Professor Jennifer Hellwarth
English 311
TTH 1:30-2:45 am
Oddfellows 105B
Spring 2017
Office: Oddfellows 232
Phone: o. 4324
Office Hours: M 1:50-3:50pm,
T, TH 3-4pm, W 10am-noon, and also by
appointment
e-mail: [email protected]
English 311:
Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales
Course Description
This course is designed to introduce you to a selection of tales from one of the most famous and
remarkable texts in the English language, Geoffrey Chaucer’s fourteenth-century Canterbury
Tales. The Canterbury Tales offers us a wide array of genres and styles, from the formal to the
crude, and addresses topics such as love, sex, science, and religion. This class is intensive in that
you will be asked to familiarize yourself with reading Middle English while also being asked to
engage in thoughtful discourse about the themes and conflicts presented within the tales
themselves; we will not only be learning how to "translate” Middle English, but we will also
spend time becoming skilled readers and critics of the text. As part of this process, we will be
reading, along with the Canterbury Tales, background documents. These background readings are
designed to provide you with cultural and literary contexts with which to read and discuss the
tales. In addition, we will dip into critical conversations about the tales—including feminist,
psychoanalytic/psychological, and postcolonial methodological approaches to the texts.
Learning Outcomes
1. Read, “translate,” and interpret Middle English;
2. Practice and develop close reading skills;
3. Engage with and learn about historical and cultural context of Canterbury Tales;
a. Textual sources and backgrounds of the Canterbury Tales
b. Interpretations based on cultural and historical context
4. Get a sense of some of the key scholarly debates about the Canterbury Tales;
5. Synthesize and use background sources in interpretative work (written and in class
discussion);
6. Begin to think about critical methodologies in relation to Canterbury Tales.
Requirements and Policies
Attendance, Preparation and Participation:
Because this class is run largely as a seminar, it is especially important that you come to class
prepared and ready to engage in scintillating and intelligent conversation. I expect that you will
come to every class and be present in mind as well as body. That means being prepared. I
understand that life happens, and sometimes you must be absent. If this is the case and you know
you will be absent, please let me know (by phone message or e-mail). Also remember: if you
miss class YOU are responsible for finding out what you have missed; check with a classmate
about readings and assignments. (Please please please do not ask me if you have missed
anything!!!)
The structure of the course is largely dependent on your involvement and participation. I expect
that you will have done all the readings for the day assigned, and I expect you to come to class
prepared to discuss the readings. Even though Middle English can be a challenge, it is imperative
that you keep up with the reading! Because the class will be run largely as a seminar, each of you
will be responsible for starting and maintaining discussion at least once during the semester.
Your contribution grade will also be based upon your overall interaction with the discussion
questions posed by your fellow classmates as well as your general (and hopefully lively)
contribution to the class discussion. Be prepared! I will call on everyone (more than once) during
the course of the semester to read out loud in Middle English.
Allegheny policy requires class attendance. An absence can be excused with proof of cause:
either a College obligation (e.g., sports event away, a class field trip) or illness (requiring a note
from a doctor or the health center). Each student is permitted two unexcused absences;
unexcused absences beyond this number will result in a penalty of 2 percentage points off your
final grade. For example, if you earn a final grade of 85, but have three additional unexcused
absences, your final grade becomes a 79. Students enrolled for CREDIT/NO CREDIT will
receive credit if their course grade is a C-minus or better.
* Please note that in order to pass the class you must turn in ALL work and take both
exams!*
Papers, Exams, and Written Exercises, other Assignments
OED/MED close reading exercise
Midterm
Paper #1
Paper #2
Translation Quizzes
Reading Middle English
Final Exam
Class Presentation/Facilitation
Contribution/Participation
5%
15%
15%
15%
10%
5%
20%
5%
10%
***Please read the attached criteria for class participation and essay grading***
Papers
You will write two short papers for this class, one of which will focus on close reading and
incorporating a background source reading. The other paper will be a close reading in which you
incorporate a critical source and/or a background source reading.
Class Presentation
During the semester you will be asked to make one 10-minute presentation on some element of
the Canterbury Tales, either a pilgrim profile or profile of some other important figure or issue
related to the Canterbury Tales (genre, style, context). To be assigned.
