ENGL 252: Great Books II: Medieval and Renaissance Literature
Dr. Debora B. Schwartz

Calendar, Winter, 2016
Week: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


In addition to the required textbooks for this class, some required readings are found in .HTML files on my website or have been placed on "electronic reserve" as .PDF files on PolyLearn.  To access online readings, click on the links provided and print out the files.  To access e-reserve readings, log in at MyCalpoly, go to "My Courses" and select "ENGL 252" from the classes you are taking.  Click on the PolyLearn link and go to the Electronic Reserves folder to download, read and/or print the file using Acrobat Reader. Please note that ALL required electronically accessed readings should be PRINTED OUT and BROUGHT WITH YOU TO CLASS.

Week 1    (January 5-7)
 

Topic and Readings
Day 1 Introduction to ENGL 252 and background lecture.  Topic: Translatio studii et imperii: passing the twin torches of cultural or literary authority and of political legitimacy from one civilization to another. [NOTE: instead of printing out this webpage, print the text-only version on E-reserve in PolyLearn under the title Translatio.pdf ]
Day 2 Topic:  Medieval Prologues and Translatio.  Readings are to be completed prior to our class meeting; don't forget to bring print-outs / textbooks with you to class!

Required background readings:

Please note that you are responsible for the information in required background readings (as well as information presented as "text info" on this course calendar) for all reading quizzes and exams.

Also recommended (but not required):

  • W. F. Bolton, "The Conditions of Literary Composition in Medieval England" (very helpful overview; on e-reserve in PolyLearn).  If you choose to read this supplemental background essay, click HERE for some advice on what to pay particular attention to and what to skim over.
Required Primary readings (prologues and epilogues by Marie de France and  Chrétien de Troyes, to be read in conjunction with the online reading "Medieval Attitudes toward Vernacular Literature"; the links below take you directly to relevant portions of this online reading):
  • Prologue and Epilogue to Marie de France's Fables (.PDF file, 8 pp., on e-reserve in PolyLearn under the title "Marie ProloguesEpilogue.pdf" )
  • Prologue to the Lais of Marie de France (Lais of Marie de France, pp. 28-9; if you have not yet purchased this textbook or prefer not to bring it with you to class, this Prologue is also included in "Marie ProloguesEpilogue.pdf"). 
  • Prologues (first 1-2 paragraphs) to Chrétien de Troyes's Erec and Enide (Arthurian Romances, p. 37) and Cligés (Arthurian Romances, p. 123). [NOTE: if you have not yet purchased this textbook or prefer not to bring it with you to class, these two assigned prologues can be accessed in a 1-page .PDF file on e-reserve in PolyLearn under the title "Chretien Prologues.pdf"]
NOTE: the Prologue and Epilogue to the Fables of Marie de France are found on pp. 3-6 of the eight-page .PDF file, and the Prologue to the Lais of Marie de France is found on p. 8 of the eight-page .PDF file.  You don't need to print out scanned pp. 1, 2 and 7 of the .PDF file, which I included in the file so you'd have access to the medieval manuscript illuminations on the book covers and the publication info for the books from which I scanned the texts.  Also note that you don't have to print the last page of the .PDF file, the Prologue to the Lais, if you bring the textbook of the "Lais of Marie de France" with you to class (in which the Prologue is found pp. 28-29). 

Text info:

