Geoffrey Chaucer & The Canterbury Tales
"No poet has ever written better on the baffling complexity of things...when we read him now, six centuries later, we are instantly persuaded." John Gardner
It would be impossible to say it better than John Gardner does in the quote above - but here is the entire quote: "No poet has ever written better on the baffling complexity of things. But for all the foggy shiftings of the heart and mind, for all the obscurity of God's huge plan, to Chaucer, life was a magnificent affair, though sadly transient; and when we read him now, six centuries later, we are instantly persuaded." Of course I also love that John Gardner was the author of "Grendel" - a book that did so much to bring Beowulf into the modern era.
This is the Unit where students usually find themselves in disbelief. They cannot believe that 650 years ago, people were pretty much just like us. They use the word "fart" for gosh sake! We laugh at the same things - we cry at the same things. I remember my high school English teacher reading "The Miller's Tale" to me when I was a student and for the first time I felt that connection to very old literature that has never left me.
Back to o ur more traditional Group Work. Designed to give students a jump start into their reading of "The Canterbury Tales" and perhaps an appreciation for how very different Chaucer is than what has come before. There are six very specific areas - and ways that this Group Work help prepare students for their reading of The Canterbury Tales. For more on Group Works - go to this page.
A very popular (with other teachers) chart (and I think with students too) for helping students keep the characters in The Canterbury Tales straight. I give it out as I assign "The General Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales, so that students can use it and take notes as they are doing their reading. There is also a chart using an etching by William Blake that shows all the characters - and that the students can get extra credit for.
For the last11 years that I taught, we did the General Prologue together as a Discussion - first with my ever-present Lesson Notes and the last few years I also had Power Point slide (with lots of quotes - but not a Vertext) discussion. I think this is the right way to teach The General Prologue. There is just so much there and it is great to encounter the Wonder of Chaucer together as a class.
Though I have Lesson Notes for a discussion (see below) - I strongly believe this works best as a Group Work. There is a lot of material - and I think it's great coming off of our General Prologue discussion, to have the students take a close look together - using what they've learned during their reading and discussion, together. Right away, in the Group Work - I bring up Grendel - the connection between that Tales and Gardner's novel are so important. Grendel's Shaper is overthrown by the very act of what Chaucer does. Rather than trying to make something horrible appear good (and even worthwhile), he instead exagerates to show the horrible aspects of society at that time (much of which, sadly, still exists today).
If I had to hold one older (pre-twentieth century) text to try and disprove the now almost universally excepted view that only modern, demographically diverse texts can hold interest or "speak" to modern students - this - "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" would be that text. If you want to see true learning take place in a classroom - this is the work to teach. I have had so many students over 30 years come in despising Alison (the wife) - finding her manipulative, cruel, even evil. By the time we look at the text - the context - and listen to some songs - most of us come out of that experience feeling transformed.
Now that the students have read and discussed the incredible "Wife of Bath's Prologue", the tale she tells carries so much more weight. Without it (the prologue) it is an interesting, clever fairy tale from Arthurian times - but like her introduction, it tries to get the reader to see exactly what women are up against - and that what they want - is not that different from what their male counterparts desire. This group work (with a little more historical background) is designed to help students see that. Of course, the Middle Ages Group Work and reading on primary sources - especially those related to women - add to their understanding.
Every year, I wanted to back out of this - and then every year I remembered how my high school English Teacher - Ms. Ball - had performed this Tale for our class. It was - honestly - the first moment when I realized that things, specifically literature, had not changed that much over 400 years. We laugh at the same things - the same rude humor that was funny in Chaucer's time - is funny today. That lesson is enough - in my opinion - to get more embarrased than I do all the rest of the year combined - performing "The Miller's Tale".
There is so much that is both profane and beautiful in this film (really, a series of films - strung together with a frame story using stop-motion animation. The interpretations of the tales that the movie is based on are exquisite and unique. The different stories were done by different animators - and so there is kind of "meta" quality to the movie. It imitates the structure and unique content of the written tales.... This lesson includes Honors and NonHonors versions of the movie questions. This movie (the parts I show) can be completed in one class period.
So this work is not from The Canterbury Tales - but instead, from the work that inspired Chaucer to write his tales. Like with Chaucer's "Wife of Bath's Prologue" - there is much here (directly & ironically) that addresses the plight of women in medieval Europe. It is also great to bring in a nonBritish (it's Italian) text to our discussion. There is a Group Work and also a Power Point that could be used to focus a discussion.
The first project owes everything to my student teacher at the time (now Department Head), Natalie Leki-Albano - who came up with it during her student teaching. I modified it year by year (until I stopped doing it) - but the idea and the bulk of the credit rests with Ms. Leki-Albano. In this project the students create a work of art based on a character from The Canterbury Tales.
This second project is the oldest of the three - and without a doubt, the most ambitious. Perhaps, too ambitious. But - boy was it ever cool and the product and process wonderful. In this Student Project - all of my British Literature Classes were involved. The idea was that an Amtrak train was heading to Memphis - with "pilgrims" to see Elvis's Graceland Estate. The idea came from Paul Simon's song. Students posted about their characters on a blog that I had set up online - so that the other students could see that post - and then they were able to incorporate other characters than their own into what they wrote for the project. They were required to write three parts: 1) a small intro for the "General Prologue". 2) a "Prologue" to their tale and 3) their "Tale". Then three editors (one from each class period) put it all together - complete with pictures the students drew - and photos that the students took of themselves as their characters.
For this third possible end of unit assignment - the students will use their reading they did on Chaucer's Death-Bed Retraction and the Church's involvement in it (written by Grendel's own John Gardner). They will get into groups - extract what they find as important and relevant (especially given our classes on The Canterbury Tales) and put on a very short play at the end of the period. This assignment - unlike the other two end of unit projects can be completed in one period (or two if you give students time to do the reading during class).