ENGL 3315

Geoffrey Chaucer, writing in fourteenth-century England in the midst of plague, the Peasant's Revolt, the Hundred Years War, and other social upheavals of the late Middle Ages, processed and reflected this tumult in The Canterbury Tales. In this course, we will explore the way Chaucer engages with the world around him through this series of funny, tragic, magical, and harrowing stories, as well as selections from his other works and those of others who inspired or respond to him. We will consider these works in their historical, cultural, and literary contexts and consider a number of themes, including social class, gender and sexuality, religion, the tradition of courtly love, and global connections.