  • A "Prologue" refers to an opening statement made by an author at the beginning of his or her narrative, before the beginning of the story itself).  Medieval authors typically used Prologues (and Epilogues, statements found at the end of a narrative, after the conclusion of the story itself) to talk about what they have written, to explain what they are trying to do, and to stake a claim to literary legitimacy.  Prologues and Epilogues may also be used by authors to dedicate a work to a potential "patron,"  a rich and powerful person whom they hope will reward them for the honor, either financiallly or by offering them protection or prestige.
  • Marie de France was active ca. 1160s-1190s at the Anglo-Norman court (i.e. the court of the French-speaking rulers of England, descendants of the Norman Duke William the Conquerer who became King of England after defeating the English king in the Battle of Hastings in 1066).  Marie de France spoke and wrote in French.  Her works are in rhyming verse (specifically, octosyllabic rhyming couplets). We are reading the Prologue and Epilogue to her collection of Fables and the Prologue to her collection of Lais (some of which we will be reading next week).
  • Text info: Chrétien de Troyes was active ca. 1170-1190. While Chrétien lived and worked in France rather than in Anglo-Norman England, his works, like Marie's, were enjoyed by court audiences on both sides of the English channel.  Also like Marie, his works were written in French octosyllabic rhyming couplets.  We are reading the Prologues to Chrétien's Arthurian romances Erec and Enide and Cligés (a romance which we will read in its entirety later this quarter). 

Week 2  (January 12 - 14)
 

Topic and Readings
Day 1 Required background readings:
  • The Medieval Tristan Tradition (online reading).  Please note that you are responsible for the information in online readings (as well as information presented as "text info" on this course calendar) on exams (and quizzes if you choose to take them).
 Required primary reading:
  • Béroul, The Romance of Tristan, pp. 39-148 (pp. 149-165 are assigned for our next class meeting).  Note that the passages printed in italics in your textbook are not actually from the existing fragrments of Béroul's poem; they were added by the translator to fill in the gaps in Beroul's fragmentary narrative. 
Also recommended (but not required):
  • The extant fragment's of Thomas's Romance of Tristan (.PDF file, 33 pp., on e-reserve in the Library resources section of PolyLearn). 
Text info:
  • Béroul wrote his romance, which is in French octo-syllabic rhyming couplets, some time in the second half of the 12th century; it appears to have influenced the work of Chrétien de Troyes (active ca. 1170-1190), so we assume it to predate those of Chrétien's works which show that influence.  It is preserved in only one manuscript, in a fragment of 4,485 lines.  Part of the so-called "common tradition."
  • Thomas wrote his romance, also in French octosyllabic rhyming couplets, ca. 1170-75 for the Anglo-Norman court; eight fragments totalling more than 3000 lines have been preserved in five different manuscripts. Part of the so-called "courtly tradition."
FIRST READING QUIZ.  It is recommended that everyone take the first reading quiz to see what quizzes will entail.  This quiz will NOT be counted in your quiz average if you select the quiz option for grading in this class.  You will be asked to choose the Quiz or No-Quiz option at our next class meeting.
Day 2 Required Background readings: Required primary readings: 
  • Béroul textbook, pp. 149-165.  Note that the episode of Tristan's Madness (pp. 151-64) is an single-episode poem by an unknown author, not part of Béroul's text.  Be sure to read the italicized passages, pp. 149-50 and 164-5, which provide a bridge between the end of Béroul's poem and the episode of Tristan's Madness, and a summary of the end of the Tristan stories.
  • Selections from the Lais of Marie de France:  "Chevrefoil" (Marie's Tristan poem, pp. 190-95); as well as her "Guigemar" (pp. 30-59); "Bisclavret" (pp. 92-104); "Lanval" (pp. 105-25); and "Yonec" (pp. 137-54). 
    • Text info:
  • There are two versions of the episode of Tristan's Madness (or "Folie Tristan"), both of which are short episodic French narrative poems by unknown authors, probably dating from the second half of the twelfth century, written in octo-syllabic rhyming couplets. One is preserved in a manuscript in Bern (Switzerland) and the other is in Oxford (England).  The text we are reading is the 572-line Bern fragment (often referred to as the "Folie Tristan de Berne"); this text is associated with the so-called "common tradition" of which Béroul's poem is also a part (presumably, the reason our textbook inserts this originally independent work into this translation of Béroul's romance).
  • Marie de France was active ca. 1160s-1190s at the Anglo-Norman court; in addition to her Fables (of which we read the Prologue and the Epilogue last week), Marie wrote a collection of twelve lais, short narrative poems in French octo-syllabic rhyming couplets.  A lai (often anglicized as "lay") usually includes some sort of supernatural event; its primary focus is a love relationship.  If a romance (like Béroul's Tristan) is the medieval equivalent of the modern novel, a lai is analogous to a modern short story (or perhaps a fairy tale).
    		•

