If you thought that medieval poet and author Geoffrey Chaucer only lives today in the pages of assigned course readings, think again! As a student in Prof. Stephen Partridge’s ENGL 346 Chaucer class, UBC student and Medieval Studies major Sophia Bucior traveled to LA during reading break in 2023. After first encountering the Ellesmere Manuscript (of Canterbury Tales fame) in class discussion, Sophia was able to visit the Huntington Museum and view the manuscript in person. Sophia recounts,
“It was so incredible to see the manuscript in person. The page was open to the Franklin’s Tale and we got to see the text and illustration. It was so cool considering we had studied it in class.”
Prof. Partridge’s ENGL 346 course offers students a chance to learn how Chaucer makes use of his language’s power in assembling a series of narratives ostensibly told by the diverse company of pilgrims he met on the way to Canterbury. The pilgrims’ tales create a conversation about many themes, including class, love, sex and gender, work, language, the nature of narrative itself, and the pleasures and travails of studenthood. In ENGL 346, students consider the linguistic and literary innovations that led readers to consider Chaucer the “father of English poetry” together with the sense of humour – by turns satirical, bawdy, and self-deprecating – that makes reading his poetry a constant joy.
Interested in learning about Chaucer or Medieval Studies? Prof. Stephen Partridge is teaching ENGL 346: Chaucer and MDVL 210: Introduction to Medieval Studies in 2024W Term 1.
