Literature Network » Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucer's anxiety of poetic craft: the Squire's Tale.(Geoffrey Chaucer)(Critical essay)

Content courtesy of

From: Style
Date: 20070922
Author:Jones, Lindsey M.

This essay examines Chaucer's use of prosody in the Squire's Tale and argues that the tale approximates the characteristics of a narrative while simultaneously dramatizing the process by which a poet may come to poetic and prosodic mastery. It considers Chaucer's use of rhyme, enjambment and caesura as deliberate rhetorical constructions designed to emphasize the Squire's anxiety as an author and thus views the Squire's Tale as a self-reflexive commentary on the development of poetic composition. It also examines the prosody of the Knight's Tale as an example of successful poetic maturity.

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Other Articles on Geoffrey Chaucer

About Our Articles: We've partnered with Highbeam Research to provide these article excerpts for your research needs. However, due to copyright laws, we cannot publish the whole article. To view these articles in full length you'll need to use the link above to access the free trial at Highbeam.