    Week 3    (January 19 - 21)
     

    		Topic and Readings
    Day 1
    		 Required Background readings: 
  • Read carefully through the online study guide Chrétien de Troyes's Knight of the Cart (Lancelot) (which as usual you should print out and bring with you to class).
  • To better understand the literary techniques employed by Chrétien (e.g. his borrowing from prior literary works, including numerous Tristan elements), review the online reading "Medieval Attitudes toward Vernacular Literature."
    • Required Primary Reading: 
    Chrétien de Troyes, The Knight of the Cart (Arthurian Romances, 207-94).
    Text info:
    • Chrétien de Troyes was active ca. 1170-1190; The Knight of the Cart, his fourth extant romance, was probably written simultaneously with The Knight with the Lion, as the plots of the two works are intertwined.  Like all of Chrétien's romances, it is in French octosyllabic rhyming couplets. It is noteworthy for having introduced into literary tradition the love affair between King Arthur's wife, Queen Guenevere, and Lancelot, his best knight (no trace of which exists prior to Chrétien's romance).  Contrary to what has been argued by some critics, Chrétien's intention was not to glorify an adulterous love affair; instead, the Knight of the Cart offers a witty contestation of the sort of adulterous love affair which is arguably glorified in the Tristan romances, from which it borrows freely (including variations on the flour on the floor episode, the ambiguous oath, a passion inspired by a woman's golden hair, and an adulterous passion linking a King's wife with his best knight).
    Day 2
    		 First hour:  wrap-up discussion of the Knight of the Cart.

    Second hour:  NEW READING: Chrétien de Troyes's Cligés (Arthurian Romances, pp. 123-205).

    Required Background Reading: 

    Required Primary Reading: 
    • An anti-Tristan: Chrétien de Troyes's Cligés (Arthurian Romances, pp. 123-205).  Lecture will focus first on the "prequel" story of Cliges's parents Alexander and Soredamors (Arthurian Romances, pp. 123-154), but will likely refer also to later parts of the narrative, so please be sure to have completed the romance before our class meeting. 
    Text info: Chrétien de Troyes was active ca. 1170-1190; Cligés, his second extant romance, is in French octosyllabic rhyming couplets.  It offers Chrétien's clearest and most unambiguous rejection of "Tristan-love." To better understand the literary techniques employed by Chrétien (e.g. his use of numerous Tristan elements), review the online reading "Medieval Attitudes toward Vernacular Literature."

    Week 4    (January 26 - 28)
     

    		Topic and Readings
    Day 1
    		 First hour:  wrap-up discussion of Chrétien de Troyes's Cligés (Arthurian Romances, pp. 123-154); the medieval manuscript tradition of The Knight of the Cart (which you can explore via the Princeton University Charrette Project). 

    Second hour:  Introduction to Heldris of Cornwall, The Romance of Silence (NOTE:  The new readings listed below will be covered on both Midterm Exam 1 and on today's reading quiz!)

    Required Background readings:

    Required Primary Readings: 
    • Heldris of Cornwall, Prologue to The Romance of Silence, odd numbered pages 3-7 in your textbook only (unless of course you read Old French -- in which case you can check out the even-numbered pages as well!)
    • The "prequel" story of Silence's parents, Eufemie and Cador, odd numbered pages 7-79 in your textbook 
    Text info: The Romance of Silence is a French romance in octosyllabic rhyming couplets dating from the second half of the thirteenth century.   Nothing is known of the author other than the name "Heldris of Cornwall," which is found in the opening line and at the beginning of the epilogue (line 6684, p. 313).  Despite what is stated on the back cover of our textbook, it is a post-Arthurian romance rather than an Arthurian one.  It is preserved in a single manuscript at the University of Nottingham in England (see text intro, p. xxiii).
    Day 2
    		 Midterm Exam 1 (covers ALL MATERIAL ASSIGNED THROUGH TUESDAY 1/26, including the background information on and first section of The Romance of Silence (Prologue and "Prequel" story of Silence's parents, pp. 3-79).

