Texts to Accompany the Wyf of Bath's Prolog, the Wyf of Bath's Tale, and Fleming, "Sacred and Secular Exegesis in the Wyf of Baths' Tale"

After carefully reading the Wyf of Bath's Prolog -- and, if assigned, the Wyf of Bath's Tale and Fleming's article -- please read the following texts:

• St. Augustine, on "Despoiling the Egyptians", from On Christian Doctrine.
• Midas and the Ass's Ears, from Ovid, Metamorphoses, XI.
• St. Jerome, Letter LXX, justifying the use of pagan sources by Christians.
• Alcuin, "What Has Ingeld To Do With Christ?"

These are some of the main texts cited in Fleming's article. They are important for understand allegory in Chaucer's works generally.

Please bring these texts to class, either printed out or on your laptop or tablet in digital form.

Also bring to class the collection of documents that I previously assigned: "Chaucer -- Short Poems, Introductory Materials.pdf".

We must go over the selections from St. Augustine's On Christian Doctrine on pages 9 and 10 of this document.