 437; as miller 333; name 128, 132, 172,688;

nose 245,678; oath 126; and parody 186; pride 310,321, 55,616\pryvetee 174; rewards 299; senex 437; social pretensions 238, 698; and space 701; stupid host 450; trickery 55; vices 717; weapons 250, 310, 666; wisdom 391 Symkyn's father-in-law 250 Symkyn's wife: and blame 703; compared to: innkeeper's wife of Decameron (9.6) 71, 248; Tudd 712; wife in analogues 718; Wife of Bath 275, 718; description 2, 291,310, 358; disparagement 182; education 685; illegitimacy 133; motives 694; priest's child 694; pryvetee 174; religious knowledge 671; revenge 718; social pretensions 698 syntax 92 taboo-words 176 Tale of a Poor Fellow's Cuckoldry 66 tale: International Medieval Popular Comic 713; and teller 70, 344, 594,681 tales, order 251,345, 403 talk, worthless 256 tastoner 751 Tatlock, John S.P. 10,14,91,93, 265,303,462,655,659,725, 725 Taylor, Davis 234 Taylor, Paul Beekman 447, 586 technique: descriptive 318, narrative 245 tehee 131

Index 7285 tellability619 ten Brink, Bernhard 89 Terence 678 terms: excretory 130, legal 182, sexual 130 thakked\62 Theatre of Comic Illusion 551 Theatre of Dark Reality 551 theft 325, 379 Theophrastus 530, theory: narrative 404, 405, 406, 419,426,428,430,587, 619, 704; reader response 428

Theseus 184,406,447,580 Thomas, Beezy 199 Thompson, Nesta M. 469 Thompson, Stith 57, 58, 60 Thompson, W.H. 292 thou/ye 118, 148 The Three Guests ofHeile of Bersele36, 51 Thro, A. Booker 535 Thundy, Zacharias 391 Thynne, William 5, 14, 33, 264, 422

Tillyard, E.M.W. 477 time 141,251,563,674; ecclesiastical 623; monastic 674, 675 titles 178 Tkacz, Catherine Brown 170 Tobler, Alfred 261 Tolkien, J.R.R. 100,681 tone 432 tonsure 383 toty 134 toute 509 tow, tow 159 Towneley plays 484 towte(s) 509, 554 tradition, oral 362, 565

traductio 110 tragedy 43 7 translation: French 9,19,41,47; German, prose 48; prose 12, 16, 30; Romanian 34; Russian, 20; verse 23, 25 Trask, Richard M. 578 trove 327 Travers, Henry 52 Traversi, Derek 413 trespass 664, 665 Trevisa, John of 210 triangle, oedipal 607 trillium 94 Trinity 639 Tripp, Raymond P. 620 trivium 487 Troilus and Criseyde 270, 330, 584, 585, 640; courtly love 556 Des Trois BOGUS menesterels 184 Troqueurs 9 trouveres 55 truelove 639 trump 722, Trumpington 722; location 671 Trumpington, Lady Blanche de 287

truth 325, 447 tubbe 554 tubs 360 Tuesday 623 tulle 100 Tupper, Frederick 14r, 275, 278, 726, 727 turne coppes 119 Turner, W. Arthur 670 Two Students Who Intoxicated Their Host Together With His Wife and Daughter 66 typology 624 Tyrus215

286 / Index Tyrwhitt, Thomas 123,260,402, 422

Ulysses 566 unity, in Chaucer's fabliaux 73 universe, Boethian 528 urination 184 Urry, John 422 usage, ye and thou 118, 148 Utley, Francis Lee 353,516r Valescus of Tarenta 625 values: courtly 413, moral 419 Van Wyck, William 16 Vancura, Zdenek 489 Vanderheijden, Jan F. 730 vanity 572 variant, textual 166,167 Varnhagen, H. 58 Vasta, Ed ward 244, 710 Vaughan, M.F. 605 Vendome, dialect 106 vengeance 239,429,689,695,698 verbs: action-process 188; impingement 188; possession 188; sensation 188; sound 188 A Verie Merie Historie of the Milner ofAbington 54 verisimilitude 409 versification 132 La Vescie a Prestre 88 vice 325, 423, 579 vim vi repellere 664, 665 Vine, Guthrie 99 Viola and Her Lovers 66,85, 88 violence 213 vir 722 virer 106 virevouste 106 virginity 129 Virgo 373

viritoot\05, 106,131,509,532 virtues 325 V/5//98 Vital of Blois 437 vocabulary 101,152,432 Vockrodt, Gustav 276 voice: narrative 234, 235, 236, 239,240,387,389,403, 569, 583; Pilate's 216, 292, 484; popular 640 von Kreisler, Nicholas 537 von Munre, Rudiger 66 vulgarity 324, 365 Wagenknecht, Edward 34 Walsh, Elizabeth 254 Ware, Roger 317 Wasserman, Julian N. 186 water 373, 455, 512, 519 Watson, Michael G. 187 Watt, Francis 279 Wawn, Andrew 49r, 443 r Waywardmight and Lustymite 66 weapons 666 weasel 510 Weiss, Alexander 430 Weissman, Hope Phyllis 567, 643 wench(e) 676, 724 Wenzel, Siegfried 144 Wetherbee, Winthrop 453 Whaley, Diana 192 wheel: of fortune 722, of life 722 whit as 501 Whitbread, L. 297 white 373, 522 White Paternoster 111, 474, 486 Whitewell 197 Whiting, B.J. 199, 210, 668 Whiting, Nathaniel 669, 672 Whiting, ThorntonS. 281

Index/287 Whitsuntide Pink 95 Whittock, Trevor 220, 349 Wife of Bath 137,356,359,448, 648; barrenness 648; colt's tooth 668; deafness 648; description 387; fourth husband 232; identity 232; interruption 247; quarrel with Merchant 265; vulgarity 137; see also Alison Wife of Bath's Prologue 201, 265, 648, 668 Wife of Bath's Tale: courtly love 556; pseudo-preaching 144 Wilhelm, James J. 454 Williams, David 180, 592 Williams, George 514 Wilson, Katharina 627 Wilson, Robert C. 683 Wimsatt, James I. 82, 371, 550 window: shot 626; St Paul's 522 Winny, James 39,336 Winston, Robert P. 83 Winterich, John T. 28 Wintersgill, A.T. 657 wisdom 391 Wittenweiler, Heinrich 66 Wittgenstein, Ludwig 88 The Wolf and the Mare 363 Wolpers, Theodor 593 Woman Taken in Adultery 626 women: attitudes to 456; status of 266; treatment of 122 Woo, Constance 359 Wood, Chauncey 424, 512, 521, 536,569r Woolf, Virginia 681 word-play 110, 112, 113, 117, 121, 136, 147, 172, 175, 297,389,499,565; rhetorical 110 words: ecclesiastical 90; nonce

156; Scandinavian 153; scientific 90 Wordsworth, Dorothy 402 Wordsworth, Jonathan 493 world-view 439 wrath 711 Wright, David 30 Wright, Thomas 422, 657 wy/449 \vyle:begile 110 Xiao Anpu 636 ye/thou 118, 148 yea 150 yen 554 yeomen 238 yis 150 Yoffie, Leah Rachel Clara 486 youth 214; conflict with age 397 zodiac 221,373 Zong-qi, Cai 448 Zupitza, J. 14, 58