Cell Phones and Other Electronic Devices: Unless instructed to use them or you have
documentation from the Learning Commons, cell phones, laptops, and other electronic devices
are not permitted during our class sessions. If a phone rings, text messages are sent, or if a student
is surfing the web, I have a clear policy: the first time the student will be warned publicly and/or
privately that this is disrespectful behavior; the second time, the student will bring us light snacks
to atone; a third time (and I know this will never happen), we will have lunch on you! Before you
come to class, turn off/completely silence your phone/put them away so as not to be tempted by
them. We all ask for your attention, engagement, participation, and respect. If you are in the
middle of an emergency and expect the phone to ring, please come see me before class and we
will decide if it is appropriate for you to be in the classroom that day. If you need to use your
laptop or other device for any reason, please check with me first so we have an understanding.
A note on plagiarism
Plagiarism will not be tolerated in this class. Plagiarism includes direct, un-cited use of any words
or ideas other than your own. Using the words of ideas of another person, including material from
the internet, without the proper citation is a crime. Possible penalties include failure of the
assignment, or failure of the course. All cases of plagiarism will be reported to Honor Committee.
Please read the Honor Code in the College Catalogue.
Specific Needs for Success in the Classroom
Students with disabilities who believe they may need accommodations in this class are
encouraged to contact Disability Services at (814) 332-2898. Disability Services is part of the
Learning Commons and is located in Pelletier Library. Please do this as soon as possible to
ensure that approved accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion.
Required Texts (Available at Bookstore):
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, 2nd edition. Robert Boenig and Andrew Taylor, eds.
Toronto: Broadview Press, 2013. (CT)
Robert P. Miller, ed. Chaucer: Sources and Backgrounds. New York: Oxford University Press,
1977. (S&B)
Optional Text
Norman Davis, et.al. ed. A Chaucer Glossary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979.
Some useful links for reading Chaucer aloud, historical backgrounds, etc.:
You may use study guides and/or plot summaries to help you with your reading of the Canterbury
Tales (most preferable would be looking at the interlinear translations available on Larry
Benson’s Chaucer website at Harvard below), but you MUST read the Middle English text to
understand class discussion of Chaucer’s multiple and subtle meanings.
Interlinear Translation of some of the Canterbury Tales (if you need a little support)
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/tr-index.htm
Teach Yourself Chaucer:
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/less-0.htm#Index
Middle English Teaching Resource Online (Chaucer)—Pronunciation and Grammar
http://metro.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k15189&tabgroupid=icb.tabgroup49960
Online glossary:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/gloss/
Medieval sourcebook:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html
Essays on Chaucer:
http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/chaucer.htm
Catholic Encyclopedia:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/index.html
Middle English Teaching Resource Online (Chaucer)
http://metro.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k15189&tabgroupid=icb.tabgroup49960
Calendar
Week 1
Tue
Jan 17
Thu
Jan 19
Introduction to the Class: Getting to Know You. About the Middle Ages. A Middle English
Primer.
Pronunciation and Grammar:
(General Prologue)
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/gp1-read.htm
METRO
http://metro.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k15189&pageid=icb.page176081
Read in Sources & Backgrounds, pp. 11-12, 41-43 (literary theory); “Introduction”:
Chaucer’s Life and Times pages 9-14; Chaucer’s English and Chaucer’s Versification, pp.
17-19 (Read over and pick out one interesting detail to share—maybe two in case someone
else has yours.); Fragment I: Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 1-42 (page 47).
