ENGLISH 4260: CHAUCER
F. GRADY WINTER 2010
455 LUCAS TTH 11:00-12:15
516-5592 UNIVERSITY
CENTER 63
T 1:00-3:00, TH
1:00-4:00
[SEC. 001, #14129]
& by appointment
Three hundred years after Chaucer's death,
John Dryden called him "the father of English poetry"; now, three
hundred years after that, his work is more closely and widely studied than ever
before. His best-known poem, The Canterbury Tales, is justly
celebrated for its richness and variety, both literary--the Tales include fabliaux, romances,
sermons, hagiographies, fantasies, satires, treatises, fables and exempla--and
thematic, with its explorations of courtly love and scatology, piety and
impiety, chivalry and pacifism, fidelity and adultery. But even if Chaucer had never written the Tales, he would still be celebrated as
the most versatile English writer of his era, for his dream visions, his prose
translations, his short lyrics, and for the greatest of Middle English
romances, Troilus and Criseyde.
In this course we’ll pick up Chaucer at
mid-career, as he turns from one long form, the aristocratic romance, to
another increasingly widespread one, the story collection. After practicing our Middle English with The
Parliament of Fowls, we’ll look at Chaucer’s first (and ultimately
abandoned) attempt at a story cycle, The
Legend of Good Women, before turning to as many of the Tales as we can fit in.
We’ll also read that medieval Latin
philosophical best-seller, Boethius’s Consolation
of Philosophy (which Chaucer translated into English), and excerpts from
the work of some of his contemporaries.
All Chaucer reading will be in Middle English;
previous experience with the language will be an asset, but is not
required—plenty of experience will be provided.
Course Requirements: Midterm, final exam
and two four- to five-page essays, 20% each; quizzes (announced and
unannounced), class participation (including reading aloud and summarizing the day's reading),
20%. You will have four chances to hand
in the two essays; I will distribute a non-exhaustive list of topics about ten
days in advance of each due date, with copies also posted on the web. Faithful (i.e., perfect) attendance is expected;
quizzes may not be made up, and five or more absences from class will certainly
have an adverse affect on your grade. (Further details on the English
Department’s goals for 4000-level courses can be found here.) Plagiarism on papers, electronic or the
old-fashioned kind, will mean an instant F for the assignment, my undying
disapprobation, and possible disciplinary action by the university; please
refer to this site for further details, and please please
please ask me if you have any questions.
Basic course materials will be
posted on Mygateway, while the
syllabus website linked to my own homepage
will be the main one for the course, with links to supplementary materials and other Chaucer-related sites
on the web. I’ll also link to the powerpoint
presentations used in class.
Required Texts:
The Riverside Chaucer, ed. Larry Benson et. al., 3rd Edition (Houghton-Mifflin,
1987)
A selection of critical articles,
available as pdfs on MyGateway
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, trans. Victor Watts (Penguin, 1999)
TENTATIVE SYLLABUS:
T JAN 19 Introduction; Reading Middle English
TH JAN 28 England in the Fourteenth
Century;
Strohm,
“The social and literary scene in
Boethius,
The
Consolation of Philosophy, Book 1
T FEB 2 The Legend of Good Women:
Tyrannical readers, tyrannical forms
Legend of Good Women, G Prologue 1-545
Boethius,
Consolation of Philosophy,
Book 2
TH FEB 4 The Legend of Good Women: Chaucer’s
classical inheritance
Legend of Dido (924-1367)
Legend of Hypsipyle and Medea (1368-1679)
House of Fame Book
I (111-508)
Boethius,
Consolation of Philosophy, Book 3
T FEB 9 The
Legend of Good Women:
Legend of Ariadne (1886-2227),
Legend of Philomela (2228-2393)
Boethius,
Consolation of Philosophy, Book 4
TH FEB 11 The
General Prologue
to the
Prologue to Piers
Plowman (MyGateway)
Boethius,
Consolation of Philosophy, Book 5
T FEB 16 The
General Prologue (I.542-858)
Knight’s Tale I
(I.859-1354)
Donaldson,”Chaucer
the Pilgrim” (MyGateway)
TH FEB 18 The Knight’s Tale:
Philosophical
romance?
Knight’s Tale II-IV (I.1355-3108)
T FEB 23 The Knight’s Tale: The story of Theseus;
the interrupted triumph
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/arts/20muscatine.html
T MAR 2 The Miller’s Tale: Quiting; fabliau
justice
Miller's Tale (I 3109-3854)
Lee Patterson, 1994
Chaucer lecture
TH MAR 4 The Man of Law’s Tale: Hagiography and
romance
Man of Law's Prologue and Tale I & II (II 1-875)
T MAR 9 The Man of Law’s Tale: Hagiography and
romance and feminism?
Man of Law's Tale III (II 876-1190)
T MAR 16
The Wife of
Wife of Bath's Prologue (III 1-856)
W
MAR 17 Second
essay due date
A brief guide to quoting
from the text
TH MAR 18 The Wife of
Wife of Bath's Tale (III 857-1264)
T MAR 23 NO
CLASS
TH MAR 25 The Wife
of
John
Gower, The Tale of Florent (MyGateway)
Leicester,
“’Of a Fire in the Dark’” (MyGateway)
T MAR 30 & TH APR 1 SPRING BREAK
Friar's Tale; (III.1265-1664)
Summoner's Tale(III.1665-2294)
TH APR 8 The Clerk's Tale: Wives versus clerks, round 2
Clerk's Tale
(IV.1-1212g)
Franklin's Tale (V. 709-1624)
M
APR 19 Third essay due date
T APR 20: Shipman and Prioresse: Piety and impiety
continued; medieval antisemitism
Shipman's Tale (VII.1-434)
Prioresse's Tale (VII.435-690)
Spector,
“Empathy and Enmity in the Prioress’s Tale” (MyGateway)
TH APR 22 Thopas and Melibee: Chaucerian
signature Shipman and Prioresse: Piety and impiety continued; medieval antisemitism
Shipman's Tale (VII.1-434)
Prioresse's Tale (VII.435-690)
Spector,
“Empathy and Enmity in the Prioress’s Tale” (MyGateway)
T APR 27 The Monk’s Tale: De casibus tragedy & its discontents Thopas and Melibee: Chaucerian signature
Riverside
xi-xxi
(Chaucer’s life)
TH APR 29 The
Nun’s Priest’s Tale: fruyt & chaf The Monk’s Tale: De casibus tragedy & its discontents
Monk's Tale
(VII.1889-2766)
T MAY 4 The Parson’s Tale: No more fables The Nun’s
Priest’s Tale: fruyt & chaf
Nun's Priest's Tale (VII.2727-3446)
TH MAY 6 Tentative
conclusions The Parson’s Tale: No
more fables
Parson's Prologue X.1-230 [to p. 293])
Retractions
(X. 1081-92)
T MAY 11 Final Exam, 10:00-12:00
