ENGL 203: Core I: Medieval
Winter, 2009 Dr. Debora B. Schwartz 
Class meetings: TR 2-4, Rm. 10-126 http://www.calpoly.edu/~dschwart
Office: 47-35G, tel. 756-2636  Main English Office:  756-2597
Office Hours: M 10:30-11:30, TR 12:30-1:30, W 4:30-5:30, and by appt. e-mail: dschwart@calpoly.edu

Calendar, Winter, 2009
NOTE:  DO NOT PRINT OUT THIS CALENDAR OF ASSIGNMENTS!! It is intended to be consulted online.
(Print-out would be VERY long, and assignments are subject to change; also,
NA page numbers after week 6 are not yet updated for the 8th edition we are using in class)

Week  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
NOTE 1:  Click on links on the course calendar to obtain study guides for individual texts.  DO NOT ATTEMPT TO READ ASSIGNMENTS WITHOUT READING THE STUDY GUIDES FIRST!!  Study guides should be PRINTED OUT and read BEFORE you begin reading assignments; use them to guide your reading and keep them (along with printouts of any online readings and readings on e-reserve) in a binder which you should always bring with you to class.

NOTE 2: some required readings are accessed electronically.   Electronically accessed readings may be in one of the following forms:

Electronically accessed readings should be completed prior to the class meeting for which they are assigned.  PRINT THEM OUT, put them in your course binder (along with the study guides), and be sure to BRING THEM WITH YOU TO CLASS.

NOTE 3: This calendar is subject to change.  You are advised to consult it on-line and/or to print out only one day's or week's assignment at a time.  Please remember that the on-line calendar, not any print-out you make, is authoritative.  Check weekly to ensure you are completing the correct assignment, as instructions may change or be added.
 
