ENG 351: The Calamitous 14th Century
Spring 2015 M/F 1-2:15 Duffy 219
Prof. Wendy Chapman Peek
Office: Cushing-Martin 123
Office Hours: Wednesdays 1-2:15 until Spring Break: Wednesdays 4-5:30 after Spring Break; I am also available most Mondays 11:30-1:00 and Fridays after 2:30. Please confirm office visits in advance via email.
Email: wpeek@stonehill.edu
Class blog: http://www.calamitous14.blogspot.com
Course Objective: Using Piers Plowman as a kind of tour book, like a Lonely Planet Guide to Medieval England, we will journey through the social and literary tumult of late 14th century England. Although war, religious schism, and social upheaval all bid for our attention, most of our work will focus on William Langland’s representation of the economic and moral controversies that were either created or exacerbated by the appearance of plague in the late 1340s. We will also contrast Langland’s intense literary engagement with the controversies of his times with Chaucer’s curious reticence about the emerging conflicts he was so central to.
My responsibilities in this course will be to guide and challenge you as you come to know this time of the most lethal event of recorded history. I have selected and arranged materials to lead you to progressively deeper engagement with these texts. I will make myself available in office hours and through email to facilitate your work in this period and its writers.
Your responsibilities include preparation for and participation in our class meetings, some translation/pop reading quizzes (20%), a short paper on primary plague sources (10%), another short paper on your topic as Resource Person (10%), a medium-length paper on the topic of your work as Presenter (5 or more pages: 20%), and one semester-long paper (10 or more pages; 40%), that will incorporate research to support your literary analysis. Each of you will workshop your research paper with the class, as we help each other develop a more complete picture of English culture in the late Middle Ages.
With all of these papers, you have the option to submit drafts for my comments in advance of the due date.
If it becomes clear that people are not doing the daily reading, I will add a final exam to the syllabus, taking points away from the long paper.
Quizzes may be graded using the following template: errors of tense, unidiomatic Modern English = -2; missing or wrong words = -4; misconstrued phrases = -8; misconstrued sentences = -16.
As Resource Person, your duties include being more familiar with the material than a casual reading would provide. This includes:
• reading Anna Baldwin’s discussion of the particular passus if we’re reading PP (her book is A Guidebook to Piers Plowman, on reserve). If we’re reading something from CT (The Canterbury Tales) read the appropriate chapter on your tale from Winthrop Wetherbee’s book, Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales (use the index to find where he talks about specific tales), and the appropriate chapter in Helen Cooper’s The Oxford Guide to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales. Both of these books are on reserve for our class.
• preparing for the class an outline of the passus or tale;
• preparing two discussion questions relating to some of the main ideas of the passus or tale (see “Sample Questions” on the RH of our blog);
• writing a 1-3 page that lays out the interpretation of the text that you will present to the class. What thesis about the work will you develop? What passages will you point to as supporting that thesis, and what do you want your colleagues to see in those passages? Are there comparisons or contrasts with other works we've read this semester that contextualize and support your thesis? Your paper is due the day of your work as Resource Person.
Your paper, though short, should be chock-full of content. I want to see provocative, thoughtful ideas expressed.
As Presenter your duties include becoming a mini-expert on the topic assigned, perhaps relating it to the reading for the day. For this task:
• You will need to read at least one book, three articles or chapters from one book or various books, or a combination of these to prepare for your presentation. Ideally, your research should progress from the general to the specific, from entries in The Medieval Dictionary, The Catholic Encyclopedia (online: for questions of medieval religion and theology), or The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature. Please work closely with me in selecting your materials. I can steer you toward better sources and save you lots of time.
• Your presentation should take about 15 minutes. It should show the connection between your topic and its expression in or connection to Piers Plowman, The Canterbury Tales or other readings. Take care to structure it in a way that your listeners can follow. You can use the form of a lecture or a discussion. You might want to pose a question about the literature that is based on your research. Please let me know if you need me to copy handouts or add elements to the blog to supplement your presentation.
• You will also write a 5-ish page paper on this topic, one that combines your research with a thesis about the literature. This paper should not be just a summary of your research, but should incorporate that research into an argument. How is your understanding of the text enhanced or revised by your research? You have until 1 week after the presentation to turn in your paper. Do include a bibliography with this paper.
