Mind like wickerwork: The neuroplastic aesthetics of Chaucer's House of Tidings

This article argues that the wicker enclosure named the House of Tidings in Chaucer's House of Fame provides a powerful intuitive expression in figurative terms of the concept of neuroplasticity, or the functional capability of the brain to reorganize its neural circuitry in response to an external stimulus or a deficit in cognitive function. In this figurative space, Chaucer explores the capacity of mind to adapt to new experience, from the mental world of reading texts to the whirling world of social experience.