ENGLISH 4260: CHAUCER WINTER 2005

GRADY FIRST ESSAY ASSIGNMENT

Essays (typed, double-spaced, 4-6 pages) are due by TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, on one of the topics below. Electronic submissions are acceptable. Be sure to support your thesis with frequent, accurate, and direct reference to the text, and be sure to cite correctly any other sources you use. Supply an original title, and do not, under any circumstances, confuse "it's" and "its", even once.

1. Design your own topic, of suitable specificity and sophistication, about something that interests you in The Parliament of Fowls and/or Troilus and Criseyde. A brief consultation with the instructor is required; talking with one another is highly recommended, too, and I’d like to receive a paragraph describing your topic by Monday, February 11.

2. (a) Both Troilus and Criseyde and the Parliament of Fowls depict lovers who can easily be identified as "courtly," in Troilus and the three eagles. How are these characters depicted in each poem? What are the characteristic traits of a courtly lover, according to what you have read so far? What clues in the text--provided by the narrator or the poet, or by the reactions of other characters--support your account of fin amour?

(b) Both Troilus and Criseyde and the Parliament of Fowls depict lovers who can easily be identified as "courtly," in Troilus and the three eagles. What is Chaucer's attitude (so far) toward this courtly ethos? Is it depicted as admirable? silly? elevating? impractical? Is it simply a screen for other kinds of relations, or is it a sincere expression of feeling? Is it all of the above? What clues in the text--provided by the narrator or the poet, or by the reactions of other characters--support your characterization of fin amour?

3. What about the courtly objects of knightly attention? Think about the role of the tercelet in the Parliament of Fowls and Criseyde's situation at the beginning of Troilus and Criseyde, and write an essay in which you discuss the way in which feminine desire gets represented--if it does--in Chaucer's work. What do women (and birds) want--if they want anything? And what effect does acknowledging (or not acknowledging) their desires have on things? Redefine the terms of this question in any way you need to in order to produce an essay about the status of the female characters in the poetry we've read so far.

4. The Parliament of Fowls has a pretty extensive soundtrack: the harmony of the spheres, the music in the garden, the sighs in the temple, the noises of the birds, etc. Write an essay about the theme of sound/noise/music in the Parliament.

5. One critical preoccupation concerning the Parliament of Fowls has traditionally been its thematic integrity, and whether it can be said to have any. What holds the Parliament of Fowls together thematically? Do its parts connect logically, or according to some other principle of organization—or not at all? Is there some aspect of structure or form or tone that unifies the poem, in the absence of any consistent thematic development? (Translation: What is the Parliament of Fowls really about?)

6. Consider the uses Chaucer makes of public spaces (e.g., temples, parliaments, parties) and private ones (e.g., bedrooms) in Troilus and Criseyde. What kinds of events happen in each setting? What consequences ensue? How do the same characters act in different settings, and how are we meant to interpret or assess their actions? Write an essay about the contrast between the public and the private in Troilus and Criseyde I-III.

7. Discuss the role of the narrator in the Parliament of Fowls and Troilus and Criseyde.