Alumni Sequence: The Middle Ages Year I
This course was available in the past and may be presented again as part of the Basic Program of Liberal Education curriculum.
Allegory was a popular mode of representation in the Middle Ages, deployed sometimes even in prose and very frequently in poetry and drama. Its popularity has waned over the centuries but it does keep coming back up, and most of us know it when we see it – and yet it can be strikingly difficult to say exactly what it is. This quarter we will discuss some examples of allegorical representation, both medieval and modern, in an effort to understand what is at stake in this way of thinking about the world. To complement the allegorical texts in the seminar section of this course, in the tutorial we will read pieces from two collections of narrative fiction in the realistic vein, one from a single author with an overarching plan, and one from multiple and unknown authors over a number of centuries.
Course Outline
For specific dates, see at right under each Section: SCHEDULE AND LOCATION. Reading schedule is identical across all Sections.
Seminar
| Week | Seminar |
|---|---|
| 1 | Langland, Piers Plowman, Prologue and Passus I and II |
| 2 | Langland Piers Plowman, Passus III and IV |
| 3 | Langland Piers Plowman, Passus V-VII |
| 4 | Anon., Second Shepherds’ Pageant and Everyman |
| 5 | Spencer The Faerie Queene, Book One, Proem and Cantos One-Four |
| 6 | Spencer The Faerie Queene, Book One, Cantos Five-Eight |
| 7 | Spencer The Faerie Queene, Book One, Cantos Nine-Twelve |
| 8 | Poe “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” |
| 9 | Hawthorne “Roger Malvin’s Burial” and “Young Goodman Brown” |
| 10 | Hawthorne “Rappaccini’s Daughter” |
Tutorial
| Week | Tutorial |
|---|---|
| 1 | Egil's Saga, sections 1-40 (pp. 8-64) |
| 2 | Egil's Saga, sections 41-63 (pp. 65-121) |
| 3 | Egil's Saga, sections 64-90 (pp. 121-84) |
| 4 | Saga of the People of Laxardal, sections 1-39 (pp.276-345) |
| 5 | Saga of the People of Laxardal, sections 40-78 (pp. 345-421) |
| 6 | Decameron Prologue; First Day, Introduction, tales 1, 2, 3, and Conclusion (pp. 1-44, 66-69) |
| 7 | Decameron Second Day, tales 5 and 7 (pp. 97-111, 125-48); Third Day, tale 8 (pp. 254-64) |
| 8 | Decameron Fourth Day, Introduction, tales 1, 2, 5, and 9 (pp. 284-312, 326-30, 349-52); Fifth Day, tales 8 and 9 (pp. 419-32) |
| 9 | Decameron Sixth Day, tales 9, 10 and Conclusion (pp. 466-83); Seventh Day, tales 2 and 9 (pp. 485-94, 533-43); Eighth Day, tales 1 and 3 (pp. 551-54, 560-69) |
| 10 | Decameron Ninth Day, tales 3 and 6 (pp. 658-63, 677-82); Tenth Day, tales 3, 5, 10 and Conclusion; Author's Epilogue (pp. 711-18, 726-31, 783-802) |
Purchase
Books are available using the Textbook order form from the Gleacher Center Bookstore online, or by using the ISBN number to order the correct edition elsewhere.
Reading List
- William Langland, Piers Plowman, trans. Schmidt. Oxford. 978-0199555260
- A.C. Cawley, ed., Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays. Everyman. 978-0460872805
- Edmund Spencer, The Faerie Queene, Book One, ed. Carol V. Kaske. Hackett. 978-0872208070
- Edgar Allen Poe, The Gold-Bug and Other Tales. Dover. 978-0486268750
- Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown and Other Short Stories. Dover. 978-0486270609
- Boccaccio, Decameron (trans. G.H. McWilliam). Penguin. 978-0140449303
- Smiley (preface), The Sagas of the Icelanders. Penguin. 978-0141000039
Notes
Online registration deadline: Thursday, March 24, 5 pm CT.