NOTICE: This is an older course recorded with Adobe Connect and/or Vimeo recordings. We are currently working to replace the recordings with new Zoom recordings. Please don't hesitate to email us at homeschoolconnections@gmail.
How to get the most out of the “The Canterbury Tales (Medieval Lessons for Modern Catholics Series)” with Dr. Henry Russell:
- First, read the course details below.
- Borrow or purchase the book and begin reading.
- Watch the Class Recording for the week and take notes as needed.
- Use the PowerPoint posted each week to reference as needed.
- Take the Quiz posted each week. It is automated and self-grading.
- Repeat for each week of the course until finished.
- Once the course is completed to the parent's satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records. Make sure to record your grades (HSC does not provide record keeping services).
Total Classes: 6
Prerequisite: None.
Suggested Grade Level: 11th-12th Grade or 11-College.
Suggested Credit: 1/2 semester credit. For a full semester credit in literature, add two of Dr. Russell's other 4-week literature courses.
Instructor: Dr. Henry Russell, PhD
Course Description: Chaucer was the master at making Catholic nobles laugh at the failings of others until they realized those characters were a bit too much like themselves. This great moralist, like a comic Dante, lets his characters boast and strut until they have convicted themselves out of their own mouths. Let him introduce you to the virtues and vices of his Canterbury Pilgrims in the "General Prologue." Then, in "The Nun's Priest's Tale", we can see how Chaunticleer the Rooster teaches us about predestination, undeserved Grace, and the Church of God. To read Chaucer well is to see how subtly the typological allegory can be constructed. We will finally read and discuss "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" and "Tale". It is important that parents read this "Wife of Bath's Prologue" before their students do. Although Chaucer is very clear about the Wife's sins versus the goodness of holiness and love of Mother Church, the Prologue allows her to describe her sinful life in a bawdy way. Each parent must be clear whether this bluntness of her tone is of moral use to their child, even if her errors are beautifully corrected in the Tale itself.
Course Materials: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Dr. Russell recommends Vincent Hopper's Interlinear Translation that Barron Press puts out. That way you can read the Middle English and still see what it means right below each line. If it can't be found at the library, it can be found online fairly cheap. If you do buy something else, please make sure it tries to be poetry and has line numbers. Otherwise you may not find the lines we are discussing in time.
Homework: Estimated two to threes hours per week for homework (outside of class time) that includes reading and taking quizzes.
- Teacher: Henry Russell