Topics in Medieval Literature: English Dream Visions: Passion, Persuasion, and Politics
Clare Lees profile
TR 10:30-12
In this course, we will read examples from one of the most popular
and, not coincidentally, most intriguing genres of the Middle Ages--
the dream vision. Medieval writers used the formal conventions of this
genre to explore a host of subjects--"literary" (e.g. the conventions
of "courtly love" or the medieval debate), psychological (e.g. the
nature of sleeping and dreaming states, or that of idealized or sexual
love), spiritual (e.g. the problem of belief, the search for truth),
or political (e.g. the nature of the social order, the role of
rebellion). Paradoxically, then, the very conventionality of the
genre liberates the poets to explore some of the most provocative
emotional and political topics of their age: the nature of human
passion; the complexities of language and interpretation; the
arguments for and against social and spiritual change. In the best
examples, such as the remarkable Piers Plowman or Chaucer's highly
accomplished Parliament of Fowls, the visions deliberately interweave
these topics: the result is poems whose richness of meaning invite
readers to consider the nature of interpretation itself. Our goal is
to make a detailed study of a few dream vision poems in the light of
our understanding of the genre as a whole. To this end, we will
concentrate on a few selected texts, read in a mixture of the original
language and translation: these will include Chaucer's Book of the
Duchess; The Parliament of Fowls, The House of Fame; the Gawain-
poet's Pearl; William Langland's Piers Plowman; and Wynnere and
Wastoure.
The class will take the form of a mixture of lecture and seminar,
and will be examined by a combination of class presentations, critical
readings, short papers and term paper. Detailed bibliography and set
texts will be supplied at the beginning of the semester.
updated 2006-02-20
