Chaucer Fall 2008 -- Mr. Furr
Homework Page
Back to Home Page for this course.
I will post all writing assignments on this page.. You should create a 'bookmark' of
your own to this page, so you can go to it without having to first go to the Home Page for
the course.
NOTE: BE SURE TO USE THE PROPER SUBJECT LINE ON ALL HW
ASSIGNMENTS! SEE BOTTOM OF HOME PAGE FOR EXAMPLE!
Be sure to "send a
copy to yourself" of ALL your homework assignments!
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS
- For Monday, Sept. 8:
- send me two emails, from different email accounts, on two different
servers
- One of these MUST be the MSU 'mail' account. It is "free" (you've already paid
for it, in your tuition), but you MUST use it for this course.
- See the full instructions on the Internet page.
- See the list of free web-based email providers at the bottom of our Home
Page.
- Make sure that the Subject line of the email messages conforms to the model at the
bottom of our Home Page.
- Get the Post on 'Chaucer Resources for the Beginning
Student'
- Study Chaucer's poem "Balade de Bon Conseyl" ("A
Ballad of Good Counsel", i.e. good advice for a courtier), also titled (but not in
the original) "Truth". This poem is full of sophisticated expressions of the
values found in all of Chaucer's works to one extent or another. Learn all the vocabulary
-- it's very simple. Be able to translate it. In other words, learn it well. Print
the text out and bring it to class with you every day we discuss it.
- For Thursday, September 11:
- Set up FTP. Follow the directions here. They are also
linked on hour Home Page, at the link "Software You Will Need
and How To Get It." Follow the directions carefully.
- Download the file entitled "Chaucer -- Short Poems, Introductory
Materials.pdf" NOTE: you can also download
this from the web server here. It's a large file and will take awhile, but you will
not have to use FTP.
- PRINT IT OUT on your home printer. Bring it to class on Wednesday.
- NOTE that the downloaded file opens with "bookmarks" in the
left-hand column. Clicking on them takes you to a specific part of the text.
- On the PRINT menu, you can select just which pages you wish to print
out. In this case, though, print the whole text and bring it to class.
- WHAT TO READ FOR WEDNESDAY'S CLASS: Read "Selections from
Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy, on "Fortune", pages 6-8 (page numbers are
at the bottom of the screen in Acrobat Reader). Come to class prepared to discuss it. BRING
THE WHOLE FILE WITH YOU TO CLASS.
- For Monday, Sept. 15
- For Thursday, Sept.18.
- For Monday, September 22. Note: nothing to email for
today. But you should make notes, as requested, for your own benefit.
The Canterbury Tales - The General Prolog (revised)
The Wyf of Bath's Prolog and Tale
- For Monday, October 6. NOTE: Please remind me about
FTP information today.
- For Thursday, October 9: Read the Wyf of Bath's Tale
(WBT). Bring your text to class.
- For Monday, October 13: This is our introduction to
medieval allegory.
- For Thursday, October 16. The same readings as Monday. We
will discuss the issue of allegory some more. I will suggest some URLs for interesting
medieval illustrations of allegoresis (allegory applied to the arts).
The Miller's Tale
Allegory - the Roman de la Rose ("Romance of the Rose")
The Miller's Tale; Reeve's Tale; Knight's Tale
- For Thursday, October 31. No writing assignment, but please finish
reading The Reeve's Tale.
- Please download and read Paul Olson's article on The Reeve's Tale from Studies
in Philology, January 1962. It is a big help!
- For Monday, November 3. Bring the Robertson selection on
the KnT to class with you. We should be able to get started reading the KnT
in class too. Here's the link to the
Harvard Chaucer Page on the Knight's Tale.
- For Thursday, November 6. Please finish reading the KnT. This
is a lot of reading in Middle English. Take your time! We'll do as much as possible of it
in class.
- For Monday, November 10. Read The Pardoner's Tale. [We'll
finish the KnT and start the ParT. If you have time, start on Monday's
assignment.] Link
to the Harvard Chaucer Page on the Pardoner's Tale.
The Pardoner's Tale
The Merchant's Tale
The Franklin's Tale
NOTE: The articles for the following two assignments are also in our
FTP folder.
The Boke of the Duchesse
We will end up our course by reading the beautiful and sophisticated "Boke of the
Duchesse". The text is not in your Olson book but can be found here, at the Online
Medieval & Classical Library.
If you want to consult a translation -- not a bad idea, but remember -- you will be
examined on the original Middle English text -- check this one,
by Professor Gerard NeCastro of the University of Maine at Machias.
- For Thursday, December 4. Download and read Robertson, "The Historical Setting of Chaucer's Book of the Duchess". After studying it
carefully, please write 300 words on Robertson's concept of the BoD as a
"Boethian" poem, and how he sees the influence of Boethius' work in this poem.
- For Monday, December 8. We
will just read the poem. You will find Robertson's essay from A
Companion to Chaucer Studies (1968, 1979) useful. But it isn't required.
Thursday, December 11: Last Day
of Class. 
End of semester matters:
papers due; final exam discussed; course criticism; other matters. Please attend!
http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/chaucer/chhw08.html | Email Me! | created 01 Sep 08