British Literature Module 4.2

Study Guide: British Literature (Excellence in Literature, English 4)

Focus Text: Canterbury Tales by Chaucer

NOTE: This is an epic poem, created to be heard. I strongly recommend listening to it, or at least a portion of it. Blackstone Audiobook: http://amzn.to/2rdwihe

Choose a good annotated version such as the Modern Library Classics version shown at left and read the portions assigned in the text.*

http://www.librarius.com/cantales.htm

*As you probably know if you have used EIL before, I prefer to study works in their entirety. However, due to the constraint of the four-week study period, and the fact that medieval humor can be quite crude, the above stories are the ones I suggest focusing on. If you do choose to read the entire work, be aware that older translations tend to be more subtle, and may be a better choice.

Honors Text: Piers Plowman by William Langland

Canterbury Tales Context Resources

These links represent only the online resources referenced in this module. Instructions, background information, offline resources, and assignments are all found in the Excellence in Literature study guide listed above.

Readings

The Canterbury Tales as retold by Geraldine McCaughrean

https://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/less-0.htm

http://www.godecookery.com/pilgrims/pilgrims.htm

Who Murdered Chaucer? by Terry Jones, et al.

http://www.york.ac.uk/projects/pilgrimage/

http://www.keithbuhler.com/virtues

The Author’s Life

Chaucer Biography

https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu

http://www.luminarium.org/letter.htm

http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/chaucer.htm

https://www.ancient.eu/Geoffrey_Chaucer/

Poetry

http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/special/authors/dante/

Audio

Blackstone Audio version is recommended. This amateur recording may be better than nothing if you can’t get a professional recording: http://librivox.org/the-canterbury-tales-by-geoffrey-chaucer/

https://alanbaragona.wordpress.com/the-criyng-and-the-soun/

Music

https://alanbaragona.wordpress.com/baragonas-chaucer/music-of-the-14th-century/

https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/thomas-tallis-medieval-music/

Video

Animated version of The Canterbury Tales (1998; UK)

Visual Arts

https://d.lib.rochester.edu/chaucer

http://www.muldermedia.com/gallery/index.html

https://chauceratwisc.wordpress.com/

https://chauceratwisc.wordpress.com/manuscript/

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/giotto/

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/glas/hd_glas.htm

https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/gothic

Historic Context

Eyewitness Medieval Life by Andrew Langley

https://www.medievalists.net/2015/08/medieval-pilgrimages-its-all-about-the-journey/

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pilg/hd_pilg.htm

http://cola.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl430/estates.html

https://www.medievalists.net/2015/03/crusades-brief-history-1095-1500/

https://www.britannica.com/event/Crusades

https://www.hillside.co.uk/tour/tour.html

Just for Fun

Here’s a memorization and recitation assignment for the first 18 lines of the Tales. Enjoy!

Study Questions

https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/chaucer-study-questions-by-dr-wheeler-for-canterbury-tales-prologue/

https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/geoffery-chaucer-study-questions-by-dr-alfred-drake/

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Index of British Literature context link pages

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British Literature Texts (recommended editions)

British Lit study guide, and links to focus and honors texts (opens in a new tab at the author’s Everyday Education site)