CHAUCER'S USE OF DOUBLE AND MULTIPLE NEGATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF EMPHATIC DEVICES IN "THE CANTERBURY TALES"

Author

• GORDON ROBERT BLAISE

Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1987

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Abstract

Multiple negation is a grammatical construction that can be found in the prose and poetry of Old and Middle English. There is much evidence to support the premise that Chaucer, in the Canterbury Tales, elevated the poetic use of such negative constructions to levels yet unsurpassed in English literature. Primarily used to emphasize or create ambiguity, Chaucer's negation often reveals more about a character than one would attain under normal circumstances. The General Prologue and The Nun's Priest's Tale both provide numerous examples of a phenomenon in which the application of multiple negation appears to be somewhat selective, adding to the complexity of certain characters, while other, "less interesting," characters remain relatively simple. Such grammatical selectivity developed into an emphatic device signaling that a great deal is going on beneath the negation.

Extent

64 p.

Comments

FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1987.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Recommended Citation

BLAISE, GORDON ROBERT, "CHAUCER'S USE OF DOUBLE AND MULTIPLE NEGATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF EMPHATIC DEVICES IN "THE CANTERBURY TALES"" (1987). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 1980 - 1989. 511.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_3/511

Identifier

FADT14389

Format

pdf