To prepare for next week:
For next week you should read the metrical romance Sir Orfeo, a retelling of
the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice (told in Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy,
III.12) as a romance (edited in the Book of Middle English by Burrow and TurvillePetre, and in several collections of medieval romances). You should also read King
Horn and Sir Launfal, both edited in the anthology Of Love and Chivalry by Jennifer
Fellows. If you have time, you could also read a parody of this sort of metrical
romance, Sir Thopas, in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (with its prologue and epilogue).
This means that we will have another chance to think about romance as a
genre, so if you are interested in other works we have discussed which include
elements of romance, it would be a good idea to write this week’s essay on Sir
Gawain, Troilus, Malory, or the Knight’s, Wife of Bath’s or Franklin’s Tale together
with some of these texts, or at least it would be worth thinking about similarities to,
and differences from, these other works as you read through and make notes.
With regard to secondary reading, you might want to look at some of the
following: Rosalind Field and Helen Cooper’s articles in the Cambridge History of
Medieval English Literature (1999); A.C. Spearing, Readings in Medieval Poetry
(1987), 56 – 82 (on Sir Orfeo); Jane Gilbert and Ad Putter (eds.), English Popular
Romance (2000); Helen Cooper, The English Romance in Time (2004).
As you read, it may be helpful to consider and make notes on some of the following:
 What is the role of the knight in romance?
 What role does magic or the otherworldly play in romance, and when does it
not play a role?
 How important are places, such as ‘the forest’ or ‘the castle’, in romance?
 What roles do women play in romance?
 What values are most important in romance?
 Is romance chaotic in nature?
 Does a romance need a happy ending: is it essentially comic?
You should then attempt one of the essay questions below and hand your essay into
me 48 hours before our supervision. Write on at least three texts.

Either: ‘Romance, unlike other literary genres, is arbitrary, disjointed, and
chaotic.’ Discuss.

Or: ‘Love is less important than honour, loyalty and Christianity in Middle
English romances.’ Do you agree?

Or: Discuss the role of violence in Middle English romance.