    Week 5    (February 2 - 4)
     

    		Topic and Readings
    Day 1
    		 Heldris of Cornwall's The Romance of Silence; complete reading of whole text before class meeting.

    Carefully Review the Following Required Background Readings: 

    Required Primary Readings: 
    • Heldris of Cornwall, full text of The Romance of Silence, odd-numbered pages 3-315 in your textbook only (unless of course you read Old French -- in which case you can check out the even-numbered pages as well!)
    Text info: The Romance of Silence is a French romance in octosyllabic rhyming couplets dating from the second half of the thirteenth century.   Nothing is known of the author other than the name "Heldris of Cornwall," which is found in the opening line and at the beginning of the epilogue (line 6684, p. 313).  Despite what is stated on the back cover of our textbook, it is a post-Arthurian romance rather than an Arthurian one.  It is preserved in a single manuscript at the University of Nottingham in England (see text intro, p. xxiii).
    Day 2
    		 First hour:  As needed, complete discussion of The Romance of Silence

    Second hour:  Backgrounds to Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales; the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales.

    Required Background readings: 

  • the Introduction, pp. xiii-xvii in your textbook The Canterbury Tales, tr. Nevill Coghill (Penguin Classics).
  • the Norton Anthology introduction to Chaucer (biographical headnote), to the Canterbury Tales, to the General Prologue, and to the close of the Canterbury Tales (Parson's Prologue and Chaucer's Retraction) (.PDF file, 3 pp., on e-reserve in the Library resources section of PolyLearn).
  • online reading: Backgrounds to Chaucer study guide.
  • online reading: the General Prologue Study Guide.
  • online reading: The Medieval Estates.
  • contextual documents: Map of the Pilgrimage Route and Chart of the Medieval Humors (.PDF file, 2 pp., on e-reserve in the Library resources section of PolyLearn). The same map can be accessed through the Harvard Chaucer Pages website.
    • Required Primary readings:
    • Chaucer's ballad "Nobility"  (.PDF file, 1 p., on e-reserve in the Library resources section of PolyLearn).
    • Chaucer, the Parson's Prologue, summary of the Parson's Tale, and "Chaucer's Retraction" (pp. 485-9 in our Penguin Classics textbook of The Canterbury Tales, tr. Nevill Coghill). 
    • Chaucer: opening lines (up to portrait of Knight) of the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales (pp. 3-4 in our Penguin Classics textbook of The Canterbury Tales, tr. Nevill Coghill).
    REMEMBER:  YOU SHOULD NOT SUBSTITUTE ANOTHER EDITION/TRANSLATION for the Penguin Classics version ordered for this class!

    Text info:

    • Geoffrey Chaucer lived ca. 1343-1400.  All of our Chaucer readings were originally written in English rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter (ten-syllable lines with an alternating pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables). An "iamb" is a two-syllable unit in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one; five such two-syllable units form an iambic pentameter line with the stress pattern "da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM."
    • The Canterbury Tales (taken as a whole) is a "frame narrative" collection on which Chaucer worked during the last 14 years of his life (ca. 1386-1400).  A "frame narrative" is a work in which a group of story-tellers tell stories to each other. The individual stories that they tell are embedded within the narrative framework, which in the case of the Canterbury Tales is a pilgrimage to visit the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.
    • The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales sets up the narrative framework of the collection.  It also functions independently as an example of the medieval genre known as Estates Satire. (See the online reading The Medieval Estates.)  All 82 manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales begin with the General Prologue, followed by the Knight's Tale, the Miller's Tale, the Reeve's Tale and the Cook's Tale, which are are "glued together" by the dialogue between them.  Critics refer to this "chunk" of text as "Fragment 1."
    • The Parson's Tale is a "penitential treatise," a genre which teaches people how to repent for their sins so that they will be prepared for Judgment Day and can hope for salvation rather than damnation.  We are reading the full text of the Parson's Prologue, in which the Parson redefines the pilgrimage as a metaphorical journey to "celestial . . . Jerusalem" (i.e. salvation); the summary of the Parson's Tale; and Chaucer's "Retraction."  All 82 manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales end with this "chunk" of texts which critics refer to as "Fragment 10."

