Chaucer's Dream Visions and Shorter Poems

by William Quinn (Editor)

This volume will gather some of the most influential essays that still set the critical agenda for our study of the Book of the Duchess, the Parliament of Fowls, the House of Fame, the Legend of Good Women, and Chaucer's shorter poems. The first chapter provides an overview of the current state of scholarship regarding these allegedly "minor" works with particular attention to their significance in terms of understanding the development of Chaucer's poetics. For each dream vision and for "The Shorter Poems," three major articles, selected primarily to represent a variety of critical approaches, will be reprinted. Each section will be introduced by a brief discussion of the interpretive implications of each work's putative occasionality and a descriptive survey of critical controversies to date. A final chapter will suggest new lines of inquiry.

492 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1999