Block, 10/31 (11/1) - The Wife of Bath's Tale

The Wife of Bath

• P&P

• G.U.M. - treat the following quote (lines 150-153 from "The Wife of Bath's Tale") as if you were writing an essay. Thus, introduce the quote with a signal phrase (a phrase that introduces the quote). :
• King Midas wife whispered "Betray me not o water with thy sound to thee alone i tell it, it appears my husband has a pair of asses ears"!

• "The Wife of Bath's Tale"

• J6 - "The Wife of Bath's Tale." 
  
  a. What were the knight’s crimes, his original sentence, and his second sentence? 
  b. What bargain do the knight and the old woman strike? 
  c. What payment for her help does the old woman demand, and what is the knight’s response? 
  d. What final choice does the old woman offer the knight at the end of the tale? What is his response?
   
  Shaping Interpretations 
  1. The knight’s quest is to find out what women want. What irony do you see in this? 
  2. In lines 276–278, the knight moans about having the old woman for his wife. How does she respond to each objection he raises? 
  3. How does the knight’s response to the choice given him by the old woman show that he’s learned his lesson about what women want? 
  4. (answer at least TWO of the questions below) No doubt the following Bible verses provide an important aspect of the background for this tale: so . . . read these verses. Now for the questions: Considering the Wife of Bath's character/history, 
  

  1. What do you think would be her view of the scriptures above? 
  2. In what ways does her tale militate (argue) against Genesis 3:16?
  3. In what ways does her tale reflect the truth of Genesis 3:16? 
  4. In what ways is the Biblical injunction for wives to submit to their husbands misunderstood and/or misapplied?
  5. How could her tale be read as a criticism of those who might pigheadedly misinterpret the Biblical mandate for wives to submit to their husbands?
  6. What is the deep wisdom you've learned from the old lady in the tale?
   

Wednesday, 10/30 - Washing Oneself after a dip in the "Bath"

The Wife of Bath

• P&P

• Please have J5 out so I can spot check it. As I walk around, please do the daily assignment below.

• G.U.M. (Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics) - This is the first daily grammar exercise. When you arrive to class, quietly check the blog and copy down the sentences you see here as I've written them. Then you will make any edits to correct any grammar, usage, and/or mechanics errors you find. Then we will discuss as a class. 
• And please dont be offended at my views They're really only offered to amuse  

• When you're finished, please copy down Lesson 2 Latin Roots, which you can find on the right column of the blog (it's called "Roots").

• Now let's discuss J5 - "The Pardoner's Tale"

• If we have time remaining, let's begin "The Wife of Bath's Tale."

HW: Update notes in your binder (Canterbury Tales notes, grammar notes, and Latin Roots Lesson 2). 

 

Tuesday, 10/29 - Fighting Death with death

William Blake's Pardoner in The Canterbury Pilgrims (1810)

• P&P

• Reminders
• Today's tweaked schedule
• Nails are posting in different order: the newest are at the bottom now
• Journals available as a link on the right side of the blog

• Begin "The Pardoner's Tale."

J5 - "The Pardoner's Tale"

1. How does the Pardoner describe his own character and morals in his Prologue? 
2. According to “The Pardoner’s Tale,” why are the three young rioters looking for Death?

3. Where does the old man tell the three rioters to look for Death? How do they treat him? 

4. Describe the rioters’ plan for the gold and how it proves fatal to all three men. 

5. Why do the Pardoner and the Host quarrel at the end of the tale? Who patches up their quarrel? 

6. How do the tavern knave and the publican personify Death? What does the rioters’ response to the description tell you? 

7. What do you think the poor old man may symbolize? 

8. Irony is a discrepancy between expectations and reality. How many layers of irony can you identify in this story? 

9. Why is it ironic that the Pardoner preaches a story with this particular moral? How would you account for the psychology of the Pardoner: Is he truly evil, just drunk, or so used to cheating that he does it automatically? 

10. What do you think Chaucer is satirizing in “The Pardoner’s Tale”? 

11. What moral does the Pardoner want us to draw from his tale? What moral do you think Chaucer wants you to draw from the Pardoner’s tale?

HW: Finish J5 (due Wed)

 

Monday, 10/28 - The Pardoner's Tale

• P&P

• Three announcements:
1. Tomorrow we have a strange twist to our schedule: we will have first period, followed by break, then second period.
2. Note that the nails are now posting with the newest ones at the bottom, so look there at the beginning of each class. 
3. I've created a link to all the journals for this year by quarter. Look on the right hand column under "Course Info," and you will find a link that says "Journals (2013-14)." Click on that to see which journals I've assigned.  

• Finish "The General Prologue" 

HW: Be sure your binder is fully updated. I reserve the right to do a "pop-check" at any time. 