    Week 6   (February 9 - 11)
     

    		Topic and Readings
    Day 1
    		 Chaucer, the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. 

    Review Background Readings assigned for last class meeting.

    Required Primary Reading:

    • Complete text of the General Prologue (pp. 3-26 in our Penguin Classics textbook of The Canterbury Tales, tr. Nevill Coghill).
    • ADDITIONAL READING ASSIGNMENT:  When you are done reading the translation of the whole General Prologue in your textbook, go back and reread the opening lines in translation (pp. 3-4 in our textbook, stopping before the portrait of the Knight).  Then, read the text of the opening lines of the General Prologue in Chaucer's Middle English (.PDF file, 2 pp., on e-reserve in the Library resources section of PolyLearn).
    • Review the Parson's Prologue, the summary of the Parson's Tale, and "Chaucer's Retraction" (pp. 485-9 in our Penguin Classics textbook of The Canterbury Tales, tr. Nevill Coghill). 
    HINT:  in order to understand Chaucer's Middle English, try the following sure-fire steps:
  • Reread the modern translation of the passage several times to become fully familiar with its meaning (pp. 3-4, ending at "And at a Knight I therefore will begin").  Then:
  • PRETEND that you are drunk (to lose your inhibitions -- but please note that I do NOT advocate the actual consumption of alcoholic beverages as part of this homework assignment!);
  • Put on your best "Monty Python" (or fake British) accent; and 
  • Amuse your friends / roommates / Significant Others by reading the opening lines of the Middle English text ALOUD.  If you proceed in this manner, I think you will be surprised by how much of the Middle English you are able to understand!
    • REMEMBER:  YOU SHOULD NOT SUBSTITUTE ANOTHER EDITION/TRANSLATION for the Penguin Classics version ordered for this class!

    Text info:

    • Geoffrey Chaucer lived ca. 1343-1400.  All of our Chaucer readings were originally written in English rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter (ten-syllable lines with an alternating pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables). An "iamb" is a two-syllable unit in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one; five such two-syllable units form an iambic pentameter line with the stress pattern "da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM."
    • The Canterbury Tales (taken as a whole) is a "frame narrative" collection on which Chaucer worked during the last 14 years of his life (ca. 1386-1400).  A "frame narrative" is a work in which a group of story-tellers tell stories to each other. The individual stories that they tell are embedded within the narrative framework, which in the case of the Canterbury Tales is a pilgrimage to visit the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.
    • The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales sets up the narrative framework of the collection.  It also functions independently as an example of the medieval genre known as Estates Satire. (See the online reading The Medieval Estates.)  All 82 manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales begin with the General Prologue, followed by the Knight's Tale, the Miller's Tale, the Reeve's Tale and the Cook's Tale, which are are "glued together" by the dialogue between them.  Critics refer to this "chunk" of text as "Fragment 1."
    • The Parson's Tale is a "penitential treatise," a genre which teaches people how to repent for their sins so that they will be prepared for Judgment Day and can hope for salvation rather than damnation.  We are reading the full text of the Parson's Prologue, in which the Parson redefines the pilgrimage as a metaphorical journey to "celestial . . . Jerusalem" (i.e. salvation); the summary of the Parson's Tale; and Chaucer's "Retraction."  All 82 manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales end with this "chunk" of texts which critics refer to as "Fragment 10."
    Day 2

    As necessary, complete discussion of Chaucer's General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales.

