Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Shorter Poems

This third volume in the popular Oxford Guides to Chaucer series offers a much needed introduction to Chaucer’s shorter poems. The introductory chapters on the social and cultural contexts of the shorter poems are supplemented by a guide to the genre they mostly exemplify--the love-vision form. The volume then provides in-depth, individual chapters on the Book of the Duchess, the House of Fame, the Parliament of Fowls, the Legend of Good Women, and the short poems, and includes an extensive appendix on Chaucer’s language. Combining the best of old and new critical methods and research, this lively, provocative, and comprehensive book will make accessible a crucial portion of Chaucer’s work for students and general readers.