MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS
Arts Undergraduate Handbook 1996
Published by Monash University
Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia
Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
ENH4800
Middle English Literature
J Strauss
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
Synopsis The subject considers the themes of love, warfare, fortune and
free will as embodied in verse and prose versions of the stories of Troilus and
Cressida and of the Arthuriad. Narrative and ideological conventions of
medieval romance will be a major concern. With the exception of the
translations contained in King Arthur's Death, the texts will be read in
the original language.
Assessment Two exercises (3000 words): 30% total + Commentary test (3
hours): 30% + Essay (3000 words): 30% + Class attendance and performance: 10%
Prescribed texts
- Chaucer The Riverside Chaucer ed. Benson, OUP, 1988
- Henryson R The Testament of Cresseid and other poems ed. Macdiarmid,
Penguin, 1973
- Malory The works of Sir Thomas Malory ed. Vinaver, OUP, 1971
- Stone B (tr) King Arthur's death: alliterative Morte Arthure and
stanzaic Le Morte Arthur Penguin, 1988
- Tolkien J R R and Gordon E V (eds) Sir Gawain and the green knight
rev Gordon, OUP, 1967
Recommended texts
- Burnley D A guide to Chaucer's language Macmillan, 1983
- Coote S English literature of the Middle Ages Penguin, 1988
- Davis N and others A Chaucer glossary OUP, 1979
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