Medieval Literature Seminar Notes: Policies, Language, Readings, and Key Concepts

Late policy, communication, and workload

• Late social annotation assignments
  • If submitting past extended deadline, notify the instructor to update the grade because annotations are handled outside of Canvas and automatic notifications do not trigger.
  • How to notify: quick message or speak after class (e.g.,, “Did this.”).
• For all other assignments
  • Automatic notifications are received.
  • Submissions allowed up until the end of the semester.
• Late penalties
  • The most severe late penalty is a 50% reduction of the earned score for late work, i.e., $G' = G \times (1 - 0.5) = 0.5 \;G$ where G is the original earned grade. This means you can still earn up to half of the original score if you complete the work, which is better than a zero.
• Instructor’s goal and mindset
  • Avoid overwhelming students with multiple hard deadlines (e.g., four to six assignments at once).
  • Aim to interrupt the cycle of withdrawal and disengagement by ensuring students feel capable of engaging with the course.
  • Encouragement to seek help before giving up. The instructor emphasizes accessibility and support, even while managing a heavy workload (the instructor is taking five classes themselves).
• Reading load and course design
  • Reading is the lion’s share of the course; this is expected for a history major.
  • Some days may push the reading envelope (e.g., a day with the Wife of Bath prologue and tale, over $1000$ lines of poetry).
  • Advice: space out heavy reading over multiple days rather than reading everything in one sitting.
  • Core teaching principle: avoid busy work; assignments should be meaningful and allow for substantive feedback.
  • Education value emphasis: students get out of education what they put in; course is designed to be completable for passing requirements and offers high ceilings for deeper engagement.
• Career relevance and value of medieval literature
  • A solid foundation in medieval literature benefits students who pursue English, academia, publishing, or scholarship broadly.
  • Understanding textual history, etymology, and philology broadens reading and critical critique across traditions (comparative literature, classics, philosophy).
• Grammar and spelling policy
  • No assessment in this course is based on spelling or grammar.
  • The instructor strongly rejects grading based on spelling/grammar as a metric; argues that standardization of spelling did not exist historically and that personal grammar is intrinsic to language.
  • Critique of grammar policing as elitist and a historical tool to sidelines marginalized groups.
  • Emphasis on articulation, clarity, and argument over prescriptive spelling/grammar conventions.
  • Anecdotes contrast the value of grammatical precision with real-world power dynamics (e.g., political leaders’ ability to articulate).
• Reading aloud and social reading culture
  • Reading in the Middle Ages was a social, performative activity; silent reading was uncommon.
  • Learners should practice reading aloud to better grasp sound, rhythm, and meaning; not doing so risks missing the text’s oral aspect.
• Transition to today’s topics
  • The class will briefly revisit Chaucer’s Boethius translation, then explore early medieval music, and discuss textual lacunae (missing or corrupted text) in manuscripts.
  • Visual art examples will be examined before readings for the day.
• Quick foretaste of today’s themes
  • Textual lacunae: causes include fire, bookworms, water damage, or scribal errors; Beowulf and The Ruin are known to have large missing sections.
  • Intro to Fortune and Philosophy in medieval poetry: how consolation, fate, and philosophical reflection interplay with religious consolation in later portions of poems.
  • The role of dictionaries in studying Old English and Scots: Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary; Dictionary of the Scottish Language (older vs modern Scots); etymology of key terms like “wyrd” (weird).
  • Pronunciation and orthography in Middle English: thorn ( þ ), yog (ȝ), u/v usage, and the non-rhoticities of the era; approach to reading aloud for comprehension.
  • Poetic forms and technical terms: end rhyme vs alliteration in different traditions; “Rhyme Royal” as a French-influenced court-poetry form often used in Chaucer and James I’s King of the Squire.
  • Riddling culture (Exeter Book): riddles as a way to voice objects and everyday items through metaphor and double meaning; common to imagine objects as speaking (e.g., keys, onions, dough).
  • Ezra Pound and modernism (as contextual background): Pound’s linguistic brilliance and political entanglements; how modernist poets relate to medieval sources.
• Two guiding discussion questions for today
  1) Seafarer and Wanderer endings: authentic philosophical expressions within the poems, or editorial Christian insertions by later scribes? Do they coherently resolve the earlier existential tone, or feel tacked on? How should we interpret the ending in light of the poem’s overall mood?
  2) How do the Exeter Book riddles, Beowulf, and The Ruin contribute to our understanding of medieval thought, voice, and attitude toward mortality and material culture? What do they reveal about the medieval sense of hope, consolation, and impermanence?
• Quick glossary and reminders
  • wyrd / weird: fate, fortune, or a happening outside human control; important concept in Old English poetry.
  • lacunae: gaps or missing portions in manuscripts, which invite reconstruction and scholarly inference.
  • thorn (þ): a letter representing the 'th' sound; its evolving visual form explains modern spellings like “ye” in ye olde.
  • yog (ȝ): a letter representing a consonant sound that can function like a y or a fricative; common in Middle English scripts.
  • end-stopped vs alliterative lines: Old English poetry often uses alliteration across half-lines; Chaucer and King of Squire model more end-rhyme traditions (rhyme royal).
  • Rhyme Royal: a rhyme scheme often denoted as a b a b c d c d e f e f g g; common in Chaucer and French court poetry.

