John Hill’s detailed analysis of Chaucer’s deeply thought, but playful, poetry emphasizes traces of divine forms in human affairs, however tangled with mere sense perceptions and degraded actions. Convincingly challenging the trend of some recent criticism, the poems (especially Troilus and Criseyde) are found to be shot through with Neoplatonic/Boethian notions of knowledge, love, joy, “full” friendship, and community.

Peggy Knapp, Carnegie Mellon University

An intelligent and wide-ranging reading of the major poems in terms of what Hill sees as Chaucer's loosely applied and rational Neo-Platonism. Staying close to the poetic texts, Hill focuses on Chaucer's varying treatments of the themes of love, friendship and community. Scholars and advanced students will find this book a companionable addition to their libraries

Howell Chickering, Amherst College

John M. Hill has done that rare thing: a new book on Chaucer that in fact shows us something new. Hill has applied a lifetime of learning to probing the heart of Chaucer's Boethian plenitude. What he finds is a deeply embedded Neoplatonism that, once seen through Hill's eyes, powers fresh, unexpectedly convincing readings of Chaucer's work, from the Book of the Duchess through Troilus to the Canterbury Tales.

Robert Yeager, University of West Florida