Week 1 (January 6-8) Readings and Other Assignments
Day 1: Course Expectations;
Backgrounds I: Medieval Textuality 
and Manuscript Culture
Day 2: Backgrounds II: 
The Old English Period;
Anglo-Saxon heroic values
(The Dream of the Rood
and Beowulf)
  • Required Background Readings for our Old English unit: review online study guide for Day 1 in-class reading, Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, including transcription of Caedmon's Hymn (click on link for this STUDY GUIDE which should be PRINTED OUT and placed in your course binder). New Readings:  NA 1-7 (on the notion of the "Middle Ages" and on Anglo-Saxon literature); NA 15 ("Medieval English"); NA 19-22 (Old and Middle English Prosody; Texts/Context Timeline); NA Appendix A54 ("Saxons and Danes" only); NA 27 (Headnote to The Dream of the Rood); NA 29-34 (Headnote to Beowulf); online STUDY GUIDES for The Dream of the Rood and Beowulf  (which should be PRINTED OUT and brought with you to class).
  • Also recommended: W. F. Bolton, "The Conditions of Literary Composition in Medieval England" (.PDF file,  15 pp., on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of Blackboard).  Click HERE for a Study Guide directing you to the most important points in the Bolton reading. 
NOTE 1:  Ideally, background readings should be read prior to assigned primary readings (the medieval texts) -- but if you are short on time, read the headnote to the two medieval primary texts and the assigned portions of these medieval texts; you can catch up on the other assigned background readings over the week-end.
  • Required Primary Readings (medieval texts): The Dream of the Rood, NA 27-29 (click on link at left to access and PRINT OUT the Dream of the Rood Study Guide); Beowulf  1 (up to "The Dragon Wakes"), NA 29-80 (click on link to access and PRINT OUT the Beowulf Study Guide).
NOTE 2: BE SURE TO FILL OUT AND RETURN your First-Day Questionnaire and the schedule of your available time blocks (used to assign you to a Research Group for completion of Guided Research Exercises).  NOTE:  Failure to return the Schedule of Available Time may result in your having to complete all research assignments individually!!
Week 2  (January 13-15) Readings and Other Assignments
Day 1: 
Beowulf; conclusion;
the notion of Translatio
  • Review previously assigned background readings:  NA 1-7, 19-20 (on Old English prosody) and 29-32 (headnote to Beowulf).
  • Finish reading Beowulf (NA 32-99)
  • New Background Reading:  "Translatio studii et imperii" (on line reading).  Click link to access; be sure to bring print-out (or text-only version distributed as handout) with you to class. 
  • Reserve time to complete Wk. 2 Research Assignment
 Day 2: the Anglo-Norman
period; medieval attitudes toward 
vernacular literature		 Required Background Readings: 
  • Review "Translatio studii et imperii" (online reading).  BRING PRINT-OUT OR HANDOUT WITH YOU TO CLASS.
  • NA 7-10 (on Anglo-Norman Literature); NA 117-127 ("Legendary Histories of Britain" and headnotes to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Wace, Layamon and "The Myth of Arthur's Return"); NA 141-2 (headnote to Marie de France)
  • Medieval Attitudes Towards the Vernacular: Prologues and Dante's De Vulgari Eloquentia  (click link to access this online reading, which is also your study guide for the Primary Readings listed below; be sure to PRINT IT OUT AND BRING WITH YOU TO CLASS.)
Required Primary Readings:
  • Excerpts from Geoffrey of Monmouth, Wace and Layamon (NA 117-128).  BRING NORTON ANTHOLOGY OR PHOTOCOPY OF THESE PAGES WITH YOU TO CLASS.
  • Dante's De Vulgari Eloquentia ("Of Literature in the Vernacular"; .PDF file, 11 pp., on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of Blackboard). PRINT OUT AND BRING WITH YOU TO CLASS.  Click HERE to be taken to Dante section of "Medieval Attitudes Toward Vernacular Literature," the assigned online reading/study guide.
  • Marie de France, prologue and epilogue to the Fables and prologue to the Lais (.PDF file, 8 pp., on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of Blackboard). PRINT OUT AND BRING WITH YOU TO CLASS.  (Links take you to relevant portions of online reading/study guide.)
  • Prologues to Chrétien de Troyes's Erec and Enide and Cligés (in Arthurian Romances, the first two paragraphs on pp. 37 and 123).  BRING BOOK OR PHOTOCOPY OF THESE TWO PAGES WITH YOU TO CLASS.  (Links take you to the relevant portions of the online reading/study guide). 
Week 3 (January 20-22) Readings and Other Assignments
Day 1: as needed, complete 
discussion of wk. 2 readings. 
Anglo-Norman Literature I:
the Romance of Eneas
  • Required Background Readings: review NA 7-10 (Anglo-Norman Literature); read "Courtly Love" (on-line background reading; print out and add to course binder); online study guide: Virgil's Aeneid and The Romance of Eneas (print out and add to course binder).
  • Required Primary Readings (print out and bring with you to class): selections from Virgil's Aeneid and The Romance of Eneas (on e-reserve in the library resources section of Blackboard).
  • First Research Group Meeting this week; reserve time to complete Wk. 3 Research Assignment
Day 2: as needed, complete 
discussion of Romance of Eneas.
Anglo-Norman Literature II:
Marie de France.  Background 
lecture on the Tristan romances.
  • Required Background Readings: review NA 7-10 (Anglo-Norman Literature); review "Courtly Love" (on-line background reading); NEW:  NA 128-9 ("Celtic Contexts"); review  NA 141-2 (headnote to Marie de France); NEW: online study guide:  Marie de France, Lais (print out and add to course binder); NEW: online reading on the Tristan romances (print out and add to course binder)
  • Required Primary Readings: Marie de France, "Lanval" and "Chevrefoil" (NA 142-57); Marie de France, "Guigemar" (on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of Blackboard; PRINT OUT AND BRING WITH YOU TO CLASS).
  • LOOKING AHEAD: If you have not already done so, begin thinking about the Introductory Paragraph Exercise, due day 2 of week 5.
  • Don't forget the (optional) CLASS OPEN HOUSE at Dr. Schwartz's home on SATURDAY 1/24, 2-4 PM.  (Invitation with directions distributed in class.)
CLASS OPEN HOUSE at Dr. Schwartz's home on SATURDAY 1/24, 2-4 PM.
 
