After an initial glance at the Roman de la Rose we will study most of Chaucer’s dream-allegories and also the most important representatives of the genre from the Alliterative Tradition and from the English and Scottish courtly traditions of the fifteenth century. These texts analyze not only love, but also the everyday political and religious realities. In this genre medieval poetry reaches its greatest lyrical heights (by modern standards). The cultural and literary-historical background will be presented by the participants in the form of classpapers.
Timetable
Method of Instruction
Two-hour tutorial per week.
A la carte and contract teaching
Not available as modular course or a la carte.
Course objectives
Reading of late Middle English and Middle Scots. Interpretation of texts and conventions. Study and application of secondary sources. Oral and written reporting on all these.
Required reading
*_The Riverside Chaucer_, ed. Larry D. Benson, Oxford University Press paperback, 1988. *Elaine Treharne, ed., Old and Middle English c. 890 – c.1400: An Anthology,_ _Second Edition, Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. *_The Norton Anthology of English Literature_, 8th edn, 2006, Volume I or Volume A. *Julia Boffey, Fifteenth-Century English Dream Visions: An Anthology, Oxford University Press, 2003. *Further texts on the programme to be downloaded (free of charge) from the Internet.
Examination
Class-papers 30%; final essay (3.000 words) 70%. Extension will be assessed by written examination.
Information
English Department, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 102c. Tel. 071-5272144. English@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Blackboard/webpage
No blackboard available.
Overview
To be announced.