COURSE SYLLABUS
CHAUCER (ENGL 322): Spring Semester 2000






Dr. James M. Dean                                                                                                                                                     Office Hours
Mem 209 (x1970)                                                                                                                                                       M 1-2; WF 10-11 and by appt
dean@udel.edu;                                                                                                                                                           http://www.english.udel.edu/dean/

Required Texts


The Riverside Chaucer. Ed. Larry D. Benson. 3rd ed.  Houghton Mifflin.  1987
Chaucer: Sources & Backgrounds, ed. R. P. Miller (Oxford) [abbreviated Miller]


Course Description (Revised from Booklet). This course offers an introduction to and appreciation of the major narrative writings of Geoffrey Chaucer, including selections from The Canterbury Tales. We shall also read some of Chaucer's lyric poems and selections from Chaucer: Sources & Backgrounds to gain a better understanding of Chaucer's era. The emphasis will be on Chaucer's poetry rather than his language, but students will be expected to read and translate Chaucer's words from his Middle English (as in the Norton Anthology) into Modern English. This course also will introduce the richness and variety of the medieval period; and it satisfies the departmental Medieval and Renaissance Literature requirement. Lectures will sometimes include illustrations of late medieval art as well as film clips. Among the many topics we shall explore in the course: sexuality and love ("courtly" and non-courtly); spirituality (its meaning and uses in social contexts); poetry (or art) as an endeavor (and its claims to truth); feminism and antifeminism in Chaucer and in the Middle Ages. The format for the class will be a combination of lecture and discussion, sometimes in groups.
Course Readings

Week One (Feb 9-11): Introduction: reading Chaucer

Introduction to the course

For Fri: "Chaucer in His Time," pages 956-60; "Chaucer's Language and Versification," pages 961-63 (column B). Book of the Duchess, lines 1-100. Start memorizing "Key Words" (handout)

An Introduction to Chaucer (Lee Patterson, Yale Univ.)  http://www.yale.edu/engl125/text-only/lectures/lecture-1.html


Week Two (Feb 14-18): Middle English & BD

For Mon: BD lines 101-752
Ceyx & Alcyone, in Miller (pp. 106-111)
For Wed: BD lines 753-1180
For Fri: BD lines 1181-end
Quiz on language and the story on Fri


Week Three (Feb 21-25): General Prologue

For Mon: GP lines 1-284
For Wed: GP lines 285-567
The Three Estates, in Miller (pp. 153-253)
For Fri: GP lines 568-end

Week Four (Feb 28 - Mar 4): The Knight's Tale

For Mon: The Knight's Tale Parts I and II
Andreas Capellanus in Miller, pp. 291-99; 356-59
For Wed: KnT Part III
Boccaccio, from Teseide, in Miller, pp. 322-43
For Fri: KnT Part IV


Week Five (Mar 6-10): The Miller's & Reeve's Tales

For Mon: The Miller's Prologue & Tale to line 3369
For Wed: Finish The Miller's Tale
The Alba, in Miller, pp. 300-308
For Fri: The Reeve's Prologue & Tale


Week Six (Mar 13-17): The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

For Mon: The Wife of Bath's Prologue 1-502
For Wed: Finish Wife's Prologue
Sections VII & VIII, in Miller
For Fri: Wife's Tale

Week Seven (Mar 20-24): The Clerk's Tale

For Mon: The Clerk's Prologue and Tale, through lines 938
For Wed: Finish The Clerk's Tale including Lenvoy de Chaucer
For Fri: The Monk's Prologue
First Paper due on or Before Monday
Click here for sample first paper

Spring Break

Week Eight (Apr 3-7): Merchant & Prioress

For Mon: The Merchant's Prologue & Tale, to line 2041
For Wed: Finish The Merchant's Tale
For Fri: The Prioress's Prologue & Tale

Week Nine (Apr 10-14): The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale;

For Mon: The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale
For Wed: The Second Nun's Prologue & Tale
For Fri: Tale of Sir Thopas; Prologue to Tale of Melibee; Melibee to line 1065


Week Ten (Apr 17-21): The Nun's Priest's Tale; end CT

For Mon: The Nun's Priest's Prologue and Tale, to line 3186
For Wed: Finish The Nun's Priest's Tale
Section I, in Miller
For Fri: Parson's Prologue; Parson's Tale De Superbia [On Pride], pp. 362-367 col. A; Chaucer's Retraction (p. 397)

Week Eleven (Apr 24-28): Troilus and Criseyde

For Mon: T&C Book 1 to line 546
Second 2-4 Page Paper due on or Before Monday
For Wed: Finish T&C Book 1
For Fri: T & C Book 2 to line 406

Week Twelve (May 1-5): Troilus, con

For Mon: T & C Book 2 to line 917
For Wed: Finish T & C Book 2
For Fri: T&C Book 3 Proem and lines 652-952
Boccaccio, Il Filostrato, in Miller, pp. 314-21

Week Thirteen (May 8-12): Troilus, con

For Mon: T & C Book 3 lines 953-1414
For Wed: T & C Book 4, lines 946-1082; 1415-1701
For Fri: T & C Book 5, lines 1-105; 358-385

Week Fourteen (May 15, 17): Troilus; conclusion of course

For Mon: T & C Book 5, lines 729-826; 1639-end
For Wed: Conclusion of course

1. I reserve the right to change these requirements as needed during the course of the semester. My attendance policy: any combination of three or more excused and unexcused absences may result in a full grade demerit. More than seven absences (for any reason) can result in failure of the course.

2. You can expect a quiz on the readings for the week on most Fridays even if not noted on the syllabus. The day of the quizzes may need to be changed to allow for special circumstances. Sometimes you will be quizzed on linguistic issues and translating Middle English into idiomatic modern English.