Sensory satires and the virtues of herbs in Sir Thopas's Fair Forest

Gordon, Stephen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7778-2555 2021. Sensory satires and the virtues of herbs in Sir Thopas's Fair Forest. Studies in Philology 119 (2) , pp. 191-208. 10.1353/sip.2021.0033

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Abstract

The parodic, exaggerated nature of The Tale of Sir Thopas has long been recognized in scholarship on the Canterbury Tales. Formally and thematically, it has been said to represent an affectionate criticism of the type of vernacular tail-rhyme romances that was read widely in fourteenth-century England. However, despite concerted efforts to elucidate the various parodic (and, indeed, satiric) elements of the first of “Chaucer’s” contributions to the storytelling contest, little attention has been given to the critical possibilities offered by a medical reading of the herbs contained in the “fair forest” encountered by Sir Thopas (lines 760–65). The aim of this sketch, then, will be to illustrate how an understanding of the humoral qualities associated with licorice, zedoary, cloves, and nutmeg augments the irony of Thopas becoming lovestruck following his experience of the birdsong. It will be argued that the foundations of Thopas’s impetuosity derives from the hot, sweet-smelling herbs having already tipped our delicate child hero into a semicholeric passion.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
Schools:	English, Communication and Philosophy
ISSN:	1543-0383
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	27 March 2023
Date of Acceptance:	11 February 2021
Last Modified:	05 Apr 2023 09:20
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/157588

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