 Department of English Language and Literature |
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English 650a.001: Chaucer and Friends The last quarter of the turbulent Fourteenth century exhibited a highly imaginative and fertile period of heterogeneous literary composition. Although Geoffrey Chaucer is often called the Father of English Poetry and the uncontested literary giant of the fourteenth century, he does have to share the stage with several highly gifted authors, most notably John Gower, William Langland, and the Gawain-poet. Three are named, but really two are anonymous. Several of these poets knew each other; some wrote in alliterative verse—others developed different poetic genres. J. A. Burrow grouped these four authors under the rubric of “Ricardian Poetry,” positing similarities in style, narrative, and worldview. In this graduate seminar, we will study the major works of these four authors in depth by exploring the historical, cultural, and linguistic contexts in which these authors operated and these texts were created. For instance, how much did the aftermath of the plague influence this often highly public and socially critical literature? Was there really a "Ricardian Age"? |
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