Assignments for Chaucer Independent Study course, Spring 1999

• Subscribe to Chaucer Mailing List.
• Texts for Chaucer study -- posts from the Chaucer list, January 1999.
• Get the Post on 'Chaucer Resources for the Beginning Student'
• The Medieval World-View -- four pages, with some text and a lot to think about. Study them all carefully; an assignment will follow.
• There is a new "Chaucer Resources" posting on the CHAUCER mailing list. If you have it, save it.
• 
  But it may be easier for you to retrieve just this post. Send a message with no subject line to the Chaucer listserve address,
  listserv@uicvm.uic.edu
  with the one-line message GETPOST CHAUCER 9888.
  Study this post carefully, and keep it.
• 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.
• 
  Then read all the notes in your edition very carefully. Email me if there are any lines you do not understand.
  Here is some important information on "Fortune" and "Fortune's Wheel". Please read it carefully. "Fortune's wheel" is referred to in "Truth".
• FURTHER BACKGROUND: read this short introduction to Chaucer studies by Bonnie Wheeler, a regular contributor to the CHAUCER mailing list.
• Read D.W.Robertson, Jr.'s, famous article from Speculum, 1951, entitled "The Doctrine of Charity in Medieval Literary Gardens."
• 
  You may, of course, go to an academic library -- one that possesses the journal Speculum for 1951, and either read it there or photocopy it there. But there are several other, more convenient ways.
  In any case, this article is in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf). You will need to obtain the Adobe Acrobat Reader to read it or print it out. You can get it for free, if you don't already have it, at the Adobe corporation's site. Click on the little rectangular yellow-and-red button at bottom left of the main Adobe page (last time I looked at it, that is).
  Now, how to get the article (easiest ways first):
  • You can try right-clicking here. When prompted, use "Save Link As," and choose a directory on your computer's hard drive to download the file to. This is easiest of all, if it works for you. Then you can open, read, and (if you want) print the article using Acrobat Reader.
  • Another way to get the article is to configure your web browser (NetScape or MS Internet Explorer) to use Adobe Acrobat Reader for reading .pdf files. Then, you can simply connect here . The article will download into Acrobat Reader, which will appear in NetScape. However, you can't "save" it this way, though you can print it out.
  • You may download it from my office computer in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf) using File Transfer Protocol, or FTP.

  To do that, you will need an FTP "client" program (one that resides on your computer). I recommend WS_FTP LE (for Windows 95). Look at this page, sections 1 and 2, to get detailed instructions on how to obtain it, again for free (Section 3 is on another topic, NetScape Composer).
  Once you have this, or any other FTP client running, connect to:

  furrg.montclair.edu

  Use 'anonymous' (without the ') as your Login name, and your email address as your password. You'll be connected to my c:\ftp directory.
  Download the file whose name starts with "DWR, 'Doctrine of Charity'....pdf.
  Now read it carefully on-screen, or use Adobe Acrobat Reader to print it out. NOTE: you don't have to print out the first page, which is the 'copywrite' page. Go to File-Print, and select pages 2-27 to print.

   
  Whatever means you use to get the article, be sure to e-mail me when you have got it, to get a few instructions about reading it.

Assignments on Chaucer's Works

Here I'll put assignments on the works of Chaucer that we'll read for this course.

For The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

• Read The General Prologue. Then, go to the Luminarium Chaucer Essays site.
  Read carefully the essays by Wilson and Howard. Then write an essay of 300 to 500 words on one or two of descriptions of the Pilgrims in the GP.
  Email this essay to me when you are done. Make sure that it
  1. is single-spaced;
  2. has a blank line between each paragraph;
  3. is in text or ASCII format, not HTML format;
  4. is in the message area of your email. NO ATTACHMENTS! My mail client won't read them. Anyway, I don't want any viruses.
  5. has a Subject: line beginning with your Last Name, followed by the letters CH (for 'Chaucer course') and the words 'Assignment on General Prolog'. I think I've put all but your last name into the email automatically, IF you email me by clicking on the hyperlink above.

For The Tales Themselves

• Choose Four Tales and One Longer Poem. *
• For each work,
  • Read the work carefully, in Middle English. Use a translation if you must, and by all means use a dictionary or vocabulary, but you must quote the work in Middle English in your paper.
  • Choose two scholarly essays for each work. The essays must have been published since 1985, and in a scholarly journal. No chapters of books will be accepted.
  • At least five of these ten essays must be taken from journals in a library, and not from the Internet.
  • Write an essay of 500 words on each Tale/Poem. You may use up to 300 words summarizing the arguments set forward in the essays you have chosen. But make sure to include your own reasoned thinking as well.
  • Make sure each essay is done according to MLA format before emailing it to me (for email format, see the directions for the General Prolog assignment above).

How To Do Your Bibliographical Research.

The job of studying Chaucer -- especially outside of class -- is essentially the job of constructing an historical and critical context for Chaucer's work, just as the job (or, rather, the pleasure) of reading Chaucer is that of finding a good text with good annotations and, eventually, a good translation to help you along.

There are some excellent tools available for bibliographical research. I would like you to become acquainted with two of them

• the MLA Bibliography, on CD-Rom in Sprague Library (it is NOT available through the Internet);
• The Online Chaucer Bibliography., which you can go to here.

For historical context, there are many good books, and the large and rapidly increasing resources of the Web itself.

Of the (at least) ten articles you should study for your five papers, please make sure to pick at least five from print sources. Pick two or three from the MLA Bibliography, and three or two from the Online Chaucer Bibliography. This will get you acquainted with the use of each.

Note: If you prefer, you may choose the following, Internet-based assignment, instead of one of the five papers above.

Chaucer on the Worldwide Web. (Brian, I'm hoping that you might be interested in this). Create an annotated webliography (bibliography of web pages) on sites devoted specifically to Chaucer. Here's how you should do this:

1. Do a database search on the CHAUCER mailing list server. Directions for database searches are here.

2. Also, search one or two of the major Internet search engines, like Altavista, a "key-word" search engine, and Yahoo, a category-type search facility.

3. Investigate each site you find, and inventory (make careful notes on) its resources.

4. Write a 500 word essay, including at least ten (10) Chaucer-only sites, with a paragraph or so discussion of the resources of each one.

(* If you would like some help, or advice, choosing these tales and the poem, email me and I'll give you some suggestions).

http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/mel/chhws99.html | furrg@alpha.montclair.edu | last modified 12 May 99