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Chaucer and His Contemporaries

Module description

This module introduces you to late medieval English literature. You will have the chance to explore some exceptionally inclusive poetic imaginations and a world of devotion, brutality, exclusion, chivalry, urbanity, misogyny, piety, courtly sophistication, sharp minds and some very bodily bodies.

We will look at religious and secular, and courtly and popular traditions, and themes such as 'courtly love', that adores women and puts them on a pedestal, arguably the better to ignore them; the constructions of femininity and masculinity in a Christian chivalric culture; the ways in which a tension-riven society went about presenting a harmonious vision of itself; and a Christianity that approached its God with a mixture of familiarity and awe. The module is split more or less equally between the works of Chaucer and the anonymous literature of the late Middle Ages.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module aims to provide an introduction to the literature of the late Middle Ages in England.

The syllabus is split more or less equally between the works of Chaucer and the anonymous literature of the late Middle Ages. You will also consider the particular nuances of Middle English as a vehicle for literary expression and explore late-medieval culture.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate informed appreciation of specific medieval authors and texts
• 2. Demonstrate an appreciation of the stage of the language known as Middle English
• 3. Demonstrate an informed appreciation of the relation between medieval literature and important historical and intellectual developments of the time

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Demonstrate an ability to analyse the literature of an earlier era and to relate its concerns and its modes of expression to its historical context
• 5. Demonstrate an ability to interrelate texts and discourses specific to their own discipline with issues in the wider context of cultural and intellectual history
• 6. Demonstrate an ability to understand and analyse relevant theoretical ideas, and to apply these ideas to literary texts

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Through essay-writing, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, a capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument and a capacity to write clear and correct prose
• 8. Through research for discussion and essays, demonstrate proficiency in information retrieval and analysis
• 9. Through research, discussion, and essay writing demonstrate a capacity to question assumptions, to distinguish between fact and opinion, and to critically reflect on their own learning process
• 10. Through sitting their final examination, demonstrate proficiency in the use of memory and in the development, organisation, and expression of ideas under pressure of time

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Love lyrics, sacred and profane
• The body of Christ
• Romance
• Mandeville, The Book of Marvels and Travels
• Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales
• The Cloud of Unknowing
• Pearl
• Malory’s stories of Arthur

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Core Reading:
[You are advised to buy copies of each of these books]

• Pearl: A New Verse Translation, trans. Simon Armitage (Liveright, Norton, 2016). This has the Middle English in parallel text.
• Sir John Mandeville, The Book of Marvels and Travels, trans. Anthony Bale (Oxford World's Classics, 2012)
• Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, ed. P. J. C. Field (Boydell and Brewer, 2017), single vol. paperback edn
• The Cloud of Unknowing, trans. A. C. Spearing (Penguin, 2001)
• Geoffrey Chaucer, The Riverside Chaucer, ed. L. D. Benson, 3rd edn (Oxford University Press, 1987)

Secondary Reading:

• M. Turner, ed., A Handbook of Middle English Studies (Blackwell, 2013)
• M. Turner, Chaucer: A European Life (Princeton UP, 2019)J.A. Burrow and T. Turville-Petre, A Book of Middle English (Blackwell, 2005)
• F. Grady, ed., _The Cambridge Companion to The Canterbury Tales (Cambridge UP, 2020)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11190
  

Key words search

English, Literature, Medieval, Middle Ages, Chaucer