ENG 330: Schedule of Readings, Meetings, Lectures, and Assignments

Yes, this is a very thorough schedule! All your time-sensitive responsibilities are laid out, in full detail, right here, week by week. Check back here after every class to make sure you know what you're responsible for doing next.

I assign medieval text readings by time spent, not by pages covered. If you reach the “no more than” time limit and aren’t done with the full text, stop anyway. If you reach the end of the full text before the “at least” time, go back and read more deeply. There’s no enforcement for these reading policies, but if you don’t follow them steadily, you’ll fall irretrievably behind and mess up some core learning objectives — trust me.

IMPORTANT: This schedule is subject to change, sometimes with small but significant adjustments being made only a week or two before a reading is due. Do not download or otherwise copy down this schedule—refer to this website directly, so you can be sure you're getting the most recent version. Do not start readings more than a week ahead of their due date.

IMPORTANT: For any assigned reading in a TEAMS edition or in our Course Pack, I expect you to bring a copy of that reading to class on the day it is due, whether in hard copy or electronically on a tablet or laptop (never read off of a phone or smaller).

WEEK I

Before class on Mon Sept 11,

During class on Mon Sept 11, we’ll work from heavily glossed handouts/electronic copies of Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham. There’s nothing to bring or read ahead of this class meeting—I’ll provide the readings and we’ll do them together.

Before class on Wed Sept 13,



WEEK II

Before class on Mon Sept 18,

  • Read Lydgate’s Disguising at Hertford (TEAMS edition) and Appendix: Margaret of Anjou's Entry into London, 1445 (also in the Lydgate TEAMS edition).
    As you read, try consulting the searchable Middle English Dictionary for interesting or confusing words.

    [at least 2.5 hrs engaged reading, no more than 3 hrs]

Before class on Wed Sept 20,



WEEK III

During this week: Start working on your Translation/Edition Assignment.  

Before class on Mon Sept 25,

Bring your copy of Mankind (TEAMS edition) to class on Mon Jan 23.

Before class on Wed Sept 27,

  • Read Mankind (TEAMS edition), lines 45-330.
    [at least 45 mins engaged reading; no more than 1 hr]

 

WEEK IV

During this week: Keep working on your Translation/Edition Assignment.

Before class on Mon Oct 2,

  • Finish reading Mankind (TEAMS edition).
    [at least 1.5 hrs engaged reading; no more than 2 hrs]

Before class on Wed Oct 4,

  • Read the York Crucifixio Christi  (available either through the syllabus service or by clicking here). 
    [at least 45 mins engaged reading; no more than 1 hr]


WEEK V

Our class will not meet this week (Thanksgiving week).

Rather, in lieu of the usual hour-long meeting we’re scheduled to have on Wed Oct 11 (which would have been taken up entirely by the test), you will self-adminster your Middle English Comprehension Test as a take-home test (Fall 2023 only!). I will circulate the test instructions and fill-in sheet at 4:30pm on Tues Oct 10; the test and the Translation/Edition Assignment are due by email to sergi.utoronto@gmail.com by 11:59pm on Thu Oct 12.

Please also use this week to get a head-start on the reading due Mon Oct 16. From here, now that the initial five weeks of Middle English training are complete, the pace of readings will increase — if you are finding that you are frequently unable to complete to assigned reading within the time assigned, see me immediately.


WEEK VI

Before class on Mon Oct 16,

  • Read The Castle of Perseverance (TEAMS edition), lines 157-1601.
    [at least 3.5 hrs engaged reading; if you aren’t close to line 1601 after 3.5 hrs, come see me in Office Hours to troubleshoot]

Before class on Wed Oct 18,

  • Read Wisdom (TEAMS edition), lines 1-324+SD.
    [at least 1 hr engaged reading; no more than 1.5 hrs)]



WEEK VII

Before class on Mon Oct 23,

  • Finish reading Wisdom (TEAMS edition); also, if you haven’t made it to line 1601 in Castle yet, now is the time to get there.
    [at least 2 hrs 15 mins engaged reading; no more than 3 hrs]

Before class on Wed Oct 25,

  • Read the Durham Prologue and Reynes Extract A (in your ENG 330 Course Pack).
    [about 15 mins engaged reading]

  • Read The Castle of Perseverance (TEAMS edition), lines 1602-2556+SD.
    We will not get the chance to discuss Castle much until next week, but it’s very long, so get these lines read now.
    [at least 2 hrs 30 mins engaged reading; no more than 3 hrs]



WEEK VIII

During this week: Start working on your Staging/Performance-Based Analysis Essay.

