Università Roma Tre

The significance of landscape in Medieval English Literature
Through the reading of a selection of passages from works of prose and poetry of the Old and Middle English literary tradition (Chaucer and the Gawain’poet), the main features of landscape representations (locus amoenus and locus horridus) in medieval English literature will be identified. The relevance of naturalistic descriptions and the way they interact with the main characters or situations of the works analysed will be also addressed through references to other works of the Germanic world, mainly German and Norse.

The philological-literary analysis of these texts will be combined with an outline of the fundamental changes of the English language through the centuries.

Students (who will be guided by the teacher in the choice of themes and bibliographical material) will be asked to make a presentation, individual or in small groups, on historical-literary, linguistic and textual topics related to works of the Germanic Middle Ages.

Texts

- G. Brunetti (ed.), Beowulf, Roma: Carocci, (selection of passages).
- The Complete Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Poetry (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ascp/)
- L. D. Benson, ed., The Riverside Chaucer, Boston, Houghton Mifflin 1987 (selection of passages) .
- The Canterbury Tales and Other Works of Chaucer (Middle English): https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/mect/index.htm
- M. Andrew and R. Waldron, edd., The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript. Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Exeter: Exeter University Press 2007 (selections of passages).
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=cme;idno=Gawain (trad.: http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/ready.htm)

Texts and essays:

- Ernst R. Curtius, Letteratura europea e medioevo latino, Scandicci (Firenze): La Nuova Italia,1992 , cap. X. Il paesaggio ideale, pp. 207-226.
- Derek Pearsall and Elizabeth Salter, Landscapes and Seasons of the Medieval World, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1973.
- Paul Zumthor, La misura del mondo. La rappresentazione dello spazio nel Medio Evo, Bologna, Il mulino, 1995.
- Nicholas Howe,, “The Landscape of Anglo-Saxon England: Inherited, Invented, Imagined.” In Inventing Medieval Landscapes: Senses of Place in Western Europe, edited by John Howe and Michael Wolfe, 91-112. Gainsville: University Press of Florida, 2002.
- Margaret Gelling, The landscape of Beowulf, in AngloSaxon England, 32 (2001), pp. 7-11.
- H. Appleton, The Insular Landscape of the Old English Poem The Phoenix, in Neophilologus 101 (2017), pp. 585–602.
- William F. Woods, 2002. 'Nature and the Inner Man in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight .' Chaucer Review 36, 3 (2002), pp. 209-27.
- Michael W.George, Gawain’s Struggle with Ecology: Attitudes Toward the Natural World in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in The Journal of Ecocriticism 2, no. 2 (July 2010), pp. 30–44.
- Olson, Paul A., 'Chaucer's Merchant and January's “Hevene in Erthe Heere”, in ELH 28, n. 3 (1961), pp. 203-214.

History of medieval English literature:
- D. Wallace, The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2002 (Chapters 1,2,6,21,26)
- P. Boitani, La letteratura del Medioevo inglese, Roma, Carocci 2001.

History of the English language:
- C. Barber, The English Language: a Historical Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2009.

Textual criticism:
- Anna Maria Luiselli Fadda, Tradizioni manoscritte e critica del testo nel Medioevo germanico, Roma-Bari: Laterza 2004 (Parts II e III).

A variety of additional materials (critical editions, glossaries, critical essays etc.) will be provided during the course.

The significance of landscape in Medieval English Literature
Through the reading of a selection of passages from works of prose and poetry of the Old and Middle English literary tradition (Chaucer and the Gawain’poet), the main features of landscape representations (locus amoenus and locus horridus) in medieval English literature will be identified. The relevance of naturalistic descriptions and the way they interact with the main characters or situations of the works analysed will be also addressed through references to other works of the Germanic world, mainly German and Norse.

The philological-literary analysis of these texts will be combined with an outline of the fundamental changes of the English language through the centuries.

Students (who will be guided by the teacher in the choice of themes and bibliographical material) will be asked to make a presentation, individual or in small groups, on historical-literary, linguistic and textual topics related to works of the Germanic Middle Ages.

Texts

- G. Brunetti (ed.), Beowulf, Roma: Carocci, (selection of passages).
- The Complete Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Poetry (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ascp/)
- L. D. Benson, ed., The Riverside Chaucer, Boston, Houghton Mifflin 1987 (selection of passages) .
- The Canterbury Tales and Other Works of Chaucer (Middle English): https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/mect/index.htm
- M. Andrew and R. Waldron, edd., The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript. Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Exeter: Exeter University Press 2007 (selections of passages).
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=cme;idno=Gawain (trad.: http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/ready.htm)

Texts and essays:

- Ernst R. Curtius, Letteratura europea e medioevo latino, Scandicci (Firenze): La Nuova Italia,1992 , cap. X. Il paesaggio ideale, pp. 207-226.
- Derek Pearsall and Elizabeth Salter, Landscapes and Seasons of the Medieval World, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1973.
- Paul Zumthor, La misura del mondo. La rappresentazione dello spazio nel Medio Evo, Bologna, Il mulino, 1995.
- Nicholas Howe,, “The Landscape of Anglo-Saxon England: Inherited, Invented, Imagined.” In Inventing Medieval Landscapes: Senses of Place in Western Europe, edited by John Howe and Michael Wolfe, 91-112. Gainsville: University Press of Florida, 2002.
- Margaret Gelling, The landscape of Beowulf, in AngloSaxon England, 32 (2001), pp. 7-11.
- H. Appleton, The Insular Landscape of the Old English Poem The Phoenix, in Neophilologus 101 (2017), pp. 585–602.
- William F. Woods, 2002. 'Nature and the Inner Man in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight .' Chaucer Review 36, 3 (2002), pp. 209-27.
- Michael W.George, Gawain’s Struggle with Ecology: Attitudes Toward the Natural World in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in The Journal of Ecocriticism 2, no. 2 (July 2010), pp. 30–44.
- Olson, Paul A., 'Chaucer's Merchant and January's “Hevene in Erthe Heere”, in ELH 28, n. 3 (1961), pp. 203-214.

History of medieval English literature:
- D. Wallace, The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2002 (Chapters 1,2,6,21,26)
- P. Boitani, La letteratura del Medioevo inglese, Roma, Carocci 2001.

History of the English language:
- C. Barber, The English Language: a Historical Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2009.

Textual criticism:
- Anna Maria Luiselli Fadda, Tradizioni manoscritte e critica del testo nel Medioevo germanico, Roma-Bari: Laterza 2004 (Parts II e III).

A variety of additional materials (critical editions, glossaries, critical essays etc.) will be provided during the course.