Defines the inorganic, associative system of medieval aesthetics, grounded in Pythagorean number theory and Platonic ideas of rational order, and carried into the Middle Ages by Augustine, Boethius, and Macrobius. Analogous to the rigorously structured and clearly divisible Ptolemaic finite universe, this aesthetic system is evident in Gothic architecture and Dante's Commedia as well as Chaucer's major works. Troilus and Criseyde is best understood in terms of a hierarchy of perspectives wherein narrative intrusions clearly separate the work into discrete accumulative parts. Troilus, Pandarus, the narrator, and finally the poet in the Epilogue offer distinct perspectives on love. Structurally, Canterbury Tales is better understood as an additive collocation than as a unified, realistic drama.
Dramatic unity is a modern concern.
The tales offer a medieval structure of prefabricated units in a controlled outline, as indicated by discussion of the Wife of Bath's Prologue and the tales of the Merchant, Knight. Miller, Clerk, and Parson indicate. Some Types of Narrative in Chaucer's Poetry. Lund Studies in English, no. A theoretical exploration of narrative technique in Chaucer's poetry and its tradition, attempting to describe Chaucer's dependencies and innovations.