Course Syllabus: Age of Chaucer

Fall 2000


Professor Kenneth J. Tiller
Zehmer Hall 130
Office Hours: MWF 11-11:50, 2-3; TTH 11:00-12:15, and by appointment
Phone: 376-4587 / e-mail: k_tiller@uvawise.edu

Texts

Course Overview

Course Policies

Recitation
Oral Report
The Research Project

Course Schedule

Reserve List

Suggested Readings

Chaucer and Medieval Websites

Homepage

I. TEXTS

The Riverside Chaucer (third edition), Larry D. Benson, ed.
Selected secondary readings (on reserve in the library)
Recommended Text: Diana Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual.

II. Course Overview

This course will examine the principle works of Geoffrey Chaucer in the context of late medieval England. Specifically, we will examine the major themes that underscore his verse and prose, especially love and marriage, church reform, and the ongoing conflict between free will and fortune. Readings will include not only selections of Chaucer's most famous work, The Canterbury Tales, but also his earlier prose and poetry, including selected Balades, The Book of the Duchess, and The Parliament of Fowles. Through reading and discussion of these works, we will come to a fuller understanding of Chaucer and of the intellectual and aesthetic milieu in which he worked.
 
 

III. Course Policies and Procedures

Student grades will be based on one oral report (20%), one substantial research paper (40%), midterm and final exams (15% each), periodic quizzes and class participation (10%). Students are expected to attend class regularly and participate in class discussions.
 
 

Recitation

Oral reading of Chaucerian poetry is very important; the course will stress reading and pronounication of Chaucerian verse, especially during the early weeks. In addition, each student will be required to memorize and recite the first eighteen lines of the General Prologue during the week we study this poem.
 
 

Oral Report

Each student will lead a class discussion on one of the long poems. Preparation should focus on 1) Chaucer's poetic methodology, including rhyme scheme, use of specific words, puns and double entendre; and 2) important thematic and critical issues relevant to the text. In pursuit of the latter, it is important that you cover all library holdings--books and journal articles, especially Chaucer Review--pertaining to your selected text. You should also practice reading at least one significant passages aloud, to dramatize interpretations arrived at through your research. You should meet with the instructor at least twice: once when you have selected your text and again just prior to your presentation. This assignment should be connected with the research project described below. It is the oral communication of your research; the class presentation is a teaching situation, not the reading of a prepared paper. As such, you should see yourself as the leading partner with the instructor in handling that partner with the instructor in handling that particular class meeting.
 
 

The research project:

A twelve-to-fifteen page thesis paper (including bibliography) offering an original insight into a text or theme of Chaucer. Bibliographies and thesis statements are due the week after Fall break. You should follow the revised MLA format.

IV: COURSE SCHEDULE:

 Week 1:  Aug 23-25

 "An ABC"; Secondary reading: Fisher, "Chaucer and the Emergence of English," Fisher (1-36).
 

Week 2: Aug 28-Sep 1
 "The Complaint unto Pity"; "A Complaint to His Lady"; "The Complaint of Mars"; "The Complaint of Venus"; Secondary reading: Jean de Meun, Romance of the Rose (1-61).
 

Week 3:  Sep 4-8
 "To Rosemounde"; "Womanly Noblesse"; "Chaucers Wordes Unto      Adam, His Owne Scriveyn"; "The Former Age"; "Fortune"; "Truth"; "Gentiless"; "Lak of Stedfastnesse"; "The Complaint of Chaucer to his Purse"; Secondary reading: Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, Book II.
 

Week 4:  Sep 11-15
  The Book of the Duchess
 

Week 5:  Sep 18-22
 The Canterbury Tales , "General Prologue" Secondary Reading: Donaldson, "Chaucer the Pilgrim," Schoeck and Taylor I (1-13); David Benson,
 

Week 6:  Sep 25-29
 .The Knight's Tale; Secondary reading: Patterson, "The Knight's Tale and the Crisis of Chivalric Identity," Patterson (165-230)
 

Week 7:  Oct 2-6
 The Miller's Tale; The Reeve's Tale; The Cook's Tale; Secondary reading: Patterson, "The Miller's Tale and the Politics of Laughter," Patterson (244-79).
 