Teach yourself to Read Chaucer (Lessons 2 & 3):
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/less-2.htm
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/less-3.htm
Poetry Slam Re-mix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U-ozgjZfjQ
Week 2
Tue Jan 24
Read General Prologue, lines 43-164; Sources & Backgrounds, pages 74-76 (poetry), 8691 (definition of poetry); 155-160 (knights), 210-13 (Nuns),
The Canterbury Tales
Thu Jan 26
Week 3
Tue Jan 31
Thu Feb 2
Week 4
Tue Feb 7
Thu Feb 9
Week 5
Tue Feb 14
Thu Feb 16
Week 6
Tue Feb 21
Thu Feb 23
Week 7
Tue Feb 28
Thu Mar 2
Teach yourself to read Chaucer (Lessons 5):
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/less-5.htm
http://metro.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k15189&pageid=icb.page176081
Read General Prologue, lines 165-378, 445-528, (pp. 49-53 and pp. 55-56); Sources &
Backgrounds, pp 210-213. (clergy), 215-17, 221-25 (monks), 226-7, 255-58 (friars)
Read General Prologue, lines 545-566, 669-858, pp. 56-57 and pp.58-61;
Sources & Backgrounds, pp. 231-234 (plowmen)
The Knight’s Tale, lines 859-1062, pp. 63-5
Translation Quiz
Teach yourself to read Chaucer (Lessons 8):
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/less-8.htm
Study Guide, Knight’s Tale (pts 1 & 2)
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng330/chaucerkt12.htm
Read The Knight's Tale 1062- remainder of Part 1, pp. 62-69;
Sources & Backgrounds, pp. 161-186 (Knights), pp. 192-205 (against chivalry),
pp. 322- 27 (Teseide)
Read The Knight’s Tale, Part 2, pp. 69-77; Sources & Backgrounds,
pp. 66-68 (effictio)
Read The Knight’s Tale, Part 3, pp 77-86; Sources &Backgrounds, pp. 289-90 (Boethius)
Study Guide, Knight’s Tale (pts 3 & 4)
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng330/chaucerkt12.htm
The Knight’s Tale, Part 4, pp. 87-95; Sources &Backgrounds, 328-43
(excerpts from Teseide), review pp. 162-65
Read The Miller’s Prologue and Tale, pp. 97-108; Sources & Backgrounds,
pp. 231-4 (on Plowmen)
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/seth/statute-labourers.asp
Study Guide, Miller’s Tale
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng211/miller.htm
Read The Reeve’s Prologue and Tale, pp. 109-116; The Cook’s Prologue and Tale,
pp. 117-118
Study Guide, Reeve’s Tale
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng330/chaucerreeves_tale.htm
Translation Quiz
Midterm
Read Fragment II: Man of Law’s Tale: Introduction, Prologue, and Part I, pp.
121-129
Study Guide, Man of Law’s Tale
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng330/chaucerman_of_laws_tale.htm
Week 8
Tue Mar 7
Thu Mar 9
Read Man of Law's Tale, Parts II and III Epilogue, and End-Link, pp. 129-143;
Sources & Background, 13-15 (Golden Legend)
Susan Schibanoff, “Worlds Apart: Orientalism, Antifeminism, and Heresy in Chaucer’s Man of
Law’s Tale,” Exemplaria 8.1 (1996): 59-96.
Read Fragment III: Wife of Bath’s Prologue, lines 1-430, pp. 147-154;
Sources & Backgrounds, pp. 365, 370-1, 373-6 (Sarum Missal), 391-96 (good women),
399-405 (anti-feminist tradition); 406 (wicked woman)
Study Guide, Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng211/Chaucer--CT,%20WoB.htm
Pitcher, John. “Figures of Desire in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale.” Chaucer's
Feminine Subjects: Figures of Desire in The Canterbury Tales,
Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
Week 9
Tue Mar 14
Thu Mar 16
Read The Wife’s Prologue, lines 430-856, pp.154-161; Sources & Backgrounds,
pp. 385-90 (marriage), 411-20, 428-436 (Jerome)
Carruthers, Mary. “The Wife of Bath and the Painting of Lions,”
PMLA 94 (1979): 209-222.
Read The Wife of Bath’s Tale, lines 857-1264, pp.163-168;
Holland, Norman N. “Meaning as Transformation: The Wife of Bath's Tale.” College
English, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Jan., 1967), pp. 279-290.
Tue Mar 21
Thu Mar 23
Week 10
Tue Mar 28
Thu Mar 30
Week 11
Tue Apr 4
Spring Break: No Class
Spring Break: No Class
Read Fragment IV: Clerk's Prologue and Tale, Parts 1-3, pp. 189-199;
Sources & Backgrounds, pp. 218-220
Study Guide, Clerk’s Tale:
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng330/chaucerclerk.htm
Elaine Tuttle Hansen, “The Powers of Silence: The Case of the Clerk’s
Griselda,” in Chaucer and the Fictions of Gender (University of California Press, 1992).
Read Clerk's Tale, Parts 4 & 5 and Lenvoy de Chaucer, pp.189-208;
Sources & Backgrounds, pp. 136-151.