The Canterbury Tales

• Do you like to people watch? Most of us find the human character so peculiar that we can't help but observe, whether it be in Wal-Mart at midnight, a coffee shop in the afternoon, or first period when everyone walks in roaring and looking like a bunch of wookies (teachers not excepted). Wow. That was weird. On to Chaucer (1343-1400), "the Father of English poetry." Chaucer loved to people watch, and his diplomatic post afforded him ample time and opportunity to observe practically every type of human specimen under the Medieval sun. And he wrote about them: elevating some, loving them all, yet eviscerating a number of them--Pardoner and Summoner, anyone?--through his fiction. Before we get into his best-known work, The Canterbury Tales, let's read a quick bio of the man through whose garden of turbulence we will pilgrymage.

• The Canterbury Tales' Premise: It's spring, and twenty-nine pilgrims are making their way from Southwerk, London to Canterbury Cathedral (to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket). The thirtieth man, the host, decides to join them and to make a wager. Whichever pilgrim can tell the best story to beguile the time as they go will receive a free dinner when they return from their pilgrimage. "The Prologue" introduces the pilgrims, and tales follow. Chaucer never finished the tales, but what we have we treasure.

Here are links to the following segments of The Canterbury Tales that we will enjoy:

1. The Canterbury Tales - Prologue (in Middle English)
2. The Canterbury Tales - Prologue
3. "The Pardoner's Tale"
4. "The Wife of Bath's Tale"

As we read, please take notes in your journal. Pay particular attention to how Chaucer communicates the moral nature of his characters by how they look, act, and speak.

The Canterbury Tales - General Prologue

from The Canterbury Tales: The Prologue 

Geoffrey Chaucer
translated by Nevill Coghill 

THE PROLOGUE

            When in April the sweet showers fall
            And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all
            The veins are bathed in liquor of such power
            As brings about the engendering of the flower,

The Canterbury Tales - "The Pardoner's Tale"

The Pardoner’s Tale

from The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer,

translated by Nevill Coghill 

  The Prologue 

            “But let me briefly make my purpose plain;
            I preach for nothing but for greed of gain
            And use the same old text, as bold as brass,
            Radix malorum est cupiditas. [the root of evil is greed]
5         And thus I preach against the very vice
            I make my living out of—avarice.

The Canterbury Tales - "The Wife of Bath's Tale"

The Wife of Bath’s Tale 

The Prologue 

            The Pardoner started up, and thereupon
            “Madam,” he said, “by God and by St. John,
            That’s noble preaching no one could surpass!
            I was about to take a wife; alas!

Canterbury Tales - Middle English

from The Canterbury Tales: The Prologue, 

Geoffrey Chaucer 

 Middle English
(Click HERE for audio)

            Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
            The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
            And bathed every veyne in swich licour
            Of which vertu engendred is the flour,
5         Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
            Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
            The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
            Hath in the Ram his half cours y-ronne,
            And smale foweles maken melodye
10         That slepen al the nyght with open eye,
            So priketh hem Nature in hir corages,
            Than longen folk to goon on pilgrymages, 


           

 Modern Translation

           When in April the sweet showers fall
            And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all
            The veins are bathed in liquor of such power
            As brings about the engendering of the flower,
5         When also Zephyrus with his sweet breath
            Exhales an air in every grove and heath
            Upon the tender shoots, and the young sun
            His half-course in the sign of the Ram has run,
            And the small fowl are making melody
10         That sleep away the night with open eye
            (So nature pricks them and their heart engages)
            Then people long to go on pilgrimages

Tuesday, 10/22 - Almost to Chaucer . . .

"We walk in the garden of his turbulence!"

• P&P

• Pass back Personal Statements (Beowulf essay is deferred to quarter 2). You will get that back early next week.

• Today we walk in the garden of his turbulence! Tomorrow we  dine on the parchments of his warfare. (movie today; Canterbury Tales tomorrow).

HW: be caught up on your notes

Mundane (Monday), 10/21 - A Knight's Tale

• P&P

• Announcement 1: Please pick up your binder if you have not already

• Announcement 2: the following students must see me during advisory or some other free time today to get a grade on their CWP:
• Louis Arenal
• Corinne Grossman
• Jacob Kimura
• Kevin McKernan  

• Before we continue with Heath Ledger's Dark Knight's Tale, I'd like for you to give yourself a number grade for the items below. :

• Diligence (__/10): Student was on-task upon entering the classroom; checked the blog, updating his/her binder; and refrained from superfluous chit-chat.  Of course, attendance is part of this grade.
• 7.5/10 is average
• Discussion (__/10): Student contributed to the quality of discussion, often suggesting answers.  
• 7.5/10 is average, the occasional comment; not saying anything is 6.5/10. If you want anything more than 7.5, you must give me a reason why.

•  Mr. Reno will continue to grade, and you will enjoy a bit of laughter and rest for a "job well done" during this first quarter.

Thursday, 10/17 - Finish Gawain and begin . . . Heath Ledger

The Joker . . . like you've never seen him

• P&P

• Finish BBC Gawain.

• Begin A (Dark) Knight's Tale

HW: Finish notes on the terms below using the links provided. One never knows when one will be allowed to use one's notes on one's quiz ; )

• Feudalism
• Chivalry
• Courtly Love
• Medieval Romance 

 

Wednesday, 10/16 - BBC Gawain

• BBC Gawain . . .

