Spring 2000	Robert Longsworth
English 301 MWF 3:30-4:20 pm	Rice 128 x8571
King 237	Office hours: Tu 10-11:30; Th 8-9:30 (or by appointment)
	E-mail: Robert.Longsworth@oberlin.edu

Chaucer

The chief objectives of this course are to provide an introduction to the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer; to enable the student to read the 14th century English language in which Chaucer wrote; and to study with care his best-known work, The Canterbury Tales.

Requirements for the course will include:

1. Preparation for and participation in class discussions.
2. Five brief (one-page) prep papers, due every other week on a regular basis.
3. An oral presentation (reading) of 10 to 15 lines from The Canterbury Tales, to be given in a meeting with the instructor no later than March 15.
4. A paper (approximately 4 to 6 pages in length), offering a close reading of the text used for the oral presentation (see item #3), due no later than 24 March.
5. A critical research paper (approximately 10 to 15 pages in length) on a topic chosen in consultation with (and approved by) the instructor, due no later than the end of Reading Period (16 May).

The Text for the course is Larry D. Benson, ed., The Riverside Chaucer, 3rd ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987).

Works on Reserve for assigned readings (in Mudd Library) include:

Bloom, Harold, Geoffrey Chaucer.

Bowden, Muriel, A Commentary on the General Prologue.

Bryan, W. F., and Germaine Dempster, Sources and Analogues of the Canterbury Tales.

Davis, Norman et al., A Chaucer Glossary.

Dinshaw, Carolyn, Chaucer's Sexual Poetics.

Kolve, V. A., Chaucer and the Imagery of Narrative.

Lambdin, Laura C. and Robert T. Lambdin, Chaucer's Pilgrims.

Patterson, Lee, Chaucer and the Subject of History.

Pearsall, Derek, A Life of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Power, Eileen, Medieval People.

The Riverside Chaucer, ed. Larry D. Benson [primary text].

Rowland, Beryl, Companion to Chaucer Studies.

Schoeck, Richard, and Jerome Taylor, Chaucer Criticism, 2 vols.

Stillinger, Thomas C., ed. Critical Essays on Geoffrey Chaucer.

Resources in Cyberspace include the following sites:

The Chaucer MetaPage: www.unc.edu/depts/chaucer/

The Geoffrey Chaucer Website Homepage at Harvard University: icg.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/index.html

[The Best connection for resources in medieval studies generally--] The Labyrinth: www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/labyrinth-home.html

The Format of the course will consist chiefly of discussions, led (and occasionally augmented with lectures) by the instructor.

The Schedule of topics to be considered and assignments to be carried out in preparation for each day's class follows:

Feb 7	Introductory lecture and discussion
Feb 9	Background: read Riverside Chaucer, Introduction (esp. pp. xxix-xlii, on Chaucer's language); pp. 3-6; and "General Prologue" to the Canterbury Tales, 1-42.
Feb 11	"General Prologue," lines 43-164 [N.B.: as background for discussion of the "General Prologue," read at least one pilgrim's portrait from Bowden, Commentary; or Lambdin and Lambdin, Chaucer's Pilgrims; and Paul Beichner, "Daun Piers, Monk and Business Administrator," in Schoeck and Taylor. For an interesting portrait of a historical figure resembling the Prioress, see Eileen Power, "Madame Eglentyne," in Medieval People.]
Feb 14	"General Prologue," lines 165-360
Feb 16	"General Prologue," lines 361-541
Feb 18	"General Prologue," lines 542-746
Feb 21	"General Prologue," lines 747-end; "Knight's Tale," beginning to line 1001
Feb 23	"Knight's Tale," part 1 (to line 1354) [N.B.: as background to the "Knight's Tale," read Robert M. Jordan, "Chaucerian Narrative," in Rowland, Companion]
Feb 25	"Knight's Tale," parts 2 & 3 (to line 2482)
Feb 28	"Knight's Tale," part 4 (to line 3108) and Boece, p. 420 ["Prosa 8" and "Metrum 8"]
Mar 1	"Prologue" and "Miller's Tale"; read Lee Patterson, Chaucer and the Subject of History, ch. 5
Mar 3	"Prologue" and "Reeve's Tale"
Mar 6	"Prologue" and "Cook's Tale"; read V.A. Kolve, Chaucer and the Imagery of Narrative, ch. 5
Mar 8	"Man of Law's Introduction," "Prologue," and "Tale"
Mar 10	"Wife of Bath's Prologue"; read Bryan and Dempster, Sources and Analogues, 207-268
Mar 13	"Wife of Bath's Prologue," continued: The Canterbury Tales Project [Chaucer on CD-ROM]
Mar 15	"Wife of Bath's Tale"; read Carolyn Dinshaw, Chaucer's Sexual Poetics, ch. 4
Mar 17	"Prologue" and "Friar's Tale"
Mar 20	"Prologue" and "Summoner's Tale"
Mar 22	"Prologue" and "Clerk's Tale"; read James Sledd, "Clerk's Tale," in Schoeck and Taylor, vol. 1
Mar 24	"Merchant's Prologue," "Tale," and "Epilogue"; read E. T. Donaldson, "Effect of the Merchant's Tale," in Bloom
Apr 3	"Squire's Tale"
Apr 5	"Franklin's Prologue" and "Tale"; read Chauncey Wood, "Chaucer and Astrology," in Rowland
Apr 7	"Physician's Tale" and "Pardoner's Prologue"; read Bryan and Dempster, Sources and Analogues, 398-408
Apr 10	"Pardoner's Tale"; read Stephen Kruger, "Claiming the Pardoner," in Stillinger
Apr 12	"Shipman's Tale"
Apr 14	"Prioress's Prologue" and "Tale"; find and read a critical essay about the tale
Apr 17	"Prologue" and "Tale of Sir Thopas," with a cursory glance at the "Tale of Melibee"; read E. T. Donaldson, "Chaucer the Pilgrim," in Schoeck and Taylor, vol. 1
Apr 19	"Prologue" and "Monk's Tale"
Apr 21	"Prologue" and "Nun's Priest's Tale"
Apr 24	"Second Nun's Prologue" and "Tale"
Apr 26	"Canon's Yeoman's Prologue" and "Tale"
Apr 28	"Manciple's Prologue" and "Tale"
May 1	Excerpts from the "Parson's Tale"; "Chaucer's Retractions"; read Donald Howard, "Idea of the Canterbury Tales," in Bloom; and C. A. Owen, "Importance of the Literal," in Bloom
May 3	Parliament of Fowls
	May 5 Parliament of Fowls (cont.); read Donald Baker, "Parliament of Fowls," in Rowland
May 8	The Legend of Good Women, "Prologue"
May 10	Discussion of Final Papers
May 12	Concluding Lecture
May 16	TERM PAPER DUE