Tag Archives: Miller's Tale

The L. A. Rams and Chaucer’s Miller

Tuesday I’m experiencing déjà vu after seeing the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs. When I was a teenager and just becoming interested in football, my beloved Minnesota Vikings were always encountering the Los Angeles Rams in playoff games. Then the Rams became the St. Louis Rams, but now they’re the Los Angeles Rams again, […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

A Literary History of the Insult “Cuck”

“Cuck” has become a favorite insult amongst alt-right types. In today’s post I trace literary references to cuckolds going back to Chaucer.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

We Mooste Calle Him “Hende Donald”

Donald Trump’s self-admitted sexual assaults resemble those of the university student in Chaucer’s “Miller’s Tales.” Hende Nicholas, however, is far more respectful of his lady love.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed

Chaucer Predicted Hugh Hefner Debacle

It sounds to me that Hefner wasn’t cuckolded only because he wasn’t yet a husband. And while I don’t really care about either of them, I take a Chaucerian satisfaction is seeing a pretentious man outplayed at his own game.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments closed

Chaucer and Hugh Hefner’s Wedding

  Here’s a post that has been awaiting a moment when I thought this website could use a comic interlude. I’m not suggesting in any way that Hugh Hefner’s forthcoming marriage (check out Timothy Egan’s horrified response) is as newsworthy as, say, Egypt’s uprising (Monday’s post) or America’s problem with guns (yesterday’s post). But we […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments closed

Blasphemy + Laughter, Not All Bad

Spiritual Sunday I was teaching Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale on Friday and had a sudden insight: laughter, even blasphemous laughter, is not an enemy to spirituality. In fact, it can be a means of deepening our connection with the divine. I will make my case through Chaucer. The Miller’s Tale is about as bawdy as it […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed