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Library | Material Type | Call Number | Child Count | Shelf Location | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Science | Book | 821.1 C93WZ YL, 1996 | 1 | Stacks | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... South | Book | 821.1 CHAU | 1 | Non-fiction Collection | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
To have a clear understanding of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales , the reader needs to know about the vocations of the pilgrims. For some 600 years, this information has been difficult to locate. This reference provides a detailed historical description of the occupations of Chaucer's pilgrims. An entry is devoted to each traveler, and the entries have similar formats to foster comparison. Each entry discusses the historical daily routine of the pilgrim's occupation, the portrayal of the profession in Chaucer's poem, and the relationship between the tale and Chaucer's General Prologue.
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is one of the oldest and most widely studied works of English literature. The tales provide a glimpse of medieval life, and the professions of the pilgrims figure prominently in the poetry. To have a clear understanding of Chaucer's work, the reader needs to know about the vocations of the pilgrims. For some 600 years, this information has been difficult to locate. This reference work conveniently synthesizes and discusses information about the occupation of each of Chaucer's pilgrims and provides an historical context.
The volume contains individual entries for each of Chaucer's pilgrims, and the entries share a similar format to foster comparison. Each entry includes three parts. First, the pilgrim's profession is discussed in terms of the daily routine of the medieval occupation. Second, the vocation is examined in terms of its reflection in the tale told by the pilgrim. Third, the vocation and the tale are discussed, when possible, in relation to the descriptions of the characters provided in the General Prologue. Each entry includes a bibliography, and the volume concludes with a list of works for further reading.
Reviews (1)
Choice Review
This collection of 8-10 page original essays (most from junior scholars) presents historical and social background for each of the vocations by which Chaucer defines his Canterbury pilgrims. Brief sections at the end of each essay introduce the literary-critical issues of how the vocational contexts inform the poet-Chaucer's (if not the narrator-Chaucer's) implied moral judgment of his characters, and how the General Prologue portraits relate to the tellers' tales. Citations from Chaucer are given first in Middle English, then modernized. The chief weakness of the volume is the absence of any integrating perspective, and the unevenness at the level of scholarly authority. The essay about the Friar, for instance, provides a theologically nuanced account of the four mendicant orders in language accessible to the novice reader, but the graduate student writing about the Wife of Bath evades responsible social history with cliches of contemporary polemic (e.g., "the Church was particularly virulent against women in the second half of the Middle Ages"). The volume as a whole is eminently useful, especially for novice and undergraduate readers of Chaucer. Individual bibliographies attached to each essay (usually of one to two dozen books and articles) will provide young researchers excellent starting places for further study. A selected bibliography at the end of the volume lists approximately 125 general works of Chaucer scholarship. J. E. Skillen Gordon College
Table of Contents
| Preface A Knyght Ther WasMichael A. Calabrese |
| A Yong SquierPeggy Huey |
| A Yeman Had HeJohn W. Conlee |
| Ther Was Also A Nonne, A PrioressMaureen Hourigan |
| Another Nonne With Hire Hadde SheRebecca Stephens |
| And Preestes ThreCatherine Cox |
| A Monk Ther Was, A Fair for the MaistrieJohn P. Hermann |
| A Frere Ther Was, A Wantowne and a MeryeeKarl T. Hagen |
| A Marchant Was Ther With a Forked BerdNancy M. Reale |
| A Clerk Ther Was of Oxenford AlsoBert Dillon |
| A Sergeant of the Law, War and WyseJoseph Horns |
| A Frankeleyn Was In His CompaignyeLiz Sembler |
| An Haberdasher...Laura and Robert Lambdin |
| ...And a Carpenter...Julian N. Wasserman and Marc Guidry |
| ...A Webbe...Gwendolyn Morgan |
| ...A Dyere...Diana R. Uhlman |
| ...And a TapycerRebecca Stephens |
| A Cook They Had With Hem For the NonesConstance B. Hieatt |
| A Shipman Ther Was, Wonynge Fer By WesteSigrid King |
| With Us Ther Was a Doctour of PhisikEdwin Eleazar |
| A Good Wive Was Ther of Biside BathJudith Slover |
| And Was a Povre Persoun of a TounEsther M. G. Smith |
| With Hym Ther Was a Plowman, Was His BrotherDaniel F. Pigg |
| The Millere Was a Stout Carl for the NonesLaura and Robert Lambdin |
| A Gentil Maunciple Was Ther of a TempleJohn H. Fisher |
| The Reve Was a Sclendre Colerik ManRichard B. McDonald |
| A Sumonour Was Ther With Us In That PlaceJames Keller |
| With Hym Ther Rood a Gentil PardonerElton E. Smith Harry Bailly |
| Chaucer's InnkeeperThomas C. Richardson |
| I Demed Hym Som Chanoun For To BeChristine N. Chism |
| His Yeman Eek Was Ful of CurteisyeRobert and Laura Lambdin |
| "What Man Artow?": The Narrator as Writer and PilgrimKatharine Wilson |
| Selected Bibliography |
| Index |