09.28.08
Posted in Class at 11:49 am by kinsella
Chaucer’s “Knight’s Tale” is deeply significant to a thorough understanding of The Canterbury Tales. Given our 13-week semester (oops, I mean 15 weeks), though, we will be saving our deep dose of chivalry for later in the semester with Troilus and Criseyde.
It’s still a good idea to understand the bare bones of the “Knight’s Tale.” To that end I’ve linked to three “summary” pages. Are they an adequate substitute for reading the tale? No. but they’ll cover the major points against which we can better understand the “Miller’s Tale.”
The “Knight’s Tale” from Gradesaver
The “Knight’s Tale” from BookRags
The “Knight’s Tale” from CliffNotes on Yahoo
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09.26.08
Posted in Readings at 10:23 pm by kinsella
Below you can hear Melinda and Nick’s readings of the Miller’s description in the General Prologue. Nicely done.
Melinda's Miller [1:52m]:
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Nick's Miller [1:24m]:
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09.23.08
Posted in Class at 9:43 pm by kinsella
Wimple. I love the word. Below is a painting of one by Robert Campin.
from the University of British Columbia, Theatre pages on costume.
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09.18.08
Posted in Class at 8:51 pm by kinsella
Kruger touches upon the late medieval belief in the four humours — blood, phlegm, yellow bile (choler), and black bile (melancholy) — said to rule or effect the human body (or at least to explain our maladies). You can find an interesting piece on humours here.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 1:52 pm by kinsella
I have told you that memorizing the first 18 lines of the Canterbury Tales can help to make you the life of a party, but it seems you need to be careful how you use this power. Read here.
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09.17.08
Posted in Class at 3:01 pm by kinsella
I just received an e-mail from one of you with some technical questions about the take home. Good questions. Here they are along with my answers.
>When sighting something like this: “I wolde ever, without drede/Have
>loved hir, for I most nede,” would my citation be (Lynch 31, 1073 – 74)
>or just the line numbers?
You will have a Works Cited section at the end of your take home that shows you are working from Lynch’s edition, so as long as it is clear which poem you are referring to (and it should be clear since we have only read the Book of the Duchess), just use page numbers.
>Also, if I’ve already cited a page and end up using information from
>that page further on in the same paragraph, should I cite it again?
Depends upon the situation. To be definitive, I’d have to see it. In general, when in doubt cite again. In general, if the citation page is clearly understood within the context of your discussion — that is, if it is clear that the first citation also refers to the second — then it is not needed. But again, when in doubt. . .
>Last one: is it “his grieving friend, John of Gaunt” or “his grieving
>friend John of Gaunt”?
Depends upon whether you want to emphasize John of Gaunt. If you think folks will not know who the “grieving friend” is, don’t use a comma. No comma emphasizes John of Gaunt. If, on the other hand, you think your reader is quite familiar with who the “grieving friend” is, then you can de-emphasize the name by using the comma. This can also be seen as a stylistic decision. Heavy punctuation vs. light. Be consistent in your punctuation.
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09.11.08
Posted in Take Home Exams at 5:00 pm by kinsella
Look in the nav bar to the right and see the take home examination for the Book of the Duchess. It is due Monday, September 22.
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09.09.08
Posted in Class at 11:29 am by kinsella
Here are two pages on Fortune including helpful pictures of her and her wheel. Note the humans rising and falling as she turns.
fortune (from http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/sechard/346fort.htm)
Fortune’s wheel (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortuna_(mythology))
See other resources for the Book of the Duchess in the “Additional Resources” tab.
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09.02.08
Posted in Class at 9:06 pm by kinsella
Two spots we will be looking at soon.
Chaucer’s Retraction; look at the end.
A quick primer on Chaucer’s pronunciation.
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09.01.08
Posted in Announcements at 2:31 pm by kinsella
This is the course blog for Chaucer, a junior and senior level literature course taught at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. A range of course material, including assignments and announcements, will be placed here.
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