Week 4 (January 27-29) Readings and Other Assignments
Day 1: as needed, complete 
discussion of Marie de France. 
Arthurian Romance I: 
Chrétien de Troyes, 
The Knight of the Cart (Lancelot)
Day 2: complete discussion of 
The Knight of the Cart;  preparation 
for Arthurian Romance II: Sir Gawain 
and the Green Knight
Week 5 (February 3-5) Readings and Other Assignments
Day 1: Middle English literature; 
the Alliterative Revival; 
Arthurian Romance II: 
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Day 2: complete discussion of 
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight;
Arthurian Romance III: 
Malory's Morte Darthur;
backgrounds to Chaucer
Week 6 (February 10-12) Readings and Other Assignments
Day 1: MIDTERM EXAM
Day 2: Chaucer 1: 
The General Prologue
to the Canterbury Tales
  • Required background readings: review NA 10-13 ("The Fourteenth Century"), NA 213-18 (Chaucer and Canterbury Tales headnotes), NA 331-3 (headnote to William Langland).  New background readings:  NA 20-21 (on Chaucerian verse); NA 312-13 (on the Close of the Canterbury Tales).  Read the full online General Prologue study guide (there's a lot more there than the previously assigned sections on the medieval concept of the "Three Estates" and on medieval allegory!); if you have not already done so, PRINT IT OUT and place it in your course binder.  Also consult Map of the Pilgrimage Route/Chart of the Medieval Humors (.PDF file, 2 pp., on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of Blackboard; PRINT FILE OUT and bring to class).
  • Required Primary Readings: 
    • REVIEW "The Field of Folk" episode (only) from William Langland's Piers Plowman (follow link to appropriate portion of General Prologue study guide; text found NA 333-36);
    • NEW: first set of selections from Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun's Romance of the Rose (follow link to appropriate portion of General Prologue study guide; readings are on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of Blackboard; PRINT THEM OUT, place in your course binder, and BRING WITH YOU TO CLASS! )
    • NEW: The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. FIRST, read the FULL TEXT in your modern English translation (CT 3-26); THEN, read through the following Middle English passages as found in your Norton Anthology, pp. 218-38: the opening (lines 1-42) and the portraits of the Knight, Squire, Prioress, Monk, Friar, Clerk, Parson, Plowman and Pardoner, lines 43-100, 118-271, 287-310, 479-543, 671-716.
    • NEW: After reading the editor's note NA 312-13 on the Close of the Canterbury Tales, read through the Parson's Introduction, NA 313-15, and Chaucer's "Retraction", NA 315; modern translations of these texts are found at the end of your CT volume (pp. 485-9?).
  • NOTE:  for help with Chaucer's Middle English, you may wish to consult the linked website and/or NA 15-19. 
     (15-minute conferences to go over intro. paragraphs to be scheduled next week; sign-ups in class.)

Week 7    (February 17-19)
Topic Reading
Day 1
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales II: 
The General Prologue, conclusion; 

New Reading:
The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

 AS NEEDED: Continued discussion of the General Prologue and the close of the Canterbury Tales, as well as of the contextual readings (selections from the Romance of the Rose and from Piers Plowman) assigned for the last class.

New Reading: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales II: The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale.  Print out the Wife of Bath study guide and use it to help you understand the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale and the various background and contextual readings listed below.  (Note that most links below take you to specific sections of the Wife of Bath study guide; you do not need to print them separately.)

Required Background  Readings:

  • Review NA 10-13 ("The Fourteenth Century")
  • Review: NA 20-21 (on Chaucerian verse)
  • Review NA 213-17 (Chaucer and Canterbury Tales headnotes, assigned last week) 
  • Review the information on the "feminine" estates in the section of the GP study guide dealing with the "Three Estates" (link leads to specific sections of the General Prologue study guide, which you should already have PRINTED OUT and placed in your course binder). 
  • Review Translatio for implications of Wife of Bath's choice of an Arthurian tale. 
  • NEW: headnote to the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, NA 256-7. 
  • For help with Chaucer's Middle English in assigned NA passages, you may consult the linked websites and/or NA 15-19 (on Middle English) and 20-1 (on Middle English prosody); you may also consult Chaucer Reading and Pronunciation Tips (.PDF file, 2 pp.,  on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of Blackboard).
Required Literary Context Primary Readings: 
  • Read the portion of the Wife of Bath study guide which reviews the the Chaucerian notions of trouthe and gentillesse (touched on as part of our discussion of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the mini-lecture on Chaucer's biography) and which introduces the notion of maistrye.   Then, review Chaucer's poems "Truth" (NA 317) and "Gentilesse" (click link for online text; for translations of both poems, see Portable Chaucer, pp. 602-4; these translations are also on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of Blackboard).
  • NEW: Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun's Romance of the Rose, Selections 2 (link leads to appropriate portion of the Wife of Bath study guide; the selections are on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of Blackboard; be sure to PRINT THEM OUT and BRING THEM WITH YOU TO CLASS).
NEW Required Primary Reading:
  • Chaucer, The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale: read the FULL TEXT in your modern English translation (Penguin Classics The Canterbury Tales, pp. 258-92; or The Portable Chaucer, pp. 207-40).
  • You must ALSO read through the following Middle English passages as found in the Norton Anthology (pp. 256-84): WBP lines 1-29, 121-140, 486-96, 672-729, 794-834; also WBT lines 863-918, 989-1182, 1225-1270. 
ALSO RECOMMENDED  (OPTIONAL READING):  Selections from The Book of Margery Kempe (NA 13-14, 383-97)  -- an interesting real-life counterpart to Chaucer's Alison of Bath (and to Christine de Pizan!)

