Spring 2003 T R 10:50-12:05 Maybank 220 |
Professor Myra Seaman Office: 74 George St. , Room 101 Hours: M T R 1:30-2:30; W 1:30-3:30;& by appt Phone: 953-5760 E-mail: seamanm@cofc.edu |
R 1-30 |
Memorization 1 |
Over the course of the semester, you will need to
memorize three passages from three separate Chaucer texts. The purpose of
this memorization exercise is not to torment you as you struggle with the
language and the act of memorizing; instead, it is to encourage you to pay
very close attention to the poetry itself -- the rhythm, the sound, the syntax,
the overall effect of it as an oral expression -- not just the written material
we find in the Riverside. You will choose three selections of at least 15 lines and come into my office, during my office hours (MTR 1:30-2:30 and R 1:30-3:30) or by appointment, to recite your chosen passage, before the due date for each memorization exercise. You may select any passage you find particularly attractive and inviting, or you can choose from the list below: Lines 1-16 of "The Former Age" Lines 1-15 of the Book of the Duchess Lines 1-18 of the General Prologue Lines 2837 - 2852 of the Knight's Tale Lines 3687-3707 of the Miller's Tale Lines 609-626 of the Wife of Bath's Prologue Lines 1195-1212 of the Clerk's Tale Lines 865-890 of the Franklin's Tale Lines 2859/4049- 2876/4066 of the Nun's Priest's Tale |
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W 2-19 |
Paper 1 |
Your first paper is due on Wednesday, February 19,
at noon in my office at 74 George St., Room 101. Your paper must be
at least six pages long, double-spaced, not counting the Works Cited page
(which you do need to include, of course). Follow MLA style conventions for
all text citations as well as for the heading and title. You can find thorough
examples and explanation for these conventions online. Following are a few topics for you to choose from. I insist that you begin with one of these topics, though as your paper develops you may bend them to suit your own interests as needed. You must turn in a one-page description of your topic via e-mail by noon on Monday, February 10. I will respond promptly with suggestions. Your paper must include one outside source – which might be introductory material from the Riverside, or an essay we’ve read for class, or information you locate online or in the library. As a result, your Works Cited page should include at least two entries. A successful paper will demonstrate the following:
Possible topics:
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R 3-13 |
Memorization 2 |
W 3-26 |
Annotated Bibliography (noon in
my office at 74 George St., Room 101) |
The Annotated Bibliography must contain at least
10 secondary sources (7 of these must be critical resources such as articles
or book chapters); only ONE of these sources can be an article assigned for
class discussion. Many such sources are on reserve at the library, although
many other possible sources exist. (Your second paper will include at least
5 of these sources, 3 of which must be critical articles.) You can find very
helpful examples of annotations, along with an explanation of the expectations
of an annotated bibliography, online. |
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R 4-13 |
Memorization 3 |
W 4-23 |
Paper 2 |
Topics due: Wednesday, April 2 (noon via e-mail) Drafts due (not required): Tuesday, April 8 (in class) Paper due: Wednesday, April 23 (noon in my office at 74 George St., Room 101) Your second and final paper should be 8-10 pages long, double-spaced, not counting the Works Cited page. Follow MLA style conventions for all text citations as well as for the heading and title. You can find thorough examples and explanation for these conventions online. Papers must be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. Papers will be graded for grammar, style, and structure as well as for content; I’m always happy to discuss your rough drafts, revisions, research, and any general or specific questions about your writing, though this happiness can be guaranteed only when you arrive at my office prepared for such a discussion. This paper will incorporate some of the information you discover while producing your Annotated Bibliography. The Annotated Bibliography must contain at least 10 secondary sources (7 of these must be critical resources such as articles or book chapters); only ONE of these sources can be an article assigned for class discussion. Your paper will include at least 5 of these sources, 3 of which must be critical articles. (Hence, your Works Cited page will have at least 6 entries, including the Riverside.) You will need to hand in photocopies of three of these articles or chapters with your paper. A successful paper will demonstrate the following:
1. Courtly Love and the Knight's and Miller’s Tales 2. Astrology in the Canterbury Tales 3. Antifeminism and the Nun's Priest's Tale and/or the Wife of Bath’s Prologue (or, more broadly, ‘The Wife of Bath's Prologue and/or the Nun’s Priest’s Tale and Medieval Attitudes about Women’) 4. Fidelity in Marriage in the Wife of Bath's Tale and/or the Franklin's Tale and/or the Clerk’s Tale 5. The Role of the Wife in the Wife of Bath's Tale or the Franklin's Tale or the Clerk's Tale or the Nun’s Priest’s Tale 6. Medieval Clergy (Regular and Secular) and Chaucer's Religious Pilgrims 7. The Second Nun's Tale and Saints' Lives 8. Chaucer and Medieval Manuscripts 9. Female Beauty in the Fourteenth Century and its influence on the Canterbury Tales 10. Fashion in the Fourteenth Century and its influence on the Canterbury Tales 11. The Clerk (the pilgrim) and/or the Miller's and Reeve's Tales' Clerks and the Medieval University 12. The Nun's Priest's Tale and Medieval Beast Fables 13. The Nun's Priest's Tale and Medieval Ideas About Dreams 14. Medieval Rhetoric and the Canterbury Tales 15. Fragments and the Arrangements of the Canterbury Tales 16. The Suitability of Tale to Teller in (one or more of) the Canterbury Tales (Choose your tales carefully.) 17. The Problem of Exchange in Chaucer [Read Shoaf and consider monetary exchanges, as well as exchanges of money for "spiritual" goods and the sale of the body.] 18. Chaucer's Use of the Classics [Consider Ovid and/or Virgil.] 19. Boccaccio, Chaucer and the "Framed Tale" 20. The Oppositions of Authority and Experience in Chaucer 21. The Problem of Reading in Chaucer: The Question of Text and Gloss [Dinshaw’s article is an excellent starting point.] 22. The Rhetoric of Love in Chaucer 23. Chaucer’s Sources and Analogues: Compare Chaucer’s version of a given tale with a source or analogue in order to see what kinds of changes or adaptations Chaucer made to the material he found. Here are a few possibilities:
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