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CORYNNE. This poet has not been identified. Lounsbury dismisses the possibility that she may be Korina, a contemporary of Pindar (518-438 B.C.), who wrote a work, The Seven Against Thebes. Edgar F. Shannon points out that early editors of Ovid, among them Hermolaus Barberus in 1454, labeled his Amores as Corinna and Elegiae. He suggests that Chaucer refers to Ovid under the name Corinna. Douglas Bush points out that Corinna appears in Lydgate's Troy Book in a catalogue of famous authors associated with the expression of grief. B.A. Wise suggests that Corinna, derived from corina, Italian for "wry face," alludes to Boccaccio, whose wry expression is mentioned in contemporary accounts.

The Poet says that Statius and Corynne are his sources for the story of Anelida, Anel 21. The name appears in final rhyming position.


D. Bush, "Chaucer's Corinne." Speculum 4 (1929): 106-107; T.R. Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, II: 403-404; E.F. Shannon, CRP, 15-20; B.A. Wise, The Influence of Statius upon Chaucer, 67-68.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.

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