LOOKING AHEAD: If you have not already begun to work seriously on your Composite Bibliography, get on it!!  Remember that this assignment counts for 15% of your final course grade.  If you try to throw it together at the last minute, you are likely to receive no credit for this assignment (the penalties for errors and omissions add up fast!)

Also, keep in mind that your expanded 3-4 page essay (worth 25% of your final course grade) will be due, along with the original, marked up introductory paragraph, on THURSDAY OF WEEK 9.
Day 2 The Wife of Bath's Legacy:  Women Voiced (Christine de Pizan); 

Devotional Literature I

 AS NEEDED: Continued discussion of the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale (as well as any contextual readings assigned last week but not yet fully discussed e.g. the second set of selections from the Romance of the Rose).

NEW REQUIRED READINGS:  Print out the Christine de Pizan  study guide and use it to help you understand the REQUIRED selections from Christine de Pizan's works (and any of the recommended selections you choose to dip into), as well as the background and contextual readings listed below (a third set of selections from the Romance of the Rose).   Note that links below take you to specific sections of the Christine de Pizan study guide (you do not need to print them separately). 

REQUIRED Contexts: Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun's Romance of the Rose, Selections 3 (readings on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of Blackboard which you should PRINT OUT AND BRING WITH YOU TO CLASS).

REQUIRED Background: Introduction, The Selected Writings of Christine de Pizan (xi-xvi; this introduction is included in the first required e-reserve reading in the Library Resources section of Blackboard)). 

REQUIRED Christine de Pizan selections (all Christine readings are from The Selected Writings of Christine de Pizan, ed./tr. Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski and Kevin Brownlee): 

Also recommended (but NOT required, although I will mention and/or read from them in lecture):
  • Autobiographical writings: excerpts from The Book of Fortune's Transformation ( 88-95,  99-107) and from Christine's Vision (173-201). 
LOOKING AHEAD: If you have not already begun to work seriously on your Composite Bibliography, get on it!!  Remember that this assignment counts for 15% of your final course grade.  If you try to throw it together at the last minute, you are likely to receive no credit for this assignment (the penalties for errors and omissions add up fast!)

Also, keep in mind that your expanded 3-4 page essay (worth 25% of your final course grade) will be due, along with the original, marked up introductory paragraph, on THURSDAY OF WEEK 9.

Week 8    (February 24-26)
 
Topic Reading
Day 1 Devotional Literature I: Medieval Lyrics Required Background Readings:  Required Primary Readings: 
  • the six poems found NA 368-70;
  • Marian lyrics on the page of online readings (click on link to access; be sure to PRINT THEM OUT and bring them with you to class!);
  • Opening of the biblical (Old Testament) Song of Songs (link is to appropriate section of study guide; the text is on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of Blackboard -- as usual, be sure to PRINT IT OUT and bring it with you to class); 
  • several of St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Sermons on the Song of Songs (link is to appropriate section of study guide; the text is on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of Blackboard -- be sure to PRINT IT OUT and bring it with you to class). 
REMEMBER: the Getty Database Assignment MUST BE SUBMITTED IN HARD COPY FOR CREDIT AT THIS CLASS MEETING.   Follow link for instructions, which will require that you search for images on an assigned topic and submit a written report of your findings, including a printout of ONE image.

LOOKING AHEAD: Continue work on your Composite Bibliography, and don't forget that your expanded 3-4 page essay will be due, along with the original, marked up introductory paragraph, on THURSDAY OF WEEK 9.
Day 2
Devotional Literature II:
Mystery Plays
 As needed: continued discussion of texts assigned for last clss meeting (medieval lyrics; Bernard of Clairvaux)

Required Background Readings: 

  • Review NA 13-14 (on the 15th Century);
  • NEW: NA 398 (headnote to the York Play of the Crucifixion -- but NOT the text)
  • NEW:  NA 406-8 (on mystery plays; headnote to The Second Shepherd's Play). 
Primary Reading: LOOKING AHEAD: Continue work on your Composite Bibliography, and don't forget that your expanded 3-4 page essay will be due, along with the original, marked up introductory paragraph, on THURSDAY OF WEEK 9.

