Why Study Chaucer
The Importance of Art
"Poetry, like human life, is an indeterminate middle between over-specified poles, always threatening to collapse it. The poles may be birth and death, father and mother… love and judgment, heaven and earth, first things and last things. Art narrates the middle region… for only if it exists can life exist; only if the imagination presses against the poles are error and life, wisdom and illusion possible" -Hartman
For Those Asking Why
Some writers will always be remembered in literature. Some people criticize an overemphasis of the classics. Some claim that politics and other factors influence who is remembered and, perhaps this is true. However, this has yet to lessen my opinion of Chaucer. I believe we should never forget to acknowledge timeless works. Chaucer causes the reader to analyze everything. As soon as you think you have him pegged, he offers another tale, another perspective, an implicit, indirect, complicated, ambiguous lens through which you must re-evaluate. For those who love to think deeply and untangle complex ideologies… For the psychologists who thrive off of analyzing human behavior… For historians and sociologists who study the way society and time influence people… For writers who want a plethora of styles to study, mimic, model, analyze… For philosophers who like to delve into theories… For artists who seek to embrace the aesthetics of experience and exploration… For people who like to challenge their minds… For scholars trying to find answers or perhaps trying to pose the right questions… For all of those in between- in the middle region- never to be categorized by over-specified poles… you may find a kernel of knowledge by studying Chaucer. Yet, you alone will be the one to interpret what is the kernel and what is the chaff. There are many paths in the art of perspective formulation.
Pertaining to Knowledge & Perspective
“For it is a false assertion that the sense of man is the measure of things. On the contrary, all perceptions as well of the sense of the mind are according to the measure of the individual and not according to the measure of the universe. And the human understanding is like a false mirror, which, receiving rays irregularly distorts and discolors the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it… For everyone (besides the errors common to human nature in general) has a cave or den of his own, which refracts and discolors the light of nature, owing either to his own proper and peculiar nature, or to his education and conversation with others, or to the reading of books, and the authority of those whom he esteems and admires; or to the difference of impressions, accordingly as they take place in a mind indifferent and settled, or the like. So that the spirit of man (according as it is meted out to different individuals) is in fact a thing variable and full of perturbation, and governed as it were by chance” -Sir Francis Bacon Novum Organum
"Poetry, like human life, is an indeterminate middle between over-specified poles, always threatening to collapse it. The poles may be birth and death, father and mother… love and judgment, heaven and earth, first things and last things. Art narrates the middle region… for only if it exists can life exist; only if the imagination presses against the poles are error and life, wisdom and illusion possible" -Hartman
For Those Asking Why
Some writers will always be remembered in literature. Some people criticize an overemphasis of the classics. Some claim that politics and other factors influence who is remembered and, perhaps this is true. However, this has yet to lessen my opinion of Chaucer. I believe we should never forget to acknowledge timeless works. Chaucer causes the reader to analyze everything. As soon as you think you have him pegged, he offers another tale, another perspective, an implicit, indirect, complicated, ambiguous lens through which you must re-evaluate. For those who love to think deeply and untangle complex ideologies… For the psychologists who thrive off of analyzing human behavior… For historians and sociologists who study the way society and time influence people… For writers who want a plethora of styles to study, mimic, model, analyze… For philosophers who like to delve into theories… For artists who seek to embrace the aesthetics of experience and exploration… For people who like to challenge their minds… For scholars trying to find answers or perhaps trying to pose the right questions… For all of those in between- in the middle region- never to be categorized by over-specified poles… you may find a kernel of knowledge by studying Chaucer. Yet, you alone will be the one to interpret what is the kernel and what is the chaff. There are many paths in the art of perspective formulation.
Pertaining to Knowledge & Perspective
“For it is a false assertion that the sense of man is the measure of things. On the contrary, all perceptions as well of the sense of the mind are according to the measure of the individual and not according to the measure of the universe. And the human understanding is like a false mirror, which, receiving rays irregularly distorts and discolors the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it… For everyone (besides the errors common to human nature in general) has a cave or den of his own, which refracts and discolors the light of nature, owing either to his own proper and peculiar nature, or to his education and conversation with others, or to the reading of books, and the authority of those whom he esteems and admires; or to the difference of impressions, accordingly as they take place in a mind indifferent and settled, or the like. So that the spirit of man (according as it is meted out to different individuals) is in fact a thing variable and full of perturbation, and governed as it were by chance” -Sir Francis Bacon Novum Organum
What To Look For…
The Power of Perspective
The Canterbury Tales is what we call a frame story. Chaucer is writing about a group of pilgrims who are the characters in The Canterbury Tales. However, each character also tells a story/tale that includes its own group of characters… the result: a story within a story. Bonnie Irwin, a scholar who studies frame tales, states, "Chaucer has a total of 23 narrators, including himself, who tell each other tales on their pilgrimage to Canterbury. Often the interpolated tales in these more entertaining frames are bawdy or comic. It is important to realize, however, that such subdivisions are not mutually exclusive. The teacher/student type of tale may include bawdy tales and the ostensibly entertaining frame tale always includes serious messages for its audience, whether they be overt or veiled. An author often uses this dual nature of the entertaining frame tale to place a heavier burden of interpretation on his audience" (30). Look for who is speaking. Do you think Chaucer is speaking through the characters in the tales? Do you think he is using the characters to critique the content of the tale? Or do you think this just gives Chaucer an outlet to explore different philosophies, different points of view, and different writing styles? In your education up to this point, you may have been told that there are right and wrong answers. However, this class is not about right or wrong answers, it is about perspective. I am not here to tell you what the "correct" interpretation of a tale or the work as a whole is. However, I will give you the interpretations of others and allow you to postulate your own opinions. Elie Wiesel once wrote, "To learn means to accept the postulate, that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps… I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests. And so are you.” Therefore, I ask you not to base your opinions on what others before you believe. Rather, I want you to take into consideration those who have studied before you and begin to develop your own beliefs through discourse, critical thinking, and continuous reflection.