    2nd Hour: New Reading: Chaucer's The Knight's Tale

    Required Background Readings: 

    Required Primary Readings:  NOTE:  If the lecture on the General Prologue extends into the second hour of class, we will catch up on The Knight's Tale next week, when we will consider contrasts between The Knight's Tale and The Miller's Tale.  For today's quiz, you are responsible for all readings assigned above.

    Text info: 

    • Geoffrey Chaucer lived ca. 1343-1400.  All of our Chaucer readings were originally written in English rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter (ten-syllable lines with an alternating pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables). An "iamb" is a two-syllable unit in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one; five such two-syllable units form an iambic pentameter line with the stress pattern "da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM."
    • The Knight's Tale is a romance, but note that it was written in English, not French.  By the late 14th-century, the term "romance" no longer means "a narrative in the French vernacular"; it refers to a particular genre, a story which typically has a long-ago-and-far-away setting, aristocratic characters, plots involving both love and warfare, and a happy ending.  Romances often draw on the conventions of courtly love, depicting lovers who suffer from lovesickness and express their feelings in flowery speeches.  A common plot line is the winning of a bride by a brave knight through chivalric prowess.  The Knight's Tale was originally written ca. 1384-5, before Chaucer began work on the Canterbury Tales collection. (In the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, written ca. 1385, he refers to this poem as Palamon and Arcite.)  Chaucer apparently considered this "translatio romance" to be an appropriate tale for his Knight and a fitting beginning to the Canterbury Tales as a whole when he chose to incorporate it into his frame narrative collection.
    • The primary source of the Knight's Tale is an Italian poem by Boccaccio called Il Teseida (the "Story of Theseus"); other sources include Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy (a 5th-century Latin philosophical work which Chaucer had previously translated into English); the Thebaid (a Latin work about Thebes written by Statius in the first century); and the Romance of Thebes (an anonymous mid-twelfth-century French "translatio" of the Thebaid written, like the Romance of Eneas, for the Anglo-Norman court of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine).

    Week 7    (February 16 - 18)


    		Topic and Readings
    Day 1
    		 NO CLASS (Monday classes meet)
    Day 2
    		 Chaucer, The Knight's Tale and The Miller's Tale.

    Required Background Readings: 

    • online study guides to Chaucer's The Knight's Tale (The Canterbury Tales, pp. 26-86) AND The Miller's Tale (The Canterbury Tales, pp. 86-106).
    • review the online reading "Courtly Love."
    • diagram of the Structure of the Knight's Tale (.PDF file, 2 pp., on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of PolyLearn). 
    Required Primary Readings:
    • Chaucer, The Knight's Tale and The Miller's Tale, in The Canterbury Tales, tr. Nevill Coghill (Penguin Classics), pp. 26-106. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE ANOTHER EDITION/TRANSLATION; you MUST use the Penguin Classics version ordered for this class!
    Text info:  Geoffrey Chaucer lived ca. 1343-1400.  All of our Chaucer readings were originally written in English rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter (ten-syllable lines with an alternating pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables). An "iamb" is a two-syllable unit in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one; five such two-syllable units form an iambic pentameter line with the stress pattern "da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM."
  • The Knight's Tale is a romance, but note that it was written in English, not French.  By the late 14th-century, the term "romance" no longer means "a narrative in the French vernacular"; it refers to a particular genre, a story which typically has a long-ago-and-far-away setting, aristocratic characters, plots involving both love and warfare, and a happy ending.  Romances often draw on the conventions of courtly love, depicting lovers who suffer from lovesickness and express their feelings in flowery speeches.  A common plot line is the winning of a bride by a brave knight through chivalric prowess.  The Knight's Tale was originally written ca. 1384-5, before Chaucer began work on the Canterbury Tales collection. (In the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, written ca. 1385, he refers to this poem as Palamon and Arcite.)  Chaucer apparently considered this "translatio romance" to be an appropriate tale for his Knight and a fitting beginning to the Canterbury Tales as a whole when he chose to incorporate it into his frame narrative collection.
  • The Miller's Tale is a fabliau, a French genre popular in the 13th century that is adapted into English by Chaucer.  These short humorous narratives are characterized by a setting in the "here and now " (not the "long ago and far away" of romance); ordinary sorts of characters (not the aristocrats of romance); earthiness of tone and subject matter; an emphasis on the body in all its physicality -- sex, defecation, farting, the appetites -- rather than the emotions or the spiritual; and coarse rather than flowery language. Fabliaux (plural form) tend to flout authorities of all sorts and are frequently subversive. Characters are often "tricksters" admired for their cleverness; a common theme is the gleeful adultery of a repressed wife and a clever cleric. (For fuller information, see the beginning of the  Miller's Tale study guide.)
    		•

