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Course name
Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales: A Catholic Understanding with Henry Russell
Recorded course taught by Henry Russell for High School Medieval Literature
Category
Literature ➤ Medieval Literature
Grade
High School
Semester
Recorded
Summary

The most misunderstood of great Catholic moralists, Chaucer’s comedy points to the need for charity and chastity. His characters boast and strut until they have convicted themselves out of their own mouths. We’ll look at tales told by three virtuous and one venal character.

Instructor: Henry Russell, PhD

Course Description: Chaucer was the master at making Medieval Catholic nobles laugh at the failings of others until they realized those characters were a lot 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 his typological allegory can be constructed. “The Pardoner’s Tale” is a nihilistic view of life told by a man who has sold his soul for money.  The Knight tells a longish tale of love and genuine friendship, one much loved by most readers.  Finally, we will see the holiness which is Chaucer’s real goal, by reading just a bit of this longest writing called “The Parson’s Tale”.

Instructor Access (Optional grading support) is available for this course. Please note: this is ONLY recommended if you wish to write the optional paper. All quizzes are internally graded in this course. Optional papers will be completed via this page (click here) for an Instructor Access fee of $75.

https://caravel.homeschoolconnections.com/catalog/1404104226

Special notes

For questions related to this course (homework, quizzes, etc.) please email Sophia Davidson at sophiaannmaria6@gmail.com.

Total classes

12

Duration

55 minutes

Prerequisites

The ability to read and enjoy the works.

Suggested grade level

11th to 12th grade. Advanced 9th and 10th grade students accepted.

Suggested credit

One full semester of Literature or Medieval Literature. For a full-year credit, follow with Medieval Literature for Modern Catholics in the spring.

Outline

Course Outline:

Class One: Chaucer’s Biography and Typology

Class Two: Characters in the General Prologue

Class Three: Characters in the General Prologue

Class Four: “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale”

Class Five: “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale”

Class Six: “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale”

Class Seven: “The Knight's Tale"

Class Eight: “The Knight's Tale

Class Nine: “The Knight’s Tale”

Class Ten: “The Pardoner's Tale”

Class Eleven: “The Pardoner's Tale”

Class Twelve: Selections, “The Parson’s Tale”

Materials

  • Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” (Selected) An Interlinear Translation. Vincent E. Hopper. Barron’s Educational Series. ISBN:  9780812000399 / 0812000390.  This can be found affordably used - see BookFinder.com. What students cannot obtain, the instructor will post as free printable files.

Homework

You will read 20-40 pages per class . The material will be in interlinear modern English and Middle English. That way, you can try reading and pronouncing the poetry in Middle English, but be sure to get all the words from the modern translation. There will be auto-graded quizzes, a Midterm, and a Final.

Course name
Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales: A Catholic Understanding with Henry Russell
Instructor
Henry Russell
Semester
Recorded
Category
Literature ➤ Medieval Literature
Grade levels
High School
Editors
Sophia Russell, Gianna Cunningham
Start time
September 12th, 2024 at 10:00 AM ET
Course type
Recorded, free with subscription
Relative due dates
Relative due dates are disabled for this course.
Enhanced quiz security
Enhanced assignment security

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Henry Russell
maryshire@gmail.com

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About Henry Russell

A graduate of Princeton and South Carolina (MS), Dr. Henry Russell completed his graduate work at Louisiana State University. Formerly the Chairman of Ave Maria College’s Department of Literature, he has also been a professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville and Wake Forest University. He is a founding faculty member of the St. Robert Southwell Creative Writing Workshop held in Mahwah, New Jersey.

Dr. Russell is Headmaster of the St. Augustine’s Homeschool Enrichment Program, which he founded with his wife Crystal. The program began in Fall 2005 with 20 students in two living rooms and now tutors more than 140 students in three locations.

Dr. Russell’s works include The Catholic Shakespeare Audio Series. He was the Associate Editor of The Formalist from 1990-2004 and his writings have been published in various journals. He was honored to edit Dr. Alice von Hildebrand’s groundbreaking volume, The Privilege of Being a Woman.

Click here for more info about Dr. Russell!

See Courses & Videos

  • The Catholic Shakespeare: A Contrast of Kings: Macbeth and Julius Caesar

  • The Catholic Shakespeare: Early and Late Comedies: A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest

  • The Hobbit or There and Back Again as Gateway to J.R.R.Tolkien

  • The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

  • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

  • The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

  • Beowulf and Christ

  • Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer; Trust God and Tradition

  • The Man Who Was Thursday by Chesterton (Modern Catholic Classics Series)

  • The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (Modern Catholic Classics Series)

  • Homer’s Odyssey; The Soul of Pre-Socratic Wisdom

  • The Iliad: Glory and the Will of God

  • King Arthur and Christ: Heroism and Holiness

  • Medieval Literature for Modern Catholics

  • Scarlet Letter

  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Chivalry, Courtesy and Chastity

  • Sophocles and Tragedy

  • Virgil’s Aeneid: The Founding of Nations in the Will of God

  • Death Comes for the Archbishop (American Classics Series)

  • Redemptive Comedy of Flannery O’Connor (American Classics Series) 

  • Inferno (Hell) by Dante

  • Purgatorio (Purgatory) by Dante

  • Dante’s Paradiso (Heaven)

© 2024 Homeschool Connections; Henry Russell. All Rights Reserved.

  • This material is only to be used for its intended purpose by active subscribers of Homeschool Connections or purchasers of the course. Any other use without explicit permission is in violation of the seventh commandment, and in violation of US and International copyright laws.
  • You may print or download to your own storage extracts for your personal homeschool and non-commercial use only. Use for homeschool co-ops is permitted after contacting customer support and receiving written permission from Homeschool Connections.
  • Upon completion of the course, you must delete all copies of course materials from any storage on which you saved permissible extracts.

Violation of the above copyright policies may result in expulsion without any refund and/or legal action.