The goal of your Final Paper, at least 10 pages in length, is to use research in support of literary analysis. You may write about topics that you first encountered as a Resource Person or as a Presenter. On the way to your final paper, you will need to:
• write a research question (proposal; due March 20);
• an annotated bibliography (due April 10), and;
• a draft for me to review;
• For your final paper, you will need to read at least two books or six essays or chapters in books, or a combination of the two. Please work closely with me in selecting your materials.
NOTE on citation: In your paper, all quotations from the medieval texts must be in the original Middle English, although you may quote from translations if you wish to speak about the translation itself. Cite from Chaucer's CT using fragment and line number; cite from PP using passus and line number.
I also strongly encourage you to meet with me individually every 10 days through March and April to review your progress. This is for my education as much as for your guidance. I will need to read the materials you’ve discovered, so that I can keep up with your work.
In preparation to workshop your draft, you will need to email the members of the class a copy of your draft by the previous class meeting. Remember too that I am always available to read drafts in progress.
Texts:
Required:
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Ed. Jill Mann. Penguin.
Langland, William. Piers Plowman: Norton. Ed. Elizabeth Robertson and Stephen H. A. Shepherd. Norton 2006.
Horrox, Rosemary. The Black Death. Manchester UP, 1994.
Recommended:
Baldwin, Anna. A Guidebook to Piers Plowman. Palgrave, 2007.
On Reserve:
Aers, David. Community, Gender, and Individual Identity: English Writing 1360-1430. Routledge 1988.
Alford, John. A Companion to Piers Plowman. University of California Press 1990.
Baldwin, Anna. A Guidebook to Piers Plowman. Palgrave 2007.
Bowers, John. M. Chaucer and Langland: The Antagonistic Tradition. University of Notre Dame Press, 2007.
Cooper, Helen. Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales. 2nd ed. Oxford UP, 1996.
Gilman, Ernest B. Plague Writing in Early Modern England. University of Chicago 2009.
Gottfried, Robert S. The Black Death. Free Press 1983.
Hewitt-Smith, Kathleen M. William Langland’s Piers Plowman: A Book of Essays. Routledge 2001.
Holmes, George. The Later Middle Ages, 1272-1485. Norton 1962.
Horrox, Rosemary. The Black Death. University of Manchester Press 1994.
Justice, Steven. Writing and Rebellion: England in 1381. University of California Press 1994.
_____ & Kathryn Kerby-Fulton. Written Work: Langland, Labor, and Authorship. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.
Simpson, James. Piers Plowman: An Introduction. Second Revised Ed. University of Exeter Press, 2007.
Wallace, David. The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature. Cambridge University Press 1999.
Wetherbee, Winthrop. Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales. A Student Guide. Cambridge University Press.
Yearbook of Langland Studies. Vol. 17 2003. Special Issue on Langland and Lollardy.
Useful Internet Resources:
YLS (Yearbook of Langland Studies). Available through MacPhaidin Library’s electronic resources.
http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/ This Chaucer site has lots of lessons in translation, pronunciation, practice quizzes, and many helpful supplementary materials.
http://Labyrinth.georgetown.edu. This used to be the go-to medieval site, but much material has migrated since these links were originally established, so searches are often frustrating. Still, it’s excellent for the range of topics it covers.
http://netserf.org. This site picks up where Labyrinth leaves off. A much-more satisfying (and well-maintained) site organizing internet materials of interest to medievalists.
http://virgil.org/dswo/courses/medieval-visions/pp-outline.htm A detailed outline of Piers Plowman.
Daily Schedule
M Jan 12
Introduction to course
F Jan 16
Introduction to the plague
Read for class: Rosemary Horrox, “Introduction,” The Black Death.
Email Gilman reading
Sign up for Horrox assignment
Powerpoint
M Jan 19
MLK Jr. Day
F Jan 23
Read for class:
1. Ernest B. Gilman, Introduction, “The View from the Mountain” from Plague Writing in Early Modern England and pp. 37-42 “Construct Plague”
Discussion questions for Gilman:
What surprised you in this article?
What were some of the most important things you learned from this article?
What new ideas did it introduce you to?