    Week 8    (February 23 - 25)

    LOOKING AHEAD:  before class on Tuesday, March 1, you are required to have screened a video version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream AND to have posted a short written response to it in the PolyLearn Discussion Forum for the film you have selected.  You may choose any of the filmed versions listed on the class website (all of which are on Reserve for ENGL 252 in the Kennedy Library) except the 1982 Joseph Papp / Public Theater version that will be screened in class.  NOTE:  prior to screening the film, it is recommended that you read the online Synopsis of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
     

    		Topic and Readings
    Day 1
    		 As needed, wrap-up discussion of The Knight's Tale and The Miller's Tale.  New reading: The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale.  In The Canterbury Tales, tr. Nevill Coghill (Penguin Classics), pp. 258-92.

    DO NOT SUBSTITUTE ANOTHER EDITION/TRANSLATION; you MUST use the Penguin Classics version ordered for this class!

    Background:  review the online readings "Courtly Love" and "Translatio"

    Text info: Geoffrey Chaucer lived ca. 1343-1400.  All of our Chaucer readings were originally written in English rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter (ten-syllable lines with an alternating pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables). An "iamb" is a two-syllable unit in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one; five such two-syllable units form an iambic pentameter line with the stress pattern "da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM."

    • The Wife of Bath's Prologue is a literary confession or "apology," a first-person narrative in which a character explains his or her character and motivation. (Note that despite the modern connotations, these terms do not imply the speaker's sense of guilt or regret about the behavior described.)
    • The Wife of Bath's Tale is a miniature Arthurian romance, with a setting in the distant past, aristocratic characters, magical events, and a happy ending. The structure is circular, beginning and ending at Arthur's court, where a knight undertakes a quest and to which he returns when the quest is complete.
    Day 2
    		 Midterm Exam 2

    REMINDER:  before class on Tuesday, March 1, you are required to have screened a video version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream AND to have posted a short written response to it in the PolyLearn Discussion Forum for the film you have selected.  You may choose any of the filmed versions listed on the class website (all of which are on Reserve for ENGL 252 in the Kennedy Library) except the 1982 Joseph Papp / Public Theater version that will be screened in class.  NOTE:  prior to screening the film, it is recommended that you read the online Synopsis of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

    Week 9    (March 1 - 3)
     

    		Topic and Readings
    Day 1 REMINDER:  before today's class, you are required to have screened a video version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream AND to have posted a short written response to it in the PolyLearn Discussion Forum for the film you have selected.  You may choose any of the filmed versions listed on the class website (all of which are on Reserve for ENGL 252 in the Kennedy Library) except the 1982 Joseph Papp / Public Theater version that will be screened in class.  NOTE:  prior to screening the film, it is recommended that you read the online Synopsis of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

    First hour: Background Readings for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream:     Second hour:  Acts 1-2 of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.  Lecture will refer to both the assigned portions of the text and to selected scenes from several filmed versions of the play which will be screened in class (and are on Reserve for ENGL 252-02 in the Kennedy Library). 

