Text Box: Chaucer Professor Victor Doyno Thursdays 7:00 - 9:40 Reg. No. 490864 Text Box: 303 Text Box: This course is devoted to an intensive and extensive study of Geoffrey Chaucer’s famous and intricate frame-story. You will learn a reasonable amount about both intellectual history and aesthetics. More importantly, you will experience some fine literature. The class sessions will include readings, lectures, interpretations, discussions, questions, and writings. I shall try to use a variety of critical approaches. You may confidently plan on working 9-12 hours per week on this course. Please keep a personal time-log of time devoted to each assignment. Requests for an incomplete are not likely to be granted. I am serious about what I do and expect a similar commitment from you. Your class attendance, in both body and mind, is expected; in this course the learning is cumulative; what is missed creates gaps of ignorance. An attendance sheet will be circulated in each class meeting. Please begin to develop the personal habit of coming to each class with a question and/or an insight; in the third week of classes, I will begin to record discussion participation. The weekly assignments will be posted on the board. Because this course meets once a week, each class session covers a week’s worth of work. Missing more than one class will hurt your grade. Class discussion, prepared and spontaneous questions and insights, comments, and connections will be helpful to your grades. By the fourth class you should plan to prepare several verbal insights for class discussions. You should save your in- and out-of-class writings, drafts, and extra readings in a light-colored two-pocket folder. There will be a mid-term exam and a final. People who earn a B or better on the mid-term may do an extra credit short paper. The exams are designed to test different skills, including your factual knowledge, your interpretative skills, and your analytical and synthesizing abilities. The final grade for this course will be determined by a combination of many factors: attendance, absence, preparation, discussion, insight, quizzes (if necessary), exams, and extra credit paper, if permitted. The course requires the ability to concentrate, as well as a sense of humor and an open mind. The course should appeal to English, history, psychology, pre-law, and other majors. You will learn about another way of thinking, another way of seeing the world. You will be helped to read and understand some great literature. This course satisfies an earlier literature requirement. Text Box: Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote. Prologue, 1. 1