Focusing on four aspects of Chaucer's poetics-use of narrative, speech, rhetoric, and figurative language-this is the first book-length study to identify Chaucer's poetic strategies by making specific comparisons with textual sources. Reading The Legend of Good Women and five of The Canterbury Tales against their classical and continental sources, Holton illuminates Chaucer's poetic style, showing he was consistent in asserting his own techniques against the pressure of his sources.

Amanda Holton is a Lecturer at the University of Reading, UK and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Southampton, UK.

Contents: Introduction; Narrative; Speech; Rhetoric; Figurative language; Conclusion; Appendix; Works cited; Index.