Week 8: Oct 9-13
 The Man of Law's Tale; midterm exam.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Week 9:  Oct 16-20
 Mid-semester break
 

Week 10:  Oct 23-27
 The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale; The Friar's and Summoner's Tales;  thesis statements due.
 

Week 11: Oct 30-Nov 3
 The Clerk's Tale; The Merchant's Tale; Kittredge, "Chaucer and the Idea of a Marriage Group."
 

Week 12:  Nov Nov 6-10
  The Franklin's Tale; The Physician's Tale.
 

Week 13:  Nov 13-17
 The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale  Secondary reading: Frese, "Reconstructing the Pardoner's Vicious Virtuosity" (Frese ).
 

Week 14:  Nov 20-22
 The Prioress' Tale.; "Chaucer's Tale of Sir Thopas"
 
 

Week 15: Nov 27-Dec 1
 The Nun's Priest's Tale; The Maunciple's Tale.
 

Week 16:  Dec 4-8
 The Canon's Yeoman's Tale.  Secondary reading: Muscatine, "The Canon's Yeoman's Tale," Schoeck and Taylor (259-67);.research projects due
 

Week 17: Dec 11-13
 TBA
 

Reserve List


Bryan, WF and Germaine Dempster, eds.  Sources and Analogues of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.       Chicago: Chicago UP, 1941.

 Fisher, John H.  The Importance of Chaucer.  Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1992.

 Patterson, Lee.  Chaucer and the Subject of History.  Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1991

 Robertson, DW.  Preface to Chaucer: Studies in Medieval Perspective.  Princeton: Princeton UP,      1963.

 Schoeck, Richard J and Jerome Taylor, eds.  Chaucer Criticism (in two volumes).  Notre Dame: U

of Notre Dame P, 1960, 1961.

 Strohm, Paul.  Social Chaucer.  Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1989.

 This list does not represent an exhaustive bibliography of the library's holdings on Chaucer.  In your own research, you should consult all holdings in the library, as well as articles in Chaucer Review and Speculum, relevant to your subject.
 

Suggested Further Readings


Allen, Mark.  The Essential Chaucer : An Annotated Bibliography of Major Modern Studies.
      London: Mansell, 1987.

 Ames, Ruth M.  God's Plenty: Chaucer's Christian Humanism.  Chicago: Loyola UP, 1989.

 Benson, C. David.  Chaucer's Drama of Style: Poetic Variety and Contrast in the Canterbury      Tales.  Chapel Hill : U of North Carolina Press, 1986.

 Bowden, Muriel.  A Reader's Guide to Geoffrey Chaucer.  London: Lowe and Brydone, 1965.

 Brewer, Derek. Chaucer and his World.  London: Eyre Methuen, 1978.---

 . Tradition and innovation in Chaucer.  London: Macmillan, 1982.
 

 Crane, Susan.  Gender and Romance in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.  Princeton: Princeton UP,      1994.

 Davenport, W.  A.  Chaucer: Complaint and Narrative.  Woodbridge: Brewer, 1988.

 David, Alfred.  The Strumpet Muse: Art and Morals in Chaucer's Poetry.  Bloomington: Indiana      UP, 1976.

 Dillon, Janette.  Geoffrey Chaucer.  New York: St.  Martin's, 1993.

 Dinshaw, Carolyn.  Chaucer's Sexual Poetics.  Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1989.

 Fichter, Jeorg, ed.  Chaucer's Frame Tales: The Physical and Metaphysical.  Cambridge: Brewer,      1987.

 Fisher, John H.  The Importance of Chaucer.  Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1992.

 Frantzen, Allen J.  Troilus and Criseyde: The Poem and the Frame.  New York : Twayne, 1993.

 French, Robert Dudley.  A Chaucer Handbook.  New york: Appleton-Crofts, 1927.

 Frese, Dolores Warwick.  An Ars Legendi for Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: Re-Constructive

Reading.  Gainseville: U of Florida P, 1991.

 Gardner, John.  The Poetry of Chaucer.  Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1977.