2. Horrox, “The Plague in Florence” (26ff.)
3. Horrox, “The Plague in Avignon” (41ff.)
4. Horrox, “The Plague in France…” (54ff.)
5. Horrox, "Report of the Paris medical faculty" (p. 158ff.)
6. Horrox, “The plague at Meaux abbey” (p. 67ff.)
Discussion Questions for the medieval readings:
1. How does each writer imagine the plague? What forces does he hold responsible?
2. What responses strike you as particularly medieval? What's "medieval" about them?
M Jan 26
Middle English language review
Sign up for work as Resource People
Bring The Canterbury Tales to class to practice reading and translating
F Jan 30
This paper is worth 10% of your final grade. Although you will be working with nonfictional materials, bring your tools of literary analysis, as you do a close-reading of your sources. Don't think of these readings as simply "quarries for facts," as
Horrox assignment due, in two parts
In Part One, provide a summary of the content of your readings to present to your colleagues in class. Be sure to answer the following questions: Who is the author? Be careful to note if your source is English or continental. When was the source composed? Why did the author write it? Who was the intended audience? What is the historical context in which the source was written? Do you detect implicit or explicit biases in the sources? What is distinctive about the author's representation of the crisis?
Some of the answers to these questions will be answered in Horrox’s introductions. Others you will have to deduce on your own.
For Part Two, create a thesis about plague writing in your sources, one that draws the two sources into dialogue with one another (if you have two sources), either as similar or contrasting voices, and write a short paper (2-4 pp.) in support of that thesis. Gilman's discussion of "construct plague," that is, the way that cultures imagine or mentally "construct" their responses to plague, should be the theory that grounds your interpretation.
This paper is worth 10% of your final grade. Although you will be working with nonfictional materials, bring your tools of literary analysis, as you do a close-reading of your sources. Don't think of these readings as simply "quarries for facts," as
Be prepared to share your findings with the class. You'll have just 4 minutes, so keep your comments concise.
M Feb 2
SNOW DAY
SNOW DAY
F February 6
Read for class:
1. Horrox, Introduction to Part Two “Explanations and Responses,” pp. 95-110
2. Horrox, Introduction to Part Three “Consequences,” pp. 227-247
3. Selected passage from Gilman (pp. 48-54)
Discussion Questions: Does Gilman’s argument in “Unspeakable Suffering” convince you? What are the difficulties of his method? In what ways might those difficulties be overcome?
New One: Some of the material from Horrox will be familiar to you (good! you're already mastering useful information). But what in Horrox is new and noteworthy to you?
New One: Some of the material from Horrox will be familiar to you (good! you're already mastering useful information). But what in Horrox is new and noteworthy to you?
M Feb 9
SNOW DAY
SNOW DAY
The Knight’s Tale as Plague Writing
Read for class:
Chaucer, “The Knight’s Tale,” Prima Pars & Secunda Pars
Discussion Question: Do you see elements of Horrox's account of plague in "Explanations and Responses" and "Consequences" in the first two sections of "The Knight's Tale"? Do also bring in any questions you may have about the events of the tale, the setting, the characters, etc.
F Feb 13—Friday the 13th!
Read for class:
Chaucer, “The Knight’s Tale” to end
Freewriting Question (prepare this for class): To what extent can we read “The Knight’s Tale” as a plague narrative, taking as our cue Gilman’s argument from his section “Unspeakable Suffering”?
M Feb 16
Plague and Social Upheaval
Read for class: George M. Holmes, “Lay Society” from The Later Middle Ages, 1272-1485, pp. 131-167 (on reserve)
Review in Class: “The Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards” at Harvard Chaucer site
F Feb 20
Finish Discussing Holmes and Reviewing "The Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards"
Discussion Question: what surprised you in the reading from Holmes? Did anything challenge your views about the Middle Ages?
Medieval Lecture
Discussion Question: what surprised you in the reading from Holmes? Did anything challenge your views about the Middle Ages?
Medieval Lecture
M Feb 23
Medieval Allegory
Read for class:
Langland, Piers Plowman, Preface (xi-xv), Prologue and Passus 1
Read in class: Dante, “Letter to Can Grande” (section 7):
Discussion Question: Question of Prologue—where do Langland’s
sympathies lie? With the rats
desiring to bell the cat—or with the “mouse that knew much”?
F February 27
Medieval Pilgrimage
Read for class: Chaucer, “The General Prologue”
Hand out chart from Baldwin, pp. 94-5
Resource Person: Nina
Discussion Question: what do the prologues of Chaucer and Langland have in common? How do they differ?
Discussion Question: what do the prologues of Chaucer and Langland have in common? How do they differ?
