English 330, Spring 2007, SYLLABUS VIEW
Weekly Schedule and Assignments
Week 0 (1/29-2/2): Because the Scheduling Gurus at College Center decided that we could not "adjust our schedules and go to classes on Monday, there will be no formal seminar meeting during the first week of classes. Nevertheless, I hope to meet with all of you to get to know your interests in studying Chaucer, and to help you start practicing your Middle English. I know some of you will be worried about the Middle English part, but if you treat it like "singing," and practice the tune, the sound of it will become familiar to you within a few weeks. I have made a set of conference times available. Email me to reserve a time. Click here for help understanding how to pronounce Middle English vowels and consonants. For a sample quiz on the "General Prologue," and a link to the answers and rationales for the questions, click here.
Week 1 (2/5): Course introduction, fast lesson in Middle English pronunciation and reading, Chaucer's life and culture, and the role of manuscripts, books, and editors in the invention of the Canterbury Tales. Read: the Riverside Chaucer (RC) "Introduction" first 11 pages (xv-xxvi) for a short biography of Chaucer, and the "General Prologue" (853 ll.). Click here for a guide to today's discussion. If we have time, will will practice reading aloud one or more of these three short lyrics to practice Middle English skills: "Truth: Balade de Bon Consul" (653), "Gentilesse: Moral Balade of Chaucier" (654), and Lak of Stedfastnesse" (654). For critical studies of Chaucer's shorter lyrics, including these, click here.
Week 2 (2/12): "Knight's Tale"
Parts 1 and 2 (859-1880 [1021 ll.])
Click here for a guide to today's discussion.
Annotated bibliography #1 DUE by 9 AM Friday.
Week 3 (2/19): "Knight's Tale" Parts 3 and 4 (1881-3108 [1217 ll.]) Click here for a guide to today's discussion. BIB. HOLIDAY: NO ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRY DUE!
Week 4 (2/26): "Miller's Prologue and Tale," "Reeve's Prologue and Tale," "Cook's Fragment" (1314 ll.) If you have time, read the introduction to the "Cook's Tale of Gamelyn," and the "Tale of Gamelyn," itself. This apocryphal (not-by-Chaucer) tale circulated with Chaucer's authentic CT, in some cases as the tale the Cook never go to tell, until the spurious tale was removed from the Chaucer canon by C19 scholars. Annotated bibliography #2 DUE by 9 Am Friday.
Week 5 (3/5):"Man of Law's Prologue, Tale, and Endlink" (1190 ll.) BIB. HOLIDAY: NO ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRY DUE!
Week 6 (3/12): "Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale," "Shipman's Tale" (1716 ll.) BIB. HOLIDAY: NO ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRY DUE! MIDTERM PAPER DUE as an email attachment in my inbox by the first Sunday, of Spring Break. You can turn it in earlier, or later but please don't delay it without negotiating with me.
Spring Break, Saturday, 3/17 through Sunday, 3/25
Week 7 (3/26): "Friar's Prologue and Tale," "Summoner's Prologue and Tale" (1030 ll.) BIB. HOLIDAY: NO ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRY DUE!
Week 8 (4/2): "Clerk's Prologue and Tale" (1212 ll.) and "Merchant's Prologue and Tale" (1228 ll.) BIB. #3 DUE by 9AM Friday.
Week 9 (4/9 ): "Squire's Tale," "Franklin's Prologue and Tale," "Physician's Tale," (1624 ll.) BIB. #4 DUE by 9 AM Friday--end of the annotated bibliography project. Before you write your final paper, take time to scan the articles annotated by the rest of the seminar. Remember that they each offer you four more possible sources of information and potential analytical approaches which you might use to structure your own paper. Next week (4/16) will be the start of the "early print edition report project" (just one, at 4% like the bib annotations). See the "Slow Chaucers" page for a description of what to do. You can do the work for this in an hour or so once you have done some background reading on how to handle archival materials and talked to Gail McCormick about scheduling your visit to Special Collections in advance. That will prevent schedule collisions involving these scarce materials, which will insure that the book you want will be ready when you need it.
Week 10 (4/16): "Pardoner's Prologue and Tale," "Prioress' Prologue and Tale," "Rime of Sir Thopas," "Tale of Melibee" (1196 ll.) + "Melibee"'s amazingly long 922 lines of prose which Arnie will cover. Start of the "Early Print Editions Project." Report due by 5/14/07
Week 11 11 (4/23): "Monk's Prologue and Tale," "Nuns' Priest's Prologue and Tale" (1584 ll.)
Week 12 (4/30): "Second Nun's Prologue and Tale," "Canon's Yeoman's Prologue and Tale," (1481 ll.)
Week 13 (5/7) "Manciple's Prologue and Tale," "Parson's Prologue and Tale"and "Chaucer's Retraction" (362 ll. plus the prose paragraph of the "Retraction"). Please read as much of the Parson's sermon as you can, and at least read all of the web page to get an idea of how to account for this sermon's enormous presence at the end of all complete MSS of the Canterbury Tales (1458 ll.). What does it mean for our interpretations of Chaucer that we so often do not pay attention to CT's most serious religious passages? What kind of methodological gap has opened between our world and Chaucer's, and what can we do about it to prevent anachronistic readings of his work? Because this also will be our last class, I will distribute course evaluations, though we probably won't have time to fill them out in class.