HW: take notes on chivalry and courtly love in Gawain

Tuesday, 10/14 - Translating and Tracking Sir Gawain

• P&P

• (Today is an Extended Chapel Schedule)
• And HERE is a link to tomorrow's PSAT schedule 

• Finish SGGK - take notes answering yesterday's questions:
• How is SGGK a medieval romance?
• How does it treat courtly love?
• How does it treat the code of chivalry? 

•  Begin BBC documentary - continue to take notes on the questions above

HW: None . . . other than taking notes as you watch the documentary.  

Monday, 10/14 - Ga----wain!

An awkward senior portrait (wallet size, anyone?)

• P&P

• Finish up SGGK (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight)

• Take notes while we read and after we read. Consider the following:
• How is SGGK a medieval romance?
• How does it treat courtly love?
• How does it treat the code of chivalry?   

• Tidy up your binder for the binder check tomorrow (see the link on the right column of the blog under Course Info) 

HW: Binder check 

Unit 3: The Middle Ages

 

• Middle Ages
• Texts
• See Brit Lit - Historical Eras/Contexts (in Notability) or get it again in Google Classroom if necessary.
• Nails
• What historical event heralded the shift from Old English to Middle English, from the Anglo-Saxon Era to the Middle Ages? When?
• What people, ideas, social structures, and events constituted the Middle Ages? 

• The Pearl Poet (Gawain)
• Texts
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (SGGK) - available for download at Google Classroom
• Nails
• How does the Pearl Poet's work reveal the shift from Anglo-Saxon to Middle English poetic style?
• What is a medieval romance, and how does SGGK qualify as this genre?
• How does the Gawain poet use symbols and juxtaposition to show God's grace in the context of the expectations of both the code of chivalry and courtly love?

• Chaucer
• Texts
• from The Canterbury Tales
• Nails
• What historical event is the backdrop for The Canterbury Tales and why?
• How is Chaucer's Canterbury Tales a frame narrative?
• How does Chaucer use irony in his tales?
• How do Chaucer's characters celebrate and satirize Medieval life?
• How does the personality of the teller select the kind of tale the teller tells?

• Lit Terms 
• feudalism
• chivalry
• courtly love
• medieval romance 
• symbol
• juxtaposition (and mirror passage)
• frame narrative
• characterization 
• direct - narrator "tells" you a character's trait
• indirect - narrator "shows" you a trait through that character's dialogue, action, or attire
• personification
• satire 
• irony 
• verbal
• dramatic
• situational (or cosmic)

Block, 10/10 - The Middle Ages & Arthurian Legend

The Code of Chivalry included dying well

• P&P

• Check Middle Ages Notes; take more Middle Ages Notes.
• Chivalry
• The Black Death

• Lit Terms - Middle Ages

• Feudalism
• Chivalry
• Knight
• Courtly Love
• Medieval Romance 

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

HW: Begin updating Nails using the links above

Wednesday, 10/9 - Exam Day

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• P&P 

• Exam - after you turn your exam in, please begin reading and taking handwritten notes on the Middle Ages section in your Brit Lit - Historical Eras document on Focus (which should already be in Notability). Read only pages 20-32 of the PDF.

• You must bring either a hard or soft copy of your CWP so I can check it for MLA formatting.

HW: 

1. Bring a hard or soft copy of your CWP to me before you turn in your CWP.
2. CWP (due Friday for everyone). If the MLA formatting is not perfect, I will return it to you.
3. Read and take notes on the next installment of Brit Lit Eras using the document I've posted on Focus and that you should have already imported into Notability. I will check tomorrow to see that you have handwritten notes.

Wednesday, 10/31 - Happy Reformation Day, All Hallows' Eve, Vanilla Ice's B-Day, and Middle Ages Quiz Day!

*P&P

*Yes, it's choose your own adventure day! However, one adventure you must undergo:  the Middle Ages Quiz. After that, you may begin celebrating Vanilla Ice's birthday. What's he doing these days? Good ol' Robert Van Winkel is still "cookin' MCs like a pound of bacon." He's still kicking out meaty and profound similes. 

*If you finish your quiz early (yah, right), you may begin reading and taking notes on the Introduction to the Renaissance.

HW: rest your mind so you can slice like a ninja, cut like a razor blade.

Monday, 10/29 - Prepare For Thy Quiz

*P&P 

*Schwager 

• Finish "The Wife of Bath's Tale"
• Begin J5

*Reno

• Check and discuss J5
• Review for Middle Ages Quiz (Wednesday)
• Study Guide

1. The Middle Ages - overview 
1. The Code of Chivalry and Courtly Love
2. Lit Terms (blog)
3. Vocab (blog) 
4. Bedford 19 (Fragments) and 20 (Run-ons)
5. Literature
1. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (see Focus for document)
2. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
1. The General Prologue  
2. "The Pardoner's Tale"
3. "The Wife of Bath's Tale"

HW: Schwager (J5), Reno - begin reviewing for quiz on Wednesday