Middle English Literature, Fall 2009 -- 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.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS

• For Thursday Sept. 10:
  • Set up your computer for  Streaming Audio.
  • Send me two email messages from two different email servers, as instructed on the Internet page.
    • I advise you NOT to use AOL! AOL often rejects email from Montclair State University servers. If you miss something for this reason, it's YOUR responsibility. See directions on the Internet page.
  • Make sure the format of your Subject line conforms to the model at the bottom of our Home Page.

  THIS IS A REQUIRED ASSIGNMENT.  If you don't complete it on time, you will get an "F" for this assignment.

  • (IF YOU WANT TO - please go to Melissa Snell's Medieval-Renaissance Page, and subscribe to her 'Knightly Newsletter'. This is a very good page for anyone with a general interest (as opposed to a strictly academic interest) in the Middle Ages, and is lots of fun! Melissa keeps adding good stuff. Explore this page and enjoy! NOT REQUIRED, BUT LOTS OF FUN!)

• For Thursday Sept. 10, listen to, and study, the first lecture on The Medieval World-View. Click on this link, or download the audio file GFMVW1.rm from Blackboard. Click on the link to the file, SAVE it to your own hard drive, and then listen to it on your own computer. Then do the same for the other two "Medieval World View" files, GFMVW2.rm and GFMWV3.rm

  You will need the free RealPlayer program. You may already have it -- just try listening to it.

  Otherwise, download the latest RealPlayer by going to the "Streaming Audio" link on our Home Page and double-clicking on the link to download the latest Realplayer.

  While listening to, and making notes on, this lecture, make sure you are looking at the handouts, or Web Pages that accompany this lecture (and the next two lectures as well): The Social Hierarchy; The Universal Hierarchy; and the Ptolemaic Theory of the Universe. Please print these out and use them as "handouts." Also, bring them to class as well.

  You will need to complete the set-up for Streaming Audio.

  THIS IS A REQUIRED ASSIGNMENT. The fact that it is over the Internet doesn't mean it is "optional" or "extra."

  NOTE: If you are listening to these lectures over the Internet (i.e. from off-campus, rather than on the MSU network), do not try to do so during "peak net use hours" -- roughly, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays, and maybe a little longer on weekends.

  You can also "download" the entire file, and listen to it on RealPlayer whenever you want. There will be no 'streaming' problem, since the file will be on your own computer. I will put them on Blackboard. They are quite long, but if you download them overnight, you will have them.

  NOTE: As of  Sept. 8 I will have put all the Streaming Audio files on Blackboard. Download them there, and then listen to them from your hard drive. It'll be a lot easier.

• For Thursday, Sept. 10.
• For Monday, Sept. 14.
• For Thursday, Sept. 17.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• For Monday, Sep. 21
• For Thursday, Sept. 24.
• For Monday, Sept. 28 -- make sure you have completed all the supplementary readings we have had so far. Bring them all to class. We'll spend today catching up, and then go on to Fit 2 of Sir Gawain. Print that out and bring it to class as well.
• For Thursday, October 1.

Assignments on Chrétien de Troyes, Erec and Enide

• For Monday, October 5.
• For Thursday, October 8
• For Monday, October 12.
• For Thursday, October 15 - no additional reading. We will finish up Erec and Enide today.

Assignments on Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose.

NOTE: Please bring your copy of the novel to class with you every day!

Here is a link to The Apocalypse of St. John the Divine, as it is called in the Douay-Rheims Bible, the official Catholic translation of the Vulgate (Latin) Bible. And here is a link to the real Vulgate text, as read in the Middle Ages -- the Latin version by St. Jerome.

Both these versions are good for searching. Perhaps try reading the English before you tackle the Latin, though? ;-)

Homework Assignments on The Name of the Rose:

NOTE: Here is a page of useful online resources for understanding the issues in this novel. Please let me know if you find any others, and I'll add them.

• For Monday, October 19: complete and mail to me only the completed quiz on NOR which I have emailed to you. Please print out and bring a copy to class, as well.
  NOTE: Please print out this page and bring it to class. It is a list of the passages we will discuss in Eco's novel.
• For Thursday, October 22.
• For Monday October 26.
• For Thursday.October 29

Assignment on Medieval Literary Criticism

• For Monday, November 2.
  • Please also read, print, and bring this page to class with you. It is a fine little Medieval Irish poem that illustrates some of the questions we'll be discussing today.
  • Also, please bring your text of Eco, The Name of the Rose, to class. There's a short section, 316-7 (380-1) - literal and allegorical; also, 130 (148), that we should look at briefly before going on to discuss allegory

Assignments on Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron.

NOTE: Go to the list of tales we will read here

• For Thursday, November 5
• For Monday, November 9
• For Thursday, November 12
• For Monday, November 16. No separate assignment. Bring the following to class with you:
  • all your Decameron HW;
  • Your copy of the text of the Decameron;
  • the web pages / handouts on medieval. We'll review the important stuff once more

Assignments on Geoffrey Chaucer, Dream Visions and Other Poems.

NOTE: Please read "A Quick Course in Chaucer's Language", pp. xvii-xx of our text.

• For Thursday, November 19.
  Please read Chaucer's short poem "Truth", p. 219-220 of our text. The "Envoy" at the top of p. 220 is part of the poem, so don't forget that.
  This poem is full of sophisticated expressions of the values found in all of Chaucer's works to one extent or another. Your assignment is: (a) learn all the vocabulary -- it's very simple; (b) write out a translation into Modern English. In other words, learn it well. We will discuss it in class.
• Also please study (= read and reread, carefully) "Gentilesse", pp. 220-221.
• For Monday, November 23.

• For Monday, November 30. We will spend 1 1/2 classes on Chaucer's "Book of the Duchess."
  • There are translations into Modern English here (in Plain Text) and here (in PDF).
  • Please begin reading Robertson and Huppé, "The Book of the Duchess" (1963), also available for download on our Blackboard page.
• For Thursday, December 3.
• For Monday, December 7. - To Be Announced.
• Thursday, December 10: Last Day of Class. No assignment, but end of semester matters will be discussed.

http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/mel/melhw09.html | Email me | created 31 Aug 09