Faculty First Year Seminars 191ENGL10 - Sex, Drugs, and Chaucer's hits

Geoffrey Chaucer is considered one the first great English poet. Most people know very little more than the sentence you just read. Most people thus assume that Chaucer?s poetry is difficult and inaccessible. But if you read Chaucer, you?ll find a poet who wrote bluntly about sex, gender, class structure, race, legal systems, government, other topics that preoccupied people in late medieval England. In this class, we will read Chaucer?s five best stories, analyze them, and think about the ways they are still relevant today. While we work through Chaucer, we will also work to debunk misconceptions about college. Like Chaucer?s poetry, college does not have to be difficult and inaccessible. It can (and should) be challenging, engaging, and fun. You and your classmates will work together with me to crack the college code

First year (Fr or Soph)