"A direct, clear, and user-friendly introduction to the sound of Chaucer's language, as well as to aspects of Chaucer's vocabulary and principal metrical form."--Back cover.

This essential Middle English textbook, now in its third edition, introduces students to the wide range of literature written in England between 1150 and 1400. New, thoroughly revised edition of this essential Middle English textbook. Introduces the language of the time, giving guidance on pronunciation, spelling, grammar, metre, vocabulary and regional dialects. Now includes extracts from 'Pearl' and Chaucer's 'Troilus and Criseyde'. Bibliographic references have been updated throughout. Each text is accompanied by detailed notes.

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales was the subject of the first volume in the Approaches to Teaching series, published in 1980. But in the past thirty years, Chaucer scholarship has evolved dramatically, teaching styles have changed, and new technologies have created extraordinary opportunities for studying Chaucer. This second edition of Approaches to Teaching Chaucer's Canterbury Tales reflects the wide variety of contexts in which students encounter the poem and the diversity of perspectives and methods instructors bring to it. Perennial topics such as class, medieval marriage, genre, and tale order rub shoulders with considerations of violence, postcoloniality, masculinities, race, and food in the tales. The first section, "Materials," reviews available editions, scholarship, and audiovisual and electronic resources for studying The Canterbury Tales. In the second section, "Approaches," thirty-six essays discuss strategies for teaching Chaucer's language, for introducing theory in the classroom, for focusing on individual tales, and for using digital resources in the classroom. The multiplicity of approaches reflects the richness of Chaucer's work and the continuing excitement of each new generation's encounter with it.

This volume builds on recent scholarship on contemporary poetry in relation to medieval literature, focusing on postmodern poets who work with the medieval in a variety of ways. Such recent projects invert or “queer” the usual transactional nature of engagements with older forms of literature, in which readers are asked to exchange some small measure of bewilderment at archaic language or forms for a sense of having experienced a medieval text. The poets under consideration in this volume demand that readers grapple with the ways in which we are still “medieval” – in other words, the ways in which the questions posed by their medieval source material still reverberate and hold relevance for today’s world. They do so by challenging the primacy of present over past, toppling the categories of old and new, and suggesting new interpretive frameworks for contemporary and medieval poetry alike.

The medieval world comes alive in this indispensable hands-on resource to life as it was actually lived--with authentic recipes, clothing patterns, songs, dances, and games. The first book on medieval England to arise out of the living history movement, it recreates the daily life of ordinary people, not just the aristocracy, by combining a hands-on approach with the best of current research. The how-to sections are all based on original sources and much of the material is made available here for the first time. The most basic facts of life are systematically covered in a readily accessible format organized for easy reference. Clearly illustrated with over 125 drawings, patterns, and diagrams, plus sheet music, it provides a treasure trove of information for classroom and library use and for those interested in recreating aspects of medieval life. The work is organized into sections on Chaucer's World (social, religious, and economic aspects of life), The Course of Life (birth, childhood, and adolescence, education, marriage, and old age), The Cycles of Time (which concludes with a calendar of the medieval year describing the festivals and events of each month), The Living Environment (including houses, villages, towns, and travel), Clothing and Accessories (including instruction for making complete medieval male and female outfits and braiding authentic medieval lace), Arms and Armor (which describes medieval armor from the point of view of the wearer), Food and Drink (featuring a selection of recipes), and Entertainments (songs with sheet music and instructions for authentic games and dances of the period). A chronology of medieval England, a glossary, appendixes with information and ideas on organizing a medieval event, and suggestions for further reading complete the work. This is an indispensable resource for classroom and school and public libraries because it gives readers a true understanding of what it would actually be like to live in 14th-century England.

Provides teaching strategies, background, and suggested resources; reproducible student pages to use before, during, and after reading--Cover.

The Book of the Duchess is a surreal poem that was presumably written as an elegy for Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster's (the wife of Geoffrey Chaucer's patron, the royal Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt) death in 1368 or 1369. The poem was written a few years after the event and is widely regarded as flattering to both the Duke and the Duchess. It has 1334 lines and is written in octosyllabic rhyming couplets.

An extremely thorough, expertly compiled and crisply annotated comprehensive bibliography of Chaucer scholarship between 1997 and 2010