 Herman, John P.  And John J.  Burke Jr., eds.  Signs and Symbols in Chaucer's Poetry.       University: U of Alabama P, 1989.

 Howard, Donald R.  TH eIdea of the Canterbury Tales.  Berkeley: U of California P, 1976.

 Jefferson, Bernard L.  Chaucer and the Consolation of Philosophy of Boethius.  New York:      Gordian, 1968.

 Jeffrey, David Lyle, ed.  Chaucer and Scriptural Tradition.  Ottawa: U of Ottawa P, 1979.

 Kellog, Arthur.  Chaucer, Langland, Arthur: Essays in Middle English Literature.  New      Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1972.

 Kelly, Henry Ansgor.  Love and marriage in the Age of Chaucer.  Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1975.

 Kirby, T.  A.  Chaucer's Troilus: A Study in Courtly Love.  Gloucester MA: Peter Smith, 1958.

 Kittredge, George Lyman.  Chaucer and his Poetry.:  Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1915      1970.

 Lawton, David.  Chaucer's Narrators.  Woodbridge: Brewer, 1985.

 Lerer, Seth.  Chaucer and his Readers: Imagining the Author in Late Medieval England.       Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.

 Loomis, Roger Sherman.  A Mirror of Chaucer's World.  Princeton: Princeton UP, 1965.

 Malone, Kemp.  Chapters on Chaucer.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1951.

 McCall, John P.  Chaucer Among the gods.  University Park: Pennsylavania State UP, 1979.

 Mehl, Dieter.  Geoffrey Chaucer: An Introduction to his Poetry.  Cambridge: Cambridge UP,      1986.

 Miller, Robert.  Chaucer: Sources and Backgrounds.  New York: Oxford UP, 1977.

 Minnis, Alastair J.  Chaucer's Boece and the Medieval Tradition of Boethius.  Cambridge: D.S.      Brewer, 1993.

 Mitchell, Jerome and William Provost.  Chaucer the Love Poet.  Athens: U of Georgia P, 1973.

 Morris, Lynn King.  Chaucer Source and Analogue Criticism : A Cross-Referenced Guide.  New      York: Garland, 1985.

 Morse, Ruth and Barry Wideatt, eds.  Chaucer Traditions.  Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990.

 Muscatine, Charles.  Chaucer and the French Tradition: a Study in Style and Meaning.  Berkeley:      U of California P, 1957.

 Owen, Charles A.  The Manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales.  New York: D.S. Brewer, 1991.

 Patterson, Lee.  Chaucer and the Subject of History.  Madison: U of Wisconsin P,      1991.

 Pearsall, Derek.  The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer.  Oxford: Blackwell, 1992.

 Richmond, Velma Bourgeois.  Geoffrey Chaucer.  New York: Continuum, 1992.

 Robertson, DW.  Preface to Chaucer: Studies in Medieval Perspective.  Princeton: Princeton UP,      1963.

 Robinson, Ian.  Chaucer and the English Tradition.  Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1972.

 Rowland, Beryl, Blind Beasts: Chaucer's Animal World.  Kent State UP, 1971.

 Shoaf, R. A.  Dante, Chaucer, and the Currency of the Word: Money, Images, and Reference in      Late Medieval Poetry.  Norman, OK: Pilgrim, 1983.

 Stedman, John M.   Disembodied Laughter: Troilus and the Apotheosis Tradition.  Berkeley: U of      California P, 1972.

 Strohm, Paul.  Social Chaucer.  Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1989.

 Tatlock, John S. P. The Mind and Art of Chaucer. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 1950

 Vasta, Edward and Zacharias Thundy, eds.  Chaucerian Problems and Perspectives.  Notre Dame:      U of Notre Dame P, 1979.

 Wagenecht, Edward  Chaucer: Modern Essays in Criticism.  New York: Oxford UP, 1959.

 Wallace, David.  Chaucer and the Early Writings of Boccaccio.  Woodbridge: Brewer, 1985.

 Wimsatt, James I.  Chaucer and his French Contemporaries: Natural Music in the Fourteenth      Century.  Toronto : U of Toronto P, 1991.

Chaucer Links