ENGL 330 / ENGL 512: Medieval Literature
Dr. Debora B. Schwartz
English Department, California Polytechnic State UniversityChaucer II: The Canterbury Tales
[page numbers in NA refer to 8th ed., 2006]General: Background Information
Review class notes from our unit on Troilus and Cressida. Reread the general background information NA 10-13 (on the Fourteenth Century), 15-19 (for help in navigating Chaucer's Middle English in assigned NA passages), 20-21 (on characteristics of Chaucerian verse) and 213-18 (headnotes to Chaucer, the Canterbury Tales and the General Prologue). Also consult Tips for Pronouncing Chaucer's English and the Map of the Pilgrimage Route/Chart of the Four Humors (on e-reserve; see also linked websites). If necessary, consult NA A27-A31 for relevant literary terminology. Know the significance of the following names/terms: dream vision, the Romance of the Rose, Boethius (esp. his Consolation of Philosophy), Boccaccio (esp. his Decameron), the Tabard, Saint Thomas à Becket, Canterbury Cathedral. Know dates for Chaucer's birth and death (NA 213) and for the composition of the Canterbury Tales collection as a whole (NA 216-7).What was Chaucer's social class? Was his life experience limited by his birth? How did he come by his familiarity with other aspects of fourteenth-century English society? What factors contributed to his formal and informal education? What languages did he read and how was he likely to have learned them (NA 214-5)? Know meaning of the term "frame narrative" and what Italian work (author and title) was a model of this genre (if not a source) for Chaucer (see NA 215-7). Know what is meant by the "fragments" of the Canterbury Tales (NA 217). How many Canterbury Tales were originally planned? How many of the projected tales were actually written? What sort of verse is used for the Canterbury Tales? What was its metrical form? (know the correct term and be able to define it -- number of syllables and stress pattern -- see NA 20, and if necessary the appendix, NA A27-A29 on rhythm and meter).
You are also responsible for the editor's note, NA 312-13, on the close of the Canterbury Tales;. Know how the theme of pilgrimage is used at the end of the work; consider how it has changed from its use at the beginning. What is the symbolic value of that change? Know what time of day is evoked at the end of the tales and the symbolism associated with that time of day. Know what is meant by Chaucer's "Retraction." Be sure to read Introduction to the Parson's Tale and the Retraction both in translation (CH 339-342) and in Middle English (NA 313-15). In the NA excerpt from the Introduction to the Parson's Tale, pay particular attention to the following lines: 1-9, 30-51.
Read assignments FIRST in modern English translation (assigned pages in CH); THEN read assigned Middle English passages in the Norton Anthology (indicated by LINE NUMBER before the study questions for each individual reading). YOU WILL NEED TO CONSULT FOOTNOTES AND MARGINAL GLOSSES. Remember: it can be helpful to read Middle English aloud or while listening to the Chaucer Studio Recordings. Be sure to allow yourself ADEQUATE TIME to read the middle English texts! All quiz and exam passages, as well as the oral presentations, will be taken from the Middle English passages indicated by line number prior to study questions for each reading.
In ALL of your readings, don't forget to look for and note any mentions of the key terms/themes GENTILESSE (adj. GENTIL) and TROUTHE (adj. TREWE). Review Chaucer's poems "Gentilesse" and "Truth", NA 317 and online reading; translations at CH 602-4. Keep in mind differences between the values and world view of the Old English and Middle English periods; note also differences in tone, subject and purpose between the secular literature of Chaucer and the religious works of the Middle English period which we have read thus far.
ENGL 330 ONLY: click here for information on the ORAL PRESENTATION
Contents of this and linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 1999-2007
Click here for specific Study Questions for the General Prologue
Click here for specific Study Questions for the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale
Click here for specific Study Questions for the Franklin's Tale
Click here for specific Study Questions for the Miller's Tale
Click here for specific Study Questions for the Nun's Priest's Tale
Click here for specific Study Questions for the Pardoner's Prologue and Tale
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