Chaucer's Attitude Toward Love
Marshall W. Stearns
Speculum, Vol. 17, No. 4. (Oct., 1942), pp. 570-574.
Found on JSTOR
Stearns uses passages from The Book of the Duchess and Troilus and Criseyde to develop a personal understanding of the poet behind these works. The focus is on an allusion within the poetry to Chaucer's eight year long love-sickness, and its historical relevance in relation to his published work. This article only goes into surface detail on Chaucer as a failed lover, but the information would be useful for continued research. It also catalogues the multiple avenues for understanding what Chaucer thinks about courtly love, and perhaps more importantly, Chaucer's self-image as an authority on loving. Stearns believes Chaucer may have thought: "Can a 'clerc' of love really teach anything, if he believes himself to be unfeeling-blind and unable to judge hues in this manner?"
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