ENGL 3190 - Chaucer

(crosslisted) MEDVL 3190
(HB) (LA-AS, ALC-AS, HST-AS)

Fall. 4 credits. Student option grading.

This course may be used as one of the three pre-1800 courses required of English majors.

A. Galloway.

Chaucer became known as the “father of English poetry” before he was entirely cold in his grave. Why is what he wrote more than six hundred years ago still riveting for us today? It’s not just because he is the granddaddy of this language and its literature; it’s because what he wrote was funny, fierce, thoughtful, political, philosophical and, oh yes, notoriously bawdy. We’ll read some of Chaucer’s brilliant early work, and then dig into his two greatest achievements: the epic Troilus and Crisyede, and The Canterbury Tales, his oft-censored panorama of medieval English life. Chaucer will be read in Middle English, which will prove surprisingly easy and pleasant. The class counts toward the pre-1800 requirement for English majors.