Before class on Mon Oct 30,

  • Read a series of short items in your ENG 330 Course Pack — all but the Shrewsbury Fragments are in present-day English translation (I encourage you to compare these translations to the original language, but you’re only required to read the present-day English versions), so they are relatively quick reads:

    1. in The Catholic Bible, Douay-Rheims Version, read from The Gospel According to St Mark (Chapter 14, verses 62 through 72; Chapter 15 in full; Chapter 16, verses 1 through 11) and The Gospel According to St John (Chapter 19 in full; Chapter 20, verses 1 through 18);

    2. read St. Æthelwold’s Quem Quaeritis Ceremony, from the Regularis Concordia (Fitzgerald-Sebastian version);

    3. read St. Æthelwold’s Quem Quaeritis Ceremony, from the Regularis Concordia (Gibson-Records of Early English Drama version);

    4. read The Holy Resurrection / La Seinte Resurrection

    5. read The Liturgical Dramas for Holy Week at Barking Abbey (preferably including the scholarly introduction);

    6. read Shrewsbury Fragment B.

    [that whole series should take about 1 hr 30 mins engaged reading]

  • Read the N-Town Announcement to the Marys; Peter and John at the Sepulcher and the N-Town Appearance to Mary Magdalene (available either through the syllabus service or by clicking here and here). 
    [at least 45 mins engaged reading; no more than 1 hr]

Before class on Wed Nov 1,

  • Read Reynes Extract B and the Ashmole Fragment (in your ENG 330 Course Pack).
    [about 15 mins engaged reading]

  • Read The Castle of Perseverance (TEAMS edition), lines 2557-3378.
    [at least 1 hr 45 mins engaged reading; no more than 2.5 hrs]

There is no class on Mon Nov 6 and Wed Nov 8 (Reading Week).


WEEK IX

During this week: Keep working on your Staging/Performance-Based Analysis Essay.

Before class on Mon Nov 13,

  • Watch Video ENG-330-E: Reading Medieval Antisemitism.

  • Read the Croxton Play of the Sacrament (TEAMS edition).

  • If you haven’t already scheduled a One-on-One Essay Appointment (required), to occur during the times specified at the bottom of this page, then schedule it now.
    [at least 3.5 hrs engaged reading; if you can’t finish in 3.5 hrs, come see me in Office Hours to troubleshoot]

Before class on Wed Nov 15,

  • Another series of short, quick reads:

    1. Art. 21, Alle herkneth to me nou / The Harley Harrowing of Hell — feel free to read the present-day English translation only, ignoring the Middle English (available either through the syllabus service or by clicking here);

    2. The Cambridge Prologue — feel free to read the Middle English translation only, ignoring the Old French (in your ENG 330 Course Pack);

    3.  The Rickinghall (Bury St Edmunds) Fragment — feel free to read the Middle English translation only, ignoring the Old French (in your ENG 330 Course Pack);

    4. The Play of Adam — feel free to read the present-day English translation only, ignoring the Old French (in your ENG 330 Course Pack)

    5. Babio — feel free to read the present-day English translation only, ignoring the Old English (this one is not in your Course Pack! You can find it in the course Google Drive here);

    6. Deor — feel free to read the present-day English translation only, ignoring the Old English (in your ENG 330 Course Pack);

    7. Wulf and Eadwacer — feel free to read the present-day English translation only, ignoring the Old English (in your ENG 330 Course Pack);

    [that whole series should take about 1 hr 30 mins engaged reading]


WEEK X

During this week: Keep working on your Staging/Performance-Based Analysis Essay.

Before class on Mon Nov 20,

  • Read Lydgate’s Disguising at London (TEAMS edition);

  • Read the Chester Trial (excerpt) and the Chester Passion (in your ENG 330 Course Pack);

  • Finish reading The Castle of Perseverance (TEAMS edition), lines 1-156 and 3378-3649.

    The whole series of readings assigned for today should take about 3 hrs, and no more than 3.5 hrs. As you read, you must identify at least three implicit extra-verbal cues in each reading you do.  Try to find them all, and emphasize the tough to see ones!  I’ll ask you in class to share at least one of what you found, along with the line number (students who have special arrangements with me for participation should use those alternative avenues to share their cues with me).  I expect everyone to be able to share one cue that no one else has yet mentioned, so come prepared with backups!  (Remember: you should identify implicit extra-verbal cues not by what the text broadly makes possible, but by what the basic sense of the lines makes necessary). And take note: the Chester plays should be a bit easier to read than our usual Middle English, because the extant copies are very late, but the editions I’ve shared with you have no editorial glosses to help you figure them out.  All you’ll see on the Chester pages are variant readings—that is, the different versions of words or lines that appear across different extant manuscript copies.  The main copy you’re reading from is Manuscript Hm – where Manuscripts A, B, R, and H vary from Hm, the variation is noted at the bottom of the page.