Translation Quiz
Read The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale, lines 1213-1865, pp. 209-220
Study Guide, Merchant’s Tale: http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng330/chaucermerchant.htm
Thu Apr 6
Read The Merchant’s Tale, lines 1866-end, pp. 220-228
Week 12
Tue Apr 11
Read The Franklin’s Prologue and Tale, lines 673-1225 , pp. 237-245
Study Guide, Franklin’s Tale
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng211/Chaucer--CT,FrankT.html
Thu Apr 13
Week 13
Tue Apr 18
Thu Apr 20
Read The Franklin’s Tale, lines 1226-1625, pp. 238-252; “The Tale of the
Enchanted Horse” from Arabian Nights
Read Fragment VI: The Pardoner’s Introduction, Prologue and Tale,
lines 288-968, pp.267-291; Sources & Backgrounds, pp. 229-30,
484- 495; Figs. 16, 17; Appendix, Reading 8, pp. 483-483
Study Guide, Pardoner’s Tale
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng330/chaucerpardoner.htm
Read Fragment VII: The Prioress's Prologue and Tale, pp. 287-291;
extra secondary reading
Study Guide, Prioress’s Tale
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng330/chaucerprioress.htm
Delany, Sheila. “Chaucer’s Prioress, the Jews, and the Muslims,” in
Chaucer and the Jews: Sources, Contexts, Meanings, ed. Sheila Delany
(Routledge, 2002).
Translation Quiz
Week 14
Tue Apr 25
Thu Apr 27
Read The Nun’s Priest’s Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue, lines 3564-4255,
pp. 347-359; Sources & Backgrounds, pp. 41-52 (dream theory), 53, 55-57
(Augustine on figurative language), 66-73 (vices of verse).
Study Guide, The Nun’s Priest’s Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng330/chaucernuns_priest.htm
Last Day of Class
Final Exam Group K: Tuesday, May 9, 2pm
Criteria for grading class participation
While it is difficult to quantify the success of a student's contributions to class discussion (at our best we all
contribute differently), here are the general standards I will use to grade participation:
A range: Participation at this level is marked by its active nature, its consistency, and its quality. When A
participants read an assignment, they prepare to participate in a class discussion; they read the assignments
fully, carefully and critically enough to be ready not just to respond to my questions but also to initiate
discussion with comments and questions of their own. Such participants will also come to class ready to
make and argue assertions about the reading and to think out loud about a text's relation to its contexts; they
will attend to the comments of others in class, agree, elaborate or civilly disagree with them, bring our
attention to passages from the reading to make their point and at times connect such thinking with earlier
readings or previous class discussions. In short, students who by their engagement in class discussion
throughout the semester show themselves to be true students of the course material--persistently
conscientious and inquiring--will get an A for their efforts. They will also make the course a lot better.
(By the way, substituting quantity of participation for quality will not work.)
B range: Students who come to every class, have almost always done all the reading, and consistently
respond to the questions of others in a way that demonstrates their command of the reading will earn a B
participation grade. What separates this effort from an A one is not so much quantity (teachers are
remarkably good at detecting bs) as the level of preparation--one's reading and thinking--that has gone on
before one gets to class, especially the kind that enables students to initiate discussion. But you can't get a
B participation grade by just showing up, either, or by talking every once and a while.
C range: A C participant comes to almost all the classes, usually has done most of the reading most of the
time, but not with the energy necessary to demonstrate through participation their ongoing engagement
with the material. Such a discussant contributes infrequently, maybe one time every other class.
D range: Automatic pilot mode. You were physically there most of the time, spoke a few times maybe, but
that was it.
F: Not coming to class is the traditional route.
Essay-grading criteria:
An essay in the A range is founded on an original, logical and coherently organized set of ideas; it makes a
clearly discernible and persuasive argument (even if the reader disagrees with its argument); its thinking is,
at each turn, absolutely clearly articulated: words carry thought, they don't obscure it; its sentences use only
the words their ideas require, not any more; its paragraphs have distinct though related roles in the essay's
larger argument, each holding one thoroughly asserted idea (not two competing ideas, not one idea halfasserted); if appropriate it accurately and thoughtfully uses other sources; and its sentences are without the
grammatical, spelling or typographical mistakes that exacting proofreading would catch. (All of this takes
a lot of work. If it is all very nearly accomplished, the essay usually earns an A-.)
An essay in the B range: a very good paper, founded on solid, persuasive thinking, the writing of which is
clearly and effectively executed. What usually prevents an "A" is a lack of originality, thorough thinking
or careful proofreading. If two of these virtues are absent, the essay will usually earn a B-.
An essay in the C range: some conspicuous flaw usually earns an essay a C; its argument is really underdeveloped, it is disorganized, its diction is consistently inarticulate, it is in dire need of proofreading.
A D essay either contains more than one of the large problems cited in the "C" description or finds another
way to convince its reader that the author has not spent nearly enough time on the thinking or writing in the
essay.
An F essay misses on all criteria (originality, articulateness, persuasiveness, organization, the absence of
writing mistakes) or is handed in very late. (Most grades below C are earned this way.)