M.A. course
English Department Prof. Lawrence Besserman
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem tashs”ad/2003-04
Medieval English Poetry 700-1500 (M.A.)
Sem. 1 and 2: Tues. 16.30- 18.00:
Readings will include the Old English “elegies” (“The Wanderer,” “The Wife’s Lament,” etc.), Beowulf, selections from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Piers Plowman, and Middle English secular and religious lyrics. (The Old English poems will be read in Modern English translation.) Text: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1, 7th ed.,
Requirements and grading:
1) 50%--assigned readings completed before each class, regular attendance, participation in class discussion, and a 45 minute presentation on a text; 50% an 8-10 page term paper. Participation is an essential component of this class; 3 unexcused absences will result in a lowered grade.
Tuesdays, year-long
Semester A:
28.10 Introduction/Timeline/ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND/BEDE (ca. 673–735) and CÆDMON’S HYMN
An Ecclesiastical History of the English People/ [The Story of Cædmon]
4.11 THE DREAM OF THE ROOD/THE WANDERER
11.11 THE WIFE’S LAMENT/THE
18.11 BEOWULF
25.11 “
2.12 “
9.12 “
16.12 “
23.12 “
30.12 LEGENDARY HISTORIES OF BRITAIN: GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH, The History of the Kings of Britain [The Story of Brutus and Diana’s Prophecy]; ; LAYAMON, Brut [Arthur’s Dream]; THE MYTH OF ARTHUR’S RETURN: WACE (ca. 1110–1180), Le Roman de Brut [The Roman Challenge]
Geoffrey of Monmouth: From History of the Kings of Britain; Wace: From Roman de Brut; Layamon: From Brut
6.1 “ “ “
13.1 “ “ “
20.1 MARIE DE
27.1 “ “ “
Semester B:
2.3 Introduction to Middle English Literature: ANCRENE RIWLE (Rule for Anchoresses): [The Parable of the Christ- Knight]/MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES
9.3 SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT (ca. 1375–1400)
16.3 “ “ “
23.3 GEOFFREY CHAUCER (ca. 1343–1400), THE CANTERBURY TALES: The General Prologue, The Miller’s Prologue and Tale, Man of Law’s Epilogue, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale, The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, The Parson’s Tale, Chaucer’s Retraction; LYRICS AND OCCASIONAL VERSE: Troilus’s Song, Truth, To His Scribe Adam, Complaint to His Purse
30.3 “ “ “
[1-16.4 Pesach vacation]
20.4 “ “ “
27.4 WILLIAM LANGLAND (ca. 1330–1387), The Vision of Piers Plowman: The Prologue [The Field of Folk], Passus 5 [The Confession of Envy] [The Confession of Gluttony] [Piers Plowman Shows the Way to Saint Truth], Passus 6 [The Plowing of Piers’s Half-Acre], Passus 18 [The Harrowing of Hell]; The C-Text [The Dreamer Meets Conscience and Reason]
4.5 “ “ “
11.5 VACATION-STUDENTS’ DAY
18.5 MIDDLE ENGLISH LYRICS: The Cuckoo Song, Alison, My Lief Is Faren in Londe, Western Wind, I Am of Ireland, What is He, this lordling, that cometh from the fight, Ye That Pasen by the Weye, Sunset on Calvary, I Sing of a Maiden, Adam Lay Bound, The Corpus Christi Carol
[25-26.5 Shavuot vacation]
1.6 “ “ “
8.6 JULIAN OF NORWICH (1342–ca. 1416), A Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian of Norwich
[The First Revelation] Chapter 3, Chapter 4 iv, Chapter 5, From Chapter 7, Chapter 27 [Jesus as Mother], From Chapter 58, From Chapter 59, Chapter 60, Chapter 61, [Conclusion], Chapter 86/MARGERY KEMPE (ca. 1373–1438), The Book of Margery Kempe:[The Birth of Her First Child and Her First Vision], [Her Pride and Attempts to Start a Business], [Margery and Her Husband Reach a Settlement], [A Visit with Julian of Norwich], [Pilgrimage to Jerusalem]; [Examination before the Archbishop], [Margery Nurses Her Husband in His Old Age]
15.6 “ “ “
22.6 “ “ “
Reserve Books
- Bennett, J. A. W. Middle English Literature. Edited and completed by Douglas Gray. Oxford History of English Literature, vol. 1/part 2.
- Pearsall, Derek. Old English and Middle English Poetry.