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


ENGLISH 304: CHAUCER


SYLLABUS  |  SCHEDULE  |   ASSIGNMENTS  | LINKS  |  HOME


Course Description:

This course will introduce students to selected works by Geoffrey Chaucer in his own language, Middle English, and will seek to sharpen the student’s reading, interpretive, and expressive skills.  In our oral and written engagement with the texts, the course will emphasize diverse critical approaches and will introduce students to some of the richness of the historical context of Chaucer’s poetry, including the visual arts and the manuscript tradition.  During the semester our readings will include some short lyrics, dream visions, and selected Canterbury Tales, as well as some late-antiquity philosophy and modern literary criticism. 

Required Texts:
The Riverside Chaucer. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Houghton Mifflin, 1987.

Boethius. Consolation of Philosophy. Trans. Joel C. Relihan. Hackett Publishing Co., 2001.

Helen Phillips. An Introduction to the Canterbury Tales: Reading, Fiction, Context. NY: St. Martin’s, 2000.

A number of articles are on electronic reserve at the library (some are also on hard copy reserve); these are referred to in the schedule by the author’s last name and the article or chapter title. You will need the password to access the e-reserve material.

Student Responsibilities:

Attendance is vital to your success in the class: 3 absences are permitted, no questions asked; the fourth absence lowers your final grade by one letter, a fifth absence by two letter grades. If you miss a class, you are still responsible for that day’s work, including turning in any work due, understanding homework assignments, and getting the gist of class discussion. You should exchange phone numbers or e-mail addresses with at least one other student in the class, on the first or second day of class, to contact in case of absence. Tardiness distracts me significantly, which thus detracts from the classroom experiences of all students, so make sure you are in class, ready to begin discussion, at 10:50. Translation and reading quizzes will be given at the start of class. Make-up quizzes are not allowed; the lowest grade for each type of quiz will be dropped.

Read the assigned material before class and come to class prepared to discuss the reading: this means you should not only have read it casually but should have considered your response in some detail.  Our class will consist of both lectures and group discussion, so the success of the class relies upon your preparation and participation. You should come to each class meeting having written down on a 3x5 index card at least one question or comment in response to the reading; you will turn these in at the beginning of class. These questions will serve as the record of your attendance.

For each assigned text, you should read the introductory material preceding the poem.  The "Explanatory Notes" (beginning on p. 795) for each Chaucer text we will read are at the back of your text.  Reading these notes alongside each assigned poem or tale may at first prove distracting, but once the system is familiar the notes will in many cases provide you information vital to a thorough understanding of the text.  I will assume that you have read these notes and the introductions, and they may well inspire in some cases the question you will turn in at the beginning of class.

Since the deadlines for written work are so clearly spelled out in the syllabus, late papers will not be accepted except in very extraordinary circumstances. In order to receive course credit, you must complete all of the written assignments. All students, needless to say, must follow the College of Charleston’s academic integrity policy, which forbids cheating, attempted cheating, and plagiarism.  Any student found guilty of these offenses will receive a failing grade for that paper or exam.

Papers must be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins; citations must follow MLA format. 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. Any paper earning a C+ or lower is eligible for revision; if you want to revise a paper, please see me to discuss it. All revisions must done within 10 days of the graded papers’ being returned to the class.

In each paper, you will need to use outside sources. Paper 1 will need to include only one critical source, while Paper 2 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 may be an article assigned for class discussion. Your second paper will include at least 5 of these sources, 3 of which must be critical articles. You will need to hand in photocopies of three of these articles or chapters with your second paper.

The Group Report is intended to provide information for the class that will offer us additional avenues for interpreting the primary material. Topics and dates are listed in the schedule. You will sign up for a project in the second week of class. These reports will be 25 minutes long. Each member of the group must participate in the presentation, and after the report the group will lead a class discussion on the topic as well as answer questions posed by class members.  Each group must submit a bibliography of sources used for the report.

All students, needless to say, must follow the College of Charleston’s academic integrity policy, which forbids cheating, attempted cheating, and plagiarism.  Any student found guilty of these offenses will receive a failing grade for that paper or exam.

Grade Breakdown:


2 exams:
 25%
2 papers and annotated bibliography:  
 25%
Final exam:  
 15%
Translation quizzes:
 15%
Group report:
10%
Reading quizzes, memorizations, reading aloud:
 10%

The following grade scale will be used in grading individual assignments: A = 94-100; A- = 90-93; B+ = 87-89; B = 84-86; B- = 80-83; C+ = 77-79; C = 74-76; C- = 70-73; D= 60-69; F = 0-59.

The following grade scale will be used in determining final grades: A = 90-100; B+ = 86-89; B = 80-85; C+ = 76-79; C = 70-75; D= 60-69; F = 0-59.

These sites devoted to Chaucer are good starting points:
Larry D. Benson’s Geoffrey Chaucer Homepage

David Wilson-Okamura’s geoffreychaucer.org

Joseph Wittig’s Chaucer MetaPage

Alan Baragona’s Chaucer Home Page