Course Outline Pain, Gain, and the Profane: The Overlooked Canterbury Tales

Pain, Gain, and the Profane: The Overlooked Canterbury Tales

Professor: Dr. Paul Moffett
Email: paul@clockworksacademy.com
Lecture days: Fridays
Course website: clockworksacademy.com/chaucer-popular (all lower case is necessary).

Course Description

English 1221: Pain, Gain, and the Profane: The Overlooked Canterbury Tales is a part of the Medieval unit at Clockworks Academy, an online school. This is the second of two courses on The Canterbury Tales. The two Canterbury Tales courses are not co-requisites. Emphasis is placed on critical reading and analysis, and gaining familiarity with The Canterbury Tales as a work of English literature.

 Course Objectives

• To develop familiarity with and appreciation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The. Canterbury Tales and with medieval literature more broadly.

• To practice critical analysis skills.

Required Texts

Geoffrey Chaucer                        The Canterbury Tales

 Note: You are encouraged to find and read from an unabridged edition of The Canterbury Tales that is comfortable and not onerous to read. That is: modernized spelling and translation are both fine. The course lectures will quote from and discuss the text in its original Middle English.

Course Expectations

Lectures: There will be a lecture of approximately an hour in length available on the course web page every Friday.

Readings: You will get the most out of this course if you complete the required readings by the date indicated.

 You may also want to read the suggested supplemental readings, but my lectures will assume that you have not.

 Discussion: I encourage you to discuss the text in the course Discord. Course discussions on the course Discord are student-led; you set the agenda and frequency of the conversation.

Course Policies

Communication Policy
I will read all student correspondence and will respond when appropriate. I will not share your contact information with anyone without your express consent.

Course Conduct Policy
All course communication, both private and public, will endeavour to be respectful on the part of all parties.

Course Materials Sharing Policy
Course materials may not be shared with anyone who is not registered for the course. This includes links to the lectures directly and links to the course webpage.

TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE

(Please note that there may be alterations to this schedule announced on the course webpage. If so this post will be updated to reflect the updated schedule.)

WEEK 1

May 2:

Required Readings: “The Man of Law’s Introduction, Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue”

Date TBA: Live Chat. Check Discord for date and time.

WEEK 2

May 9:

Required readings: “The Clerk’s Prologue and Tale”

WEEK 3

May 16:

 Required readings: “The Merchant’s Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue”

WEEK 4

May 23:

 Required readings: “The Physician’s Tale”, “The Shipman’s Tale”, and “The Second Nun’s Prologue and Tale”

TBA: Seminar One: Oral Tradition and Literary Tradition
Check Discord for date and time.

WEEK 5

May 30:

Required readings: “The Monk’s Prologue and Tale”

WEEK 6

June 6:

Required readings: “The Canon’s Yeoman’s Prologue and Tale” and “The Manciple’s Prologue and Tale”

WEEK 7

June 13:

Required readings: “The Tale of Melibee”

WEEK 8

June 20: Um, Actually, That’s Not a Tale

Required readings: “The Parson’s Prologue and Tale” and “Chaucer’s Retraction”

TBA: Seminar Two: It’s. All About the Journey
Check Discord for date and time.