Spring 2009

E 376 • Chaucer

Course Description

In this course we will enjoy the moveable feast offered by medieval author Geoffrey Chaucer. Students in this course will learn Middle English (more fun than it sounds) in order to gain more direct access to Chaucer's writings, as well as the fourteenth-century world in which he lived. We will read his unfinished masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, together with some of his longer poems, including The Book of the Duchess and The Parliament of Fowls. People should not be allowed to have this much fun in college, but that's pretty much the way it is with Chaucer.

Grading Policy

Three writing assignments: one 3-4-page textual analysis; a revised 6-page version of the first paper; and a final 7-8-page research paper. Grades will be assessed according to the following percentages:

Midterm exam 10%
Written essays 15%; 20%; 25%
Final exam 20%
Quizzes and participation 10%

Texts

The Riverside Chaucer, ed. Larry D Benson, Robert Pratt, F.N. Robinson
The Canterbury Tales, Derek Pearsall
The Cambridge Companion to Chaucer, ed. Piero Boitani and Jill Mann

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