M Mar 2
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 2
Resource Person: Thea
F Mar 6
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 3-4
Resource Person: TBA
Presentations on: the seven deadly (capital) sins--Jenna
SPRING BREAK
M Mar 16
Chaucer, "The Physician-Pardoner Link," "The Pardoner's Prologue," “The Pardoner’s Tale”
Resource Person: Monica
Presentation on: clerical corruption and anti-fraternalism (Gabrielle)
Presentation on: clerical corruption and anti-fraternalism (Gabrielle)
F March 20
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 5
Horrox: VI, 97, “A reduction in labour services,” VII, 103 “An early enclosure,” VII, 108 “Effrenata,” VII, 112 “The Statute of Labourers, 1351”
Resource Person: Theresa
Presentation on: 14th century work and Labor Laws (Ryan)
Translation quiz #2
Research Proposal Due (you can also turn it in before Break if you want comments back more quickly.) See link in the "Pages" section of the blog to specific instructions.
Research Proposal Due (you can also turn it in before Break if you want comments back more quickly.) See link in the "Pages" section of the blog to specific instructions.
M Mar 23
Read for class: Chaucer, “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue”
Susan Crane, "The Writing Lesson of 1381"on reserve in Chaucer's England
Resource Person: Gabrielle
Presentations on: medieval marriage and the status of women (Caitlyn)
Presentations on: medieval marriage and the status of women (Caitlyn)
F Mar 27
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 6-8
Resource Person: Katie Walsh
Presentation on Food and Famine (Kate Diversa)
Homework (for everyone except Katie and Kate): Write a short paragraph answering the question, "Why does Piers rip the pardon in Passus 7? What makes hims so angry?" There is much debate about this famous moment in the poem, and no clear consensus has emerged.
Presentation on Food and Famine (Kate Diversa)
Homework (for everyone except Katie and Kate): Write a short paragraph answering the question, "Why does Piers rip the pardon in Passus 7? What makes hims so angry?" There is much debate about this famous moment in the poem, and no clear consensus has emerged.
M Mar 30
Read for class: Chaucer, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”
Presentations on: Langland and Lollardy (Nina); poverty in the Middle Ages (Katie)
TH Apr 2
Magic Monday #1
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 9-10
Resource Person: Kate D
The Rising of 1381(Kenia)
Initial Bibliography for final paper due. You can email it to me.
EASTER BREAK
M Apr 6
Magic Monday #2
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 11-12
Resource Person: Amanda
Presentation on: Kynde (Amanda)
M Apr 6
Magic Monday #2
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 11-12
Resource Person: Amanda
Presentation on: Kynde (Amanda)
W April 8 Faux Monday
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 13
Resource Person: Alyssa
Presentation on: The London of Chaucer and Langland (Thea)
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 13
Resource Person: Alyssa
Presentation on: The London of Chaucer and Langland (Thea)
F Apr 10
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 14
Resource Person: Caitlyn
M April 13
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 15 and Appendix “The ‘Autobiographical’ Passage in the C-Version” (pp. 363ff.)
Resource Person:
Presentation on: the psychology of sin/inwit (Theresa)
Presentation on: the psychology of sin/inwit (Theresa)
F Apr 17
Undergraduate Literature Conference
Annotated Bibliography due (that means you've finished reading the items on your bibliography and have a written paragraph summarizing each and its value to your final project). For more info on annotated bibliographies, read this. You can email your bibliography to me.
M Apr 20
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 16-17
Resource Person: Ryan
Presentation: The Rising of 1381 (Kenia)
Translation Quiz #3
Presentation: The Rising of 1381 (Kenia)
Translation Quiz #3
NOTE: I will be available to meet with you to discuss your drafts over the next two weeks.
F Apr 24
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 18
Resource Person: Jenna
Presentation on: Prostitution, or anything Alyssa wants to present on (Alyssa)
M Apr 27
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 19 [add readings from NT]
Resource Person: Kenia
Presentation on medieval Representations of the Devil (Monica)
F May 1
Magic Monday #3
Read for class: Piers Plowman, Passus 20
[readings from NT]
Special homework for Kate and Katie: 1 paragraph on your response to Passus 20. Is it a surprise? Or is it consistent with Langland's method throughout the poem?
Final Paper Due May 6, 1:30 (the time scheduled for our final)
Policies:
Papers and Quizzes:
1) Format your papers with 1" margins on all sides, double-spaced, and fonts no larger than 12 point (scaled roughly to Times New Roman size). Cover sheets are a waste of paper, but a thoughtful title is always appreciated.