Structure and purpose of today’s class activities

• Short live-reading practice
  • Try reading a stanza from Chaucer’s text aloud; then the class repeats lines to feel the oral texture.
  • Note dialect differences: Chaucerian Southern English with French loanwords versus early Scots with stronger Celtic/Germanic influence.
• Resource recommendations and usage
  • Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (online): indispensable for Old English etymology and glosses; see entry etymology and medieval glosses.
  • Dictionary of the Scottish Language (older and modern Scots): helpful for early Scots vocabulary; use early-entries for pre-1700 Scots.
  • For medieval pronunciation guidance: practice the sounds of thorn (þ), yog (ȝ), and other archaic letters; practice reading aloud to internalize rhythm.
• Texts and authors discussed today
  • Chaucer: translation of Boethius; discussion of how philosophy appears in the text and how pronunciation and rhythm influence comprehension.
  • The King of the Squire: early Scots poem; emphasis on its place in the lineage of Chaucerian influence and its use of rhyme royal.
  • The Seafarer and The Wanderer: two major Old English poems with existential themes and later-Christian consolations.
  • The Ruin: a landscape poem about decay and impermanence; discussed as a case study in how endings reflect the broader mood.
  • Exeter Book riddles: playful, inventive riddles that personify objects; interpretive challenges and modern connections (e.g., Tolkien’s Hobbit roots).
• Discussion culture and ethics
  • Readings encourage critical discussion of language, power, and cultural assumptions (e.g., grammar policing, modern standards vs. historical practice).
  • The instructor emphasizes ethical critique, avoiding sensational or simplistic readings of medieval text, and acknowledging the historical context of language and culture.
• Final takeaway for today
  • Develop a comfort level with Old English sounds, Scots, and middle-english pronunciation.
  • Begin to assess how endings in Seafarer and Wanderer function philosophically and the extent to which editorial insertion shapes interpretation.
  • Build familiarity with key reference works and how to use them in close reading and discussion.

