ENGLISH 320: MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE (Spring 2003)
CRN: 23977
Section Number: 1
Class Time: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 2 pm – 3:25 pm (Time Block H)
Classroom: CB 108
Instructor: Andrew Troup
Office: Faculty Towers 203F
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 4 – 6 pm; Wednesday, 4 – 5 pm; and by appointment
Phone Numbers: 664-2286 (office), 664-7627 (home)
Texts: Borroff, Marie, trans., Pearl
Borroff, Marie, trans., Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Cawley, A. C., ed., Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays
Economou, George, trans., William Langland’s Piers Plowman: The C Version
Heaney, Seamus, trans., Beowulf: A New Verse Translation
Vinaver, Eugene, ed., King Arthur and His Knights: Selected Tales by Sir Thomas Malory
Windeatt, B.A., trans., The Book of Margery Kempe
SYLLABUS (tentative)
EPIC AND MOCK-EPIC POETRY
April
2 W
4 F
Introduction
Beowulf: 1-51
7 M
9 W
11 F
Beowulf: 51-151
Beowulf: 151-213
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: 1-11
14 M
16 W
18 F
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: 11-42
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: 42-74
Review
21 M
TEST 1 (33.3% of course grade)
RELIGIOUS DRAMA
23 W
25 F
Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays (“Noah’s Flood”): 33-47
Plays continued (“Cain and Abel” and “Abraham and Isaac”): 23-31, 49-64
28 M
Plays continued (“The Second Shepherd’s Pagent” and “The Harrowing of Hell”):
75-104, 149-160
Plays continued (“Everyman”): 195-225
30 W
RELIGIOUS POETRY
May
2 F
5
7
9
M
W
F
Pearl: 1-11
Pearl: 11-31
Piers Plowman: 1-42
Film: Camelot (I’ll be at the International Congress on Medieval Studies May 8-12)
12 M
14 W
16 F
Film: Camelot (continued)
Piers Plowman: 43-69; Review
TEST 2 (33.3% of course grade)
19 M
21 W
23 F
The Book of Margery Kempe: 33-67
The Book of Margery Kempe: 67-102
The Book of Margery Kempe: 102-141
EPIC PROSE
26 M
28 W
30 F
June
2 M
4 W
6 F
9 M
11 W
NO CLASS – MEMORIAL DAY
King Arthur and His Knights: 3-70
King Arthur and His Knights: 71-100
King Arthur and His Knights: 101-127
King Arthur and His Knights: 129-155
King Arthur and His Knights: 157-192
OPTIONAL SHORT PAPER DUE (3-4 pp.; can count 15% of course grade)
King Arthur and His Knights: 193-226; Review
FINAL EXAM PERIOD: TEST 3 (33.3% of course grade), 2:00 – 4:30pm
OVERVIEW
Several aspects of medieval literature make English 320 a challenging course. The reading list
contains texts (e.g. Pearl and Piers Plowman) that give twentieth-century readers great difficulty.
These works are products of a culture very different from our own – one in which publication as we
know it did not exist. The epic poem Beowulf has come down to us in a single manuscript, whereas
Piers Plowman exists in several manuscripts that contradict each other. Furthermore, these texts
differ aesthetically from works CSUB English majors are likely to encounter in post-medieval
courses. Many of them violate rules of “good writing” that students absorb after reading the works
of Shakespeare, Pope, Austen, etc. Some may appear incomplete or fragmented to the modern
reader, while others may seem redundant and repetitive. A modern reader will often judge a
medieval narrative to be uneven. Finally, with two exceptions (Everyman and Medieval Miracle
Plays and King Arthur and His Knights), our assigned texts are accessible to undergraduates only
through translation. Although juniors and seniors can learn to read Chaucer’s dialect of Middle
English in about five weeks, they cannot learn the difficult West Midlands dialect of the Pearl-poet
without much more training. The Old English of Beowulf is far beyond the reach of this course.
Relying upon translations, students will develop a partial appreciation of the difficulties they face in
interpreting and analyzing works of the middle ages.
In English 320, we will discuss textual dissemination before the invention of print. We will also
explore the implications of such scribal practices on literary interpretation. There are many
questions we can formulate about texts such as Piers Plowman for which no scholar is likely to
construct a conclusive answer. Students may be bothered by such uncertainty, but they may also
come to appreciate it as part of the joy of reading strange and difficult texts. We will also discuss
cultural criteria for “good writing.” Piers Plowman, much of which appears to ramble on without
any clear structure, contains some of the most power satire—and at the same time some of the most
beautiful poetry—in English literature. In The Book of Margery Kempe, we discover a narrator who
becomes more detailed and persuasive with every section she dictates to her scribe—evidence that
the acquisition of writing skill is a process. Modern writers and editors work hard to hide the
writing process, whereas medieval writers were often willing to leave their problems exposed. As
for the translation problem, wherever possible I will present excerpts of the texts in their original
language, reading passages aloud in Old and Middle English.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The purpose of English 320 is to survey the major canonical texts of the English medieval period
exclusive of Chaucer. Most of the readings will be in translation. At the end of the term, successful
students will have insight into a literary world very different from that of the twentieth century.
They will be aware of some significant thoughts of the medieval mind and will be able to discuss
the influence of such thoughts on the writing of the period. Such analysis should invite students to
re-evaluate their own reading and writing processes.
ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING
Test 1
Test 2
Optional Short Paper (3-4 pp.)
Test 3
33.3%
33.3%
(15%--see paragraph below)
33.3%
Tests 1, 2, and 3 will consist of both objective (e.g., multiple choice, identification, true-false, etc.)
and essay questions. In the optional paper you may formulate your own analytical approach to one
or more literary works, or you may compose a story or poem in the spirit and style of a medieval
text. If you choose to write the optional paper, it can count 15% of your course grade; the average
of your three tests would then count 85%. In the unlikely event that your course grade would be
lower as a result of the optional paper, your grade will be figured solely on the basis of the tests
(i.e., the optional paper grade will be dropped). Submission of the optional paper can help but not
hurt your final grade. Throughout the term I will distribute many question sets designed to prime
students for class discussion. Class participation, attendance, homework, unannounced quizzes, etc.
will resolve border-line grades at the end of the term.
FORMAT OF WRITTEN WORK
All written work is to be carefully proofread—free of typographical errors. I request you type your
assignments and papers, but I do not require you to. If you do not have access to a typewriter or
work processor, please handwrite. I will not accept a paper typed by anyone other than the author.
If you type, double-space. If you handwrite, skip a line after every line that you write. Write
legibly and clearly; I will not accept anything that I cannot read. Please do not submit paper torn
from a spiral notebook.
LATE WORK
Late assignments and papers will normally be marked down a full letter grade for each class day
past the deadline. If you know that you will not be able to hand in an assignment or paper on time,
come see me as far as possible before the due date. If your excuse is legitimate, I may be able to
give you an extension.
ATTENDANCE
Attendance is necessary because class discussion needs your input as much as you need its output.
Roll will be taken at the beginning of each class period. If you come in late, after roll has been
taken, you will not receive attendance credit for the day. You are always responsible for all
material covered in class. Please realize that absence for any reason, excuse or unexcused, may hurt
your performance in the course.
SCHOLASTIC DISHONESTY
If you are caught cheating or plagiarizing on any assignment, major or minor, you will
automatically receive an F for the entire course. If you are uncertain about what constitutes
plagiarism, come see me. If while working on an assignment you are afraid that you might be
committing plagiarism unknowingly, come to me with the work before you hand it in.