Week 9    (March 3-5)
 
Topic Reading 
Day 1
Dante as Vernacular Poet
(the Vita Nuova )
1) Dante's Vita Nuova

Required Background Readings: 

  • The Portable Dante, Introduction (ix-xxxvi);
  • online Dante study guide Backgrounds to Dante section as well as section on the Vita Nuova (PRINT OUT the Dante Study Guide and place it in your course binder!)
Primary Reading:
    Selections from the Vita Nuova (The Portable Dante,  pp. 589-649; use Vita Nuova section of the DANTE STUDY GUIDE to zero in on important aspects of the primary text; you can skim the rest!) 
2) Dante's Commedia: 

Required Background Readings:

  • read the information on the Epic genre and on "epic conventions" in your copy of Abrams's Glossary of Literary Terms (a required book for the Core sequence that was available for purchase with the other course materials for this class);
  • Print out and bring to class Canto 1 of Dante's Inferno in the original Italian (on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of Blackboard); refer to it to understand what is meant by "terza rima" (see The Portable Dante, Introduction, xxxi);
  • read online Dante study guide section on the Commediaas a whole (link leads to appropriate section of study guide, which should already have been PRINTED OUT and placed in your course binder);
  • read online Dante study guide section on the Inferno (link leads to appropriate section of study guide, which should already have been PRINTED OUT and placed in your course binder).
Primary Reading:
  • Inferno, cantos 1-20 (The Portable Dante,  pp. 3-111; use the day 1 of Inferno section of your DANTE STUDY GUIDE to zero in on important aspects of the primary text!) 
Day 2 Dante, cont.: the Divine Comedy (Inferno)  As needed: continued discussion of readings assigned for last class.

New Reading: full text of Inferno, cantos 1-34 (The Portable Dante, pp. 3-191; use the day 2 of Inferno section of your DANTE STUDY GUIDE to zero in on important aspects of cantos 21-34 in the primary text!).

NOTE:  your Expanded Paper is normally due, along with your original, marked up introductory paragraph, to me in class on Thursday 3/5.  But, with advance notice only, I will grant an extension upon request until no later than 6 PM on SUNDAY 3/9.  If you request an extension, you will submit your expanded paper via email attachment as a Word file with the file name "[your last name]203paper.doc").  Any essay that is not submitted by Sunday 3/9 will incur a late penalty that will increase for every day it is late. 

Persons requesting the Sunday email extension must do so in advance, and must also submit their original, marked up introductory paragraph (which I will return to you with my comments during our paper conferences). I will not read your expanded essay without it.   Failure to submit your original, marked up Intro Paragraph will result in  a grade of F on the expanded paper (worth 25% of your course grade).

Finally, please note that I will grant a week-end email extension ONLY if you will SWEAR ON YOUR NORTON ANTHOLOGY THAT YOU WILL HAVE READ THE ASSIGNED DANTE READINGS for our final class two meetings! 

Week 10    (March 10-12)
 
Topic Reading
Day 1
Dante, cont.: the Divine Comedy (Purgatorio) 
 As needed: continued discussion of the Inferno.

New Reading: From Purgatorio:  cantos 1-2, 6, 8, 17, 21-22, 27-33 (The Portable Dante, pp. 195-206, 311-316, 346-87; use the Purgatorio section of your DANTE STUDY GUIDE to zero in on important aspects of the primary text!)

REMEMBER:  Today is the last day to submit group research reports to the class research archive, as well as any hard copy print-outs required along with those reports.

Looking ahead:  individual Composite Bibliography due at our next (and final) class meeting.
Day 2
Dante, cont.: the Divine Comedy (Paradiso) 
 As needed: continued discussion of the Purgatorio.

New Reading: Paradiso: cantos 1-3, 10, 15-17, 22-23, 25-28, 30-33 (The Portable Dante, pp. 391-408, 446-52, 476-96, 519-31, 536-57; 563-85; use the Paradiso section of your DANTE STUDY GUIDE to zero in on important aspects of the primary text!)

No longer required, but HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: 

Individual Composite Bibliography due.   Follow link for guidelines, and also see important instructions/reminders on Calendar of Research Assignments!

There will be a three-hour, closed-book Final Exam on Tuesday, March 17, from 4:10 - 7 PM.

Contents of this and linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 1999-2009