E 416: Chaucer


Schedule
 

Mar

We meet TTh 9:30 am - 10:45 am in Herter Hall 111

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WEEK 9 The Wife!

    Tu 25 Mar. Wife of Bath I

    • Read The Wife of Bath's Prologue.
    • Read Winthrop Wetherbee, Chaucer, chapter 5.

     

    Th 27 Mar. Wife of Bath II

    • Read The Wife of Bath's Prologue.

First Reading Quiz! (If you skipped missed class on the Thursday before Spring Break, the syllabus update is here.)

PAPER TOPIC: Seamus Heaney wrote that great literature is comprehensive of contradictions, not productive of propaganda. Discuss one or more of the contradictions you see in one of the following:

  • Sir Thopas
  • The Nun's Priest's Tale
  • The Man of Law's Tale
  • The Monk's Tale
  • Fragment B2.

You may want to discuss contradictions inherent in the tale's genre, style. characters, or themes. Please suggest ways that you think Chaucer handles the contradiction: for example, does he present it without an implicit judgment or not? What effect does his presentation have on you as a reader? Please be as specific as possible about the poem's effects, and please stay as close to the poem as you can.
1500 words. Due 10 April.