"For my own part / I have never had a thought / Which I could not set down in words / With even more distinctness / Than that which I conceived it / There is however, a class of fancies / Of Exquisite delicacy / Which are not thoughts / And to which is yet, I have found it / Absolutely impossible to adapt to language / These fancies arise in us all / Alas how rarely / Only an epics of most intense tranquility / When the body and mental health are in perfection / And at those mired points of time / Where the confines of the waking world / Blend with the world of dreams / And so I captured this fancy / Where all that we see or seem is but / A Dream Within A Dream" -Alan Parsons Project
A Dream within a dream; a tale within a tale; a story within a story… whichever you choose to buy into. Remember that this second tier adds a level of complexity when seeking to grasp the intricacies of meaning. As you read, keep this question in mind: Is Chaucer's work endorsing the societal hierarchy and society of the time, critiquing it, questioning it, or serving another purpose?
The Canterbury Tales is what we call a frame story. Chaucer is writing about a group of pilgrims who are the characters in The Canterbury Tales. However, each character also tells a story/tale that includes its own group of characters… the result: a story within a story. Bonnie Irwin, a scholar who studies frame tales, states, "Chaucer has a total of 23 narrators, including himself, who tell each other tales on their pilgrimage to Canterbury. Often the interpolated tales in these more entertaining frames are bawdy or comic. It is important to realize, however, that such subdivisions are not mutually exclusive. The teacher/student type of tale may include bawdy tales and the ostensibly entertaining frame tale always includes serious messages for its audience, whether they be overt or veiled. An author often uses this dual nature of the entertaining frame tale to place a heavier burden of interpretation on his audience" (30). Look for who is speaking. Do you think Chaucer is speaking through the characters in the tales? Do you think he is using the characters to critique the content of the tale? Or do you think this just gives Chaucer an outlet to explore different philosophies, different points of view, and different writing styles? In your education up to this point, you may have been told that there are right and wrong answers. However, this class is not about right or wrong answers, it is about perspective. I am not here to tell you what the "correct" interpretation of a tale or the work as a whole is. However, I will give you the interpretations of others and allow you to postulate your own opinions. Elie Wiesel once wrote, "To learn means to accept the postulate, that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps… I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests. And so are you.” Therefore, I ask you not to base your opinions on what others before you believe. Rather, I want you to take into consideration those who have studied before you and begin to develop your own beliefs through discourse, critical thinking, and continuous reflection.
"For my own part / I have never had a thought / Which I could not set down in words / With even more distinctness / Than that which I conceived it / There is however, a class of fancies / Of Exquisite delicacy / Which are not thoughts / And to which is yet, I have found it / Absolutely impossible to adapt to language / These fancies arise in us all / Alas how rarely / Only an epics of most intense tranquility / When the body and mental health are in perfection / And at those mired points of time / Where the confines of the waking world / Blend with the world of dreams / And so I captured this fancy / Where all that we see or seem is but / A Dream Within A Dream" -Alan Parsons Project
A Dream within a dream; a tale within a tale; a story within a story… whichever you choose to buy into. Remember that this second tier adds a level of complexity when seeking to grasp the intricacies of meaning. As you read, keep this question in mind: Is Chaucer's work endorsing the societal hierarchy and society of the time, critiquing it, questioning it, or serving another purpose?
Assignment No. 1
Description
Before we begin reading excerpts from The Canterbury Tales, I want each of you to fill out a K-W-L chart. What do you already know about medieval literature or culture? What do you know about Middle English? What do you know about Geoffrey Chaucer? Have you heard people make allusions to the Wife of Bath? Just tell me what you know. This is your chance to give me an idea of how I can make this a positive learning experience for you and not just repeat things that you already have knowledge of. Next, what would you like to know? What sounds interesting? Do you want to learn about the history of the time frame? The clothing styles? The purpose of pilgrimages? The type of society that existed then? More about Chaucer's life? Background knowledge on each tale? All of the above? After we finish this unit, we will return to the K-W-L chart and I will expect each of you to reflect on what you most enjoyed learning. Okay… let's begin.
Before we begin reading excerpts from The Canterbury Tales, I want each of you to fill out a K-W-L chart. What do you already know about medieval literature or culture? What do you know about Middle English? What do you know about Geoffrey Chaucer? Have you heard people make allusions to the Wife of Bath? Just tell me what you know. This is your chance to give me an idea of how I can make this a positive learning experience for you and not just repeat things that you already have knowledge of. Next, what would you like to know? What sounds interesting? Do you want to learn about the history of the time frame? The clothing styles? The purpose of pilgrimages? The type of society that existed then? More about Chaucer's life? Background knowledge on each tale? All of the above? After we finish this unit, we will return to the K-W-L chart and I will expect each of you to reflect on what you most enjoyed learning. Okay… let's begin.