www.medievalbookshop.co.uk
Bargain books on the Middle Ages and all related subjects
Contact by email or post & phone
John Gardner.
The Poetry of Chaucer.
Carbondale: Southern Illinois U.P., 1978 reprint (previously issued 1978; hardback was 1977).
ISBN 0809308711.
Paperback, perfect bound.
Printed in the USA.
152x227x23mm.
xxxv,408pp.
Main language: English.
Unused bargain: some shop wear, in particular these copies have mild indentations to the top edge at the front of the book.
This item £7.50
From John Gardner's preface:
[Publisher's price $26.00]
648g.
"This book was originally designed as the second half of a two-volume work called The Life, Times and Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, but when I'd finished what I have now published as The Life and Times of Chaucer, I saw that my discussion of the poetry couldn't be made to fit with my writing on Chaucer's life. Writing biography, I had felt free to touch up the picture here and there, never altering facts, I hope, but using the tricks of a novelist to heighten their effect a little. Writing about chaucer's poetry, on the other hand, I use the second side of a novelist's brain - the lobe that calculates and squints, studies older literature in hopes of understanding its methods and purposes with the greatest possible accuracy, perhaps so that someday, when it seems convenient, the novelist can steal them. The result is that this second book is completely different from the first in tone; different, too, in that it's harder to read and will, I'm afraid, appeal to a narrower audience, mainly teachers and college students."
Contents: Repetition, structure & poetic allusion in Book of the Duchess; The Parliament of Birds; The unfinished Anelida & Arcite & a few shorter poems - a chapter brief & disorganized, but rich in curiosities; Double sorrow (& joy) of love in Troilus & Criseyde; House of Fame, or "Dante in English"; The Legend of Good Women; To Canterbury & beyond - introductory remarks; Fragment I - General Prologue to the Cook's Tale; Fragments II-V, from Man of Law's Tale to Franklin's Tale; Fragments Vi & VII; Conclusion - Second Nun's Tale to Parson's Tale & Retraction.
Notes: at end of book
Tables: no
Illustrations: no
Maps & plans: no
Genealogies: no
Chronology: no
Glossary: no
Bibliography: no
Index: yes
[BML/UB]
See also: | Chaucer |
See the "book descriptions" page for explanations of the criteria used in this listing.
Return to used books index page
Use these scrollbars to navigate the attic...
You need javascript switched on for these scrollbars to work. If they don't, there's a full set of links at the bottom of this page.
Primary sources anthologies | anononymous | facsimile | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Secondary sources journals & partworks | author unknown | exhibition guides & ephemera | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | Mc | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Reference books Reference index | general reference | bibliographies | biographical dictionaries | catalogues: auctions | catalogues: exhibitions | catalogues: museums & collections | chronology & dating | genealogy & heraldry | guides & gazetteers | lexical: concordances, dictionaries, glossaries | maps & atlases | medievalism | name & place-name studies | pass notes & study guides | numismatics
Medievalism main page | general non-fiction | reference books | biography & autobiography | travelogues | arcana | folklore | arts and crafts | kid's books | fiction | poetry | drama | humour
Other stuff browse by subject | browse by publisher | browse by series | gift books | kids' stuff | incomplete sets | shop returns | signed copies | unused bargains | useful non-medieval | new books (with Amazon links)
Site search
(Fluid Dynamics)
medievalbookshop
Other frequently asked questions
Books
How to find what you're looking for
How the book descriptions work
Information pages
The small print