English 5250 Studies in Middle English Literature
F. GRADY Fall 2014
461 LUCAS 450 Lucas Hall
fgrady@umsl.edu/516-5592 T 4:00-6:30
T 12:00-2:00, W 12:00-3:00, (#15098)
& by appointment
Seigneurial Poetics
Chaucer’s General Prologue to
the Canterbury Tales begins with a portrait of a “verray,
parfit, gentle Knight,” but the knights who populate
the Tales themselves include rapists, abusive husbands, homicidal lovers,
victims of Fortune, vainglorious cuckolds, fathers who kill their children, and
the ridiculous Sir Thopas, who swears “on ale and
breed” to kill his sworn enemy, the three-headed giant “Sir Elephant.”
Evidently stories about knights were not all jousts and banquets; chivalric
romance, for example, like its debased modern avatar the western, turns out to
be a genre in which masculinity is always in crisis.
In this course we will examine
the ways in which aristocratic and gentry readers were addressed by, and
knightly characters shaped by, a variety of discourses--amatory, penitential,
economic, military, and philosophical--that often operated at cross purposes.
We will also look closely at the formal dimensions of this seigneurial
literature, and the conflicts of genre, tone and rhetoric that arise when
romance meets fabliaux, sermon meets dialogue, and ritual celebration grapples
with philosophical reflection. Readings will likely include some of Chaucer’s Canterbury
Tales (probably Knight, Miller, Wife, and Monk) and some of his shorter
dream poetry, alliterative poetry (Winner and Waster, The Parlement of the Three Ages, Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight), lesser-known tail-rhyme romance (Octavian), portions
of Malory’s Morte D’Arthur,
and a collection of other materials aimed at explaining (or explaining away)
the knightly condition (Geoffrey de Charny’s Book
of Chivalry, Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy).
A good portion of the primary
reading will be in Middle English. No experience is necessary, but a
willingness to work at it for the first few weeks of the semester is essential.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Two short (5-6pp.) papers, 20% each; one longer
(12-15pp.) research essay, 40%; class participation, 20%. Class participation includes regular
attendance, consistent and thoughtful contribution to discussions, timely and
stimulating tweets, and one brief
in-class presentation. The presentation schedule can be found here.
Be advised that I take the issue of academic dishonesty
very seriously; plagiarism on papers will generally mean an instant F for the
assignment and likely disciplinary action by the university. Please refer to this
site for further
details, and please please please
ask me if you have any questions.
This syllabus and other valuable course information is
available at MyGateway
and on the course webpage, which can be reached through the link on my
homepage, http://www.umsl.edu/~gradyf/;
the course page will also provide links to supplementary materials (like
power-point presentations) and other
medieval studies sites on the web.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
·
Geoffroi de Charny, A Knight’s Own Book of Chivalry. Trans. Elspeth
Kennedy. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005. 0812219090/9780812219098
·
Geoffrey Chaucer,
The Canterbury Tales: Fifteen Tales and the
General Prologue. Ed. V.A. Kolve and Glending Olson.
Norton Critical Edition. Second Ed.
W.W.Norton & Co, 2005.
978-0393925870/978-0393925876
·
Geoffrey Chaucer,
Dream Visions and Other Poems. Ed. Kathryn L. Lynch. Norton Critical
Edition. W.W. Norton & Co, 2006.
978-0-393-92588-3
·
Sir Thomas
Malory, Le Morte
Darthur. Ed. Stephen H.A.Shepherd.
Norton Critical Edition. W.W. Norton & Co., 2003. 978-0-393-97464-5
·
Wynnere and Wastoure and The Parlement of the Thre Ages.Edited by Warren Ginsberg. TEAMS Middle English Texts Series. Medieval Institute Publications, 1992. 1-879288-26-5
·
Boethius. The Consolation of Philosophy. Trans.
Victor Watts. Rev. ed.
Penguin, 2000.
978-0140447804
·
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Ed. Marie Borroff and Laura Howes.
Norton Critical Edition. W.W. Norton
& Co., 2009. 978-0-393-93025-2
Tentative SYLLABUS (MyGateway- and web-accessible items marked with *):
T AUG 26 Introduction;
“Seigneurial Poetics” in the later middle ages; *Trevisa,
Dialogue Between the
Lord and the Clerk
T SEP 2 De Charny, A Knight’s Own Book of Chivalry; *Froissart, excerpts from the Chronicles; *Dyer, “Late Medieval Society”; Reading Middle English
T SEP 9 Chaucer, The Parliament of Fowls; *Strohm, “The Social and Literary Scene in England”
T SEP 16 Chaucer, Knight’s Tale; *Muscatine, “Form,
Texture and Meaning in Chaucer’s Knight’s
Tale”
T SEP 23 Chaucer, General Prologue; *Langland, Prologue to Piers Plowman; Wynnere and Wastoure; *Trigg, “The Rhetoric of Excess in Winner and Waster”
T SEP 30 Chaucer, Miller’s Prologue and Tale
Note: Class meets in 205 Lucas
***First Short
Essay Due, October 3***
T OCT 7 Chaucer, Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale ; Gower, “The Tale of Florent” (scroll to line 1407); *Leicester, “’Of a Fire in the Dark’…’
T OCT 14 Chaucer, Tale of Sir Thopas; *Octavian (text and introduction); Franklin’s Prologue and Tale
T OCT 21 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; *Heng, “Feminine Knots and the Other Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”
T OCT 28 Chaucer,
*Monk’s Prologue and Tale; Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy (books 1-2);
The Parlement
of the Three Ages; *Grady, “Seigneurial Poetics, or The Poacher, the Prikasour, the Hunt and Its Oeuvre” (optional)
T NOV4 Malory, Le Morte Darthur (“How Uther Pendragon Gate the Noble Conqueror Kyng Arthur,” pp. 3- 14, 35-40; “The Weddyng of King Arthur,” pp. 62-77; “A Noble Tale of Sir Launcelot Du Lake,” “The Tale of Sir Gareth of Orkeney,” pp. 151-228)
***Second Short Essay
Due, Friday Nov 7***
T NOV 11 Malory, Le Morte Darthur (“The Noble
Tale of the Sankgreal,” pp. 496-587)
T NOV 18 Malory, Le Morte Darthur (“The Tale of Sir Lancelot and Quene Gwenyvere,” “The Deth of Arthur,” pp. 588-698)
T NOV 25
NO CLASS—THANKSGIVING BREAK
T DEC 2 TBA
T DEC 9 Conference day
T DEC 16 Final Essays due
Students with disabilities who believe that they may need
accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact the Disability
Access Services Office (http://www.umsl.edu/services/disability/;516-6554) in
144 Millennium Student Center as soon as
possible to ensure that such accommodations are arranged in a timely fashion.