This course will have as its matter the major early poems of Chaucer: Troilus and Criseyde, The House of Fame, The Parlement of Foules, and The Book of the Dutchess. The primary focus will be on his masterpiece, the Troilus. A knowledge of Middle English is not a prerequisite, since you will learn the ME of Chaucer soon after starting the course, by reading the first part of Chaucer’s General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales to orient ourselves to the language. In the early poems, Chaucer uses the French poetic tradition, explores the dream-vision genre and Boethian problems extensively, and experiments (as usual) with the limits of his genres and themes. In Troilus he has fashioned a powerful, paradoxical, erotic, doomed love story, whose “consolation” at the end you may find hardly consoling. Required readings include contexts as well as criticism. Quizzes, short papers, final, class report. Emphasis on close reading and class discussion, reading aloud.
Aeneid (any edition) to be read before mid-term

Optional: Some required reading in them. Copies on reserve in the Library and available at the Bookstore.
The Story of Troilus, ed. R.K. Gordon (Toronto: M.A.R.T.) 0802063683
Miller, Robt. P., ed. Chaucer: Sources and Backgrounds. O.U.P. 0195021673
The Cambridge Companion to Chaucer, eds. Jill Mann and Piero Boitani (C.U.P.) 0521894670

Texts:

• ed. K. Lynch (Norton Critical Eds.). Chaucer: Dream Visions and other Poems. [978-0-393925883]
• ed. R. A. Shoaf (Colleagues Press). Troilus and Criseyde. [0937191108]
• Boethius, trans. Green (Lib. of Liberal Arts). The Consolation of Philosophy. [002346450]