Before class on Wed Nov 22,

  • Read Lydgate’s Mumming at Eltham, Mumming at Windsor, Mumming for the Goldsmiths, and Mumming for the Mercers (TEAMS edition)

    [at least 45 mins engaged reading; no more than 1 hr]

WEEK XI

During this week: Keep working on your Staging/Performance-Based Analysis Essay.

Before class on Mon Nov 27,

From here on out, most of your readings will be unglossed and untranslated.  The mummings and Northampton Abraham will be tougher to read than Chester, because their language was not updated in the sixteenth century—but you now should have the skills to make pretty quick work of them nevertheless! 

  • Read the Chester Antichrist (in your ENG 330 Course Pack).
    Complete this reading in full. As you read, you must identify ALL of the implicit extra-verbal cues in this play. I’ll be asking you to identify certain extra-verbal cues in our CQs at the end of class. (Remember: you should identify implicit extra-verbal cues not by what the text broadly makes possible, but by what the basic sense of the lines makes necessary.)

  • In your ENG 330 Course Pack, in The Catholic Bible, Douay-Rheims Version, read from The Book of Genesis, Chapter 22 (only from verse 1 through verse 19), and then read The Northampton Abraham and Isaac.

  • NEW ADDITION! Read the Middle English texts at the end of the quite new Bland-Biggar and Orme, “Fifteenth-Century Dramatic Texts from the Bristol Area,” and see if you can make any sense out of them.

Before class on Wed Nov 29,

Some of these readings will be on a hardcopy handout that I’ll have given to you on Mon 27 Mar. BRING the handout to class on Wed 29 Mar! We’ll be reading through the attached Chester version of Abraham and Isaac in person (and you don’t have to read it until then).  

And please please please do the readings and watch the video attentively, and come prepared with at least one good question for Prof. Jenkins, because she will be our guest for a Q&A during class! (please impress her, okay?)

  • Read A Lamentation of Our Lady for Swearing, with Two Fragments (I’ll make these readings available to you in a hard copy handout).

  • Watch Video ENG-330-E: Prof. Sergi Interviews Prof. Jacqueline Jenkins (in our course Google Drive file).


WEEK XII

During this week: Finish your Staging/Performance-Based Analysis Essay.

In class on Mon Dec 4,

  • Remember, as part of the assignment we have been discussing for weeks, that during this class session each of you must present your ideas on The Castle of Perseverance (and so for your essay in progress) within two minutes.  We will start our class session on time (on the hour) just this once, rather than waiting the usual ten minutes; you can still get here ten minutes after if need be, but we’ll start getting some presentations underway early, so try to arrive early if you can.  No tech allowed: just you and your words (students who have arranged alternate avenues for participation can have me read a script for them).  Practice your presentation ahead of time to make sure it lasts only two minutes (or less)!  And please be ready to go as soon as I call your name—we’ll need to make quick transitions so everyone will get a chance to speak; I’ll say a very few words after each presentation, so use that time (while I’m talking) to move from your seat to the front of the room. 

  • Instead of our usual CQs, you are responsible during class for generating two substantial and helpful questions or comments about two of your fellow students’ presentations.  You have to submit those questions to me by email within three hours of when our class ends, with the first name of the student in the title of your email (so you have to make sure you know at least two classmates’ first names!).  I’ll forward each student-generated comment or question to the student you name in your email title (and just so you know, I won’t be reading the comments and questions closely myself—this is between the two of you!); I’ll mark your CQs as fully answered once you’ve sent two, but you can send more if you wish.

  • Other than all that, there are no readings due.

In class on Wed Dec 6,

  • There are no readings due. Prof. Sergi will present a wrap-up lecture, and then, if time allows, we’ll try to put parts of Occupation and Idleness (from selected student translations!) up on their/our feet.


FINAL ESSAY MEETINGS

The Staging/Performance-Based Analysis Essay is due by in-person delivery at a One-on-One Essay Meeting with Prof. Sergi.
Meetings will be available between 10:30am and 5:30pm on Monday 11 December, Tuesday 12 December, and Wednesday 13 December.

You’ll need to bring two hard copies of your essay to your appointment (unless you are meeting me remotely, in which case see the instructions here — remote meetings are not as effective for this assignment, but still will get the job done if need be). At the meeting, either you or I (your choice) will read the essay aloud, from beginning to end; from there, we’ll discuss.

All students must pre-schedule a 30-minute time slot with me — but please do not request a slot until I prompt you to do so (usually by Week 8). Once I’ve invited appointment requests in class (I’ll let you know), send me an email at sergi.utoronto@gmail.com with four preferred 30-minute time slots within the range specified above, in order of preference (time slots must begin on the :00 or :30; do not put anything in the email except the four time slots; list exactly four preferred slots, not a general “I’m free between” estimate). I will respond within a week with your confirmed appointment — that appointment is now your deadline. There will be no further submission of work, nor any further feedback, than what we exchange during our meeting.