ENGL 321 A: Chaucer

The course will stress critical reading and group discussion of the most highly regarded works of Geoffrey Chaucer, starting out with a lively selection of Canterbury Tales and progressing to the more austere, though occasionally comedic, Troilus and Criseyde. We will also look at a number of Chaucer’s neglected compositions, including a wide selection of his so-called “minor” poems (both reflective and quirky) as well as his more widely celebrated “dream-vision” explorations. Class discussion will address the details of Geoffrey Chaucer’s biography, so far as it is known; historical and more broadly cultural backgrounds of his career; recent critical work on the poetry, and the Middle English language itself. There will be a midterm, a second examination in Week Nine, and one major paper.