Middle English Literature
C Stevenson
12 points * 3 hours per week (combining lectures, seminar discussions and translation sessions) * First semester * Clayton * Prerequisites: students are expected to have completed successfully ENH2190/3190 and ENH3390 or their equivalent
A literary study of a selection of later Middle English narrative and dramatic texts which operate within the non-realistic frames and conventions of allegory and dream-vision. Texts will be read in the original language.
Assessment
Two written exercises (3000 words): 30% * Commentary test (3 hours): 30% * Essay (3000 words): 30% * Class attendance and performance: 10%
Prescribed texts
Chaucer G `The book of the duchess' and `The parliament of fowls' in The Riverside Chaucer ed. Benson, OUP
James I of Scotland The Kingis Quhair ed. Norton-Smith, OUP
Langland W The Vision of Piers Plowman: A complete edition of the B-text ed. Schmidt, Dent
`Mankind' and `The Castle of Perseverance' (text to be provided)
`Pearl' in Pearl, Cleanness, Patience and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ed. Cawley, Dent
Recommended texts
Ackerman R W Backgrounds to medieval English literature Random House
Coote S English literature of the Middle Ages Penguin