Key concepts to understand and terms to know

• Weird / wyrd: concept of fate as an active, surrounding force; central to Old English poetry and to the sense of how life unfolds beyond personal control.
• Fortune and the wheel: a common medieval motif linking fortune to cyclical change and the inescapability of fate.
• Lacunae: textual gaps in manuscripts; prompts reconstruction and scholarly inference about the missing content.
• Textual transmission context: later editors and scribes (often monks) could insert religious consolation into earlier, more secular or existential works; debates about authenticity of endings.
• End rhyme vs alliteration: different musical and formal strategies across medieval English and Scots poetry.
• Rhyme Royal: a formal rhyme scheme borrowed from French court poetry and popularized in Chaucer and by James I of Scotland; important for understanding King of the Squire’s structure.
• Exeter Book riddles: a corpus of short, clever riddles that give voice to everyday objects; show medieval wit, metaphor, and material culture.
• Pronunciation conventions in Middle English: thorn (þ) for 'th', yog (ȝ) for a 'y' or fricative sound, u/v usage, and the general close reading of vowel qualities in text.
• Reading as social practice in medieval culture: audiences read aloud in communal settings; implications for how poetry was performed and understood.
• The broader educational philosophy
  • No grading based on spelling/grammar; language is a lived, historical, sometimes non-standard practice.
  • The value of a high ceiling for advanced students vs accommodating those seeking only a passing grade.
  • The importance of integrated, meaningful assignments rather than busy work.

Connections to broader course themes and real-world relevance

• Historical linguistics and philology as foundations for modern literary criticism: understanding etymology, sound, and manuscript transmission informs interpretation and cross-cultural reading.
• Interdisciplinary links: medieval literature as a bridge to classical, modernist, and comparative traditions (philosophy, classics, linguistics, and even musicology).
• Practical critical thinking: evaluating endings and editorial decisions in historical texts mirrors contemporary debates about authorial intent, interpretation, and the politics of textual authority.
• Ethical reflection on language and power: the instructor’s critique of grammar policing invites students to consider who sets linguistic standards and how those standards affect access to power and knowledge.

Quick references and recommended readings/tools mentioned

• Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (online) – key Old English definitions and glosses; useful for tracing wyrd, fate, and related terms.
• Dictionary of the Scottish Language (older vs modern Scots) – help with early Scots lexicon and etymology; use early entries for texts pre-1700.
• Chaucer translations and editions for Middle English pronunciation practice (e.g., Liuzza’s translation of Chaucer’s works is recommended as a reliable modern-English counterpart).
• Beowulf and The Ruin as case studies in lacunae and manuscript transmission; Beowulf often studied alongside The Wanderer and The Seafarer in medieval poetry surveys.
• Ezra Pound as a modernist reference point: understand Pound’s linguistic brilliance and controversial political views; context for modernist translation and adaptation of medieval forms.
• Early medieval music and performance practice: discussion of instruments (e.g., lute-adjacent instruments) and the role of music in medieval reading and performance; acknowledges that precise historical melodies are partly reconstructive but informed by textual and performance traditions.

Example discussion prompts and how to prepare

• How should we treat endings of The Seafarer and The Wanderer if the poem text ends in consolation? Debate authenticity vs editorial reform; consider how religious consolation might reflect later manuscript histories rather than the original oral tradition.
• What does lacunae tell us about the survivability of medieval texts? How should scholars infer missing passages, and what are the epistemic limits?
• How does the Exeter Book riddling tradition illuminate medieval attitudes toward language and objecthood? Practice solving a few riddles (e.g., 44 = key; 25 = onion or bread-related image; 45 = dough/bread) and discuss the interpretive flexibility of translation.
• In what ways does the King of the Squire’s use of rhyme royal shape its engagement with Chaucerian tradition and the James I literary program?
• How can learners balance the desire to read aloud for comprehension with the practical realities of modern academic settings (e.g., cafes, quiet study spaces)?

Summary takeaway

• The course blends rigorous philology, historical linguistics, and careful interpretation of medieval poetry to cultivate deep reading practices.
• Endings in medieval poems often reflect editorial interventions as much as the original text; evaluating them requires attention to manuscript history and theoretical scrutiny.
• A healthy reading practice combines phonetic/phonological awareness, textual criticism, historical context, and openness to multiple valid interpretations.
• The instructor emphasizes student well-being, meaningful assessment, and the idea that education is a reciprocal investment between student and teacher.