Eng 447/547: Major Writers -- Chaucer

MW 12-1.50 Winter 2005

This term's look at Geoffrey Chaucer will focus on works other than the Canterbury Tales: The Book of the Duchess, The Parlement of Fowles, and his romance Troylus and Criseyde. I will survey the class about the Tales and choose one or two of those. We will read slowly, building up familiarity with Chaucer's language. Students should have taken Eng 204 and 223; Eng 108 would be useful, too. I will be assuming that students have the background knowledge of the Middle Ages from Eng 204 and the theoretical and research background from Eng 223. Grades will be based on (1) a short oral pronunciation passage; (2) daily participation; (3) oral report on background reading with accompanying short paper; (4) exam based on passages from reading; (5) analysis paper on one or two Chaucer works that we study.