2) It is not necessary to provide a “Works Cited” page for assigned readings. If you use materials not explicitly assigned in class, cite them using MLA Style (the basics of which: parenthetical references with a Works Cited page). When in doubt, refer to The Concise Wadsworth Handbook.
3) The grade on late papers will drop 10 points per calendar day that the paper is late. A paper is considered late if it is turned in after the end of class on the day it is due.
4) If illness prevents you from turning a paper in on time, email me as soon as possible, and we’ll make appropriate arrangements. If you have a computer draft of a paper, you may email that to me on the due date.
5) You must complete all of the assignments to pass the class (even if they are turned in so late that they cannot receive a passing grade).
6) If you are absent on the day of a quiz, it is your responsibility to speak with me about re-taking the quiz within 3 days of the original quiz. Please note that the make-up quiz will be more challenging than the original quiz.
Do not miss class on the day your paper is to be workshopped. Your grade on the paper will drop by 10 points, and you will miss the benefit of feedback from your peers.
Grading Guidelines: I give out numerical rather than alphabetical grades. The scale is:
97 = A+
93 = A
90 = A-
87 = B+
83 = B
80 = B-
77 = C+
73 = C
70 = C-
67 = D+
63 = D
60 = D-
59 & below = F
F = You fail to turn in the paper, or your paper lacks a thesis, or you have no arguments or evidence in defense of your thesis. Simply completing the work does not guarantee a passing grade.
D = A thesis with some supporting arguments and examples/quotations. A “D” signifies serious problems with the organization of the argument (weak topic sentences, unconvincing examples, no transitions between ideas) and/or with expression (diction, wordiness, poor grammar, mechanical errors, lack of necessary specifics).
C = A clear thesis, with some convincing supporting arguments with examples/quotations. Some acknowledgment of relevant objections, if appropriate. A “C” indicates that there are problems with organization and/or developments of the thesis, although the writing may be clear and the argument convincing.
B = A clear thesis, with fully developed and convincing supporting arguments. Appropriate and helpful examples/quotations. Careful attention to details of expression, whether verbal or visual. Sensitivity to the subtleties of the text. You demonstrate that you are a careful reader as well as a competent writer. Consideration and refutation of relevant objections, if appropriate. Free of mechanical errors.
A = Everything required for a B, plus significant, original thought. The thesis and analysis in an “A” paper are sophisticated, complex, subtle. In particular, the work with quotations closely reads and builds on the ideas in the quotations.
Attendance Policy:
Attend every class. We have a lot of ground to cover in a very short amount of time. If you become ill during the semester, send me an email immediately. Please find a friendly face in class to take notes for you and to collect or turn in any handouts or assignments that are due.
If you encounter circumstances that make it difficult to abide by this policy, come and talk to me. An excessive number of absences will have a deleterious effect on your final grade. It is necessary, though not sufficient, that you attend at least 75% of the classes for a passing grade; this means you can that 7 is the maximum number of courses that you can miss, for any reason.
Academic Integrity:
(From the The Hill Book): Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to the following actions:
a) presenting another's work as if it were one's own;
b) failing to acknowledge or document a source even if the action is unintended (i. e. plagiarism)
[N. B. This can take various forms: 1) using the writer's exact words; 2) paraphrasing the argument; 3) even following the general outline or drift of the argument];
c) giving or receiving, or attempting to give or receive, unauthorized assistance or information in an assignment or examination;
d) fabricating data;
e) submitting the same assignment in two or more courses without prior permission of the respective instructors; or
f) having another person write a paper or sit for an examination.
In the class, a violation of the Academic Integrity policy will result in a failing grade for the course.
English Department Policy on Academic Integrity
In support of Stonehill College’s Academic Integrity Policy, the English Department requires that faculty notify the Director of Academic Services about every student who has plagiarized or violated the Academic Honor Code in any manner. All members of the College community have the responsibility to be familiar with and to follow the College’s policy on academic integrity. Since the actions that constitute violation of the policy are covered in many places, in The Hill Book and in presentations at orientation, pleading ignorance will not work. If you have questions about what constitutes a violation of the code or how to incorporate outside sources in your work, please consult with your professor before you turn in your assignments.
Students with documented disabilities: If you are seeking classroom accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, you are required to register with the Center for Academic Achievement, located in Duffy 109. To receive academic accommodations for this class, please request an accommodation letter from the Center for Academic Achievement and meet with me at the beginning of the semester.
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