    In addition to reading the assigned text, you are required to watch a filmed version of the play chosen from those listed on the class website, but please note that watching a performance (or reading the synopsis) ALONE -- without also READING THE TEXT -- will NOT be sufficient to score well on quizzes or on the final exam!

    Required Background Readings: 

    Required Viewing prior to class:  Required Primary Reading: In-Class Screening:  Film Clips from the opening of A Midsummer Night's Dream Text info: A Midsummer Night's Dream  was written ca. 1595-1596 by William Shakespeare (lived 1564-1616).   This English-language comedy was first published in 1600 in a "quarto" edition (Q1) which is believed to have been printed from Shakespeare's own text, and is the based text used for our edition. An additional "quarto" edition, Q2, appeared in 1619, and it was also printed in the "First Folio" (F1), a posthumous collection of 36 of Shakespeare's plays published in 1623 by John Heminges and Henry Condell (Shakespeare's close friends and actors in his theater company, the King's Men).
    Day 2 Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Acts 3-5.

    Lecture will refer to the text as well as selected scenes from several filmed versions of the play which will be screened in class (and are on Reserve for ENGL 252 / ENGL 339 in the Kennedy Library).

    In-Class video screening:  start of the 1982 Joseph Papp / Public Theater A Midsummer Night's Dream (also possibility of additional clips from other version of the play).

    • FILM INFO:Joseph Papp was the producer of this Public Theater version of the play from 1982, an offering of the New York Shakespeare Festival, filmed live on the outdoor stage in New York's Central Park.  Directed for the stage by James Lapine and for the filmed version by Emile Ardolino.  Not a commercial release.  Cast includes William Hurt as Oberon.  Full cast listed in the IMDb. One DVD copy (on two DVDs) is on Reserve for ENGL 252 in the Kennedy library under the call number 822.33 M584P2; not released commercially so unavailable from NetFlix or local video stores.
    Recommended Background Reading: 
    • Introduction to A Midsummer Night's Dream in our textbook, pp. xxiii-xxxvii.Continued discussion of MND. 

    Week 10  (March 8 - 10)
     

    		Topic and Readings
    Day 1 In-Class video screening:  more of the 1982 Joseph Papp / Public Theater A Midsummer Night's Dream (also possibility of additional clips from other version of the play).
    • FILM INFO:Joseph Papp was the producer of this Public Theater version of the play from 1982, an offering of the New York Shakespeare Festival, filmed live on the outdoor stage in New York's Central Park.  Directed for the stage by James Lapine and for the filmed version by Emile Ardolino.  Not a commercial release.  Cast includes William Hurt as Oberon.  Full cast listed in the IMDb. One DVD copy (on two DVDs) is on Reserve for ENGL 252 in the Kennedy library under the call number 822.33 M584P2; not released commercially so unavailable from NetFlix or local video stores.
    Day 2 As needed, in-Class video screening:  end of the 1982 Joseph Papp / Public Theater A Midsummer Night's Dream (also possibility of additional clips from other version of the play).
    • FILM INFO:Joseph Papp was the producer of this Public Theater version of the play from 1982, an offering of the New York Shakespeare Festival, filmed live on the outdoor stage in New York's Central Park.  Directed for the stage by James Lapine and for the filmed version by Emile Ardolino.  Not a commercial release.  Cast includes William Hurt as Oberon.  Full cast listed in the IMDb. One DVD copy (on two DVDs) is on Reserve for ENGL 252 in the Kennedy library under the call number 822.33 M584P2; not released commercially so unavailable from NetFlix or local video stores.
    Wrap-up discussion of A Midsummer Night's Dream (text and film excerpts); possibility of EC student performances by students electing the Quiz Option.

    Final Exam Thursday, March 17, from 1:10 - 4:00 PM.  You MUST take Final Exam at scheduled time!!  Please keep the exam date in mind as you plan your end-of-quarter travel.
     
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