ENGL 140A
Chaucer: "Canterbury Tales"
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Enforced requisites: courses 10A, 10B. Introductory study of Chaucer's language, versification, and historical and literary background, including analysis and discussion of his long major poem, "Canterbury Tales." P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - Each class, you will read one of the Canterbury Tales and discuss. There was the translation project and the midterm essay that took place around the middle of the quarter, with the translation project a nearly guaranteed A, and the midterm essay much harder. Apparently the skew of grades for the essay was mostly Bs, so it is not a walk in the park exactly. The readings are quite long and close reading skills are very necessary as both the midterm and the final essay are entirely comprised of close reading analysis and one is 4-5 and the other is 8-10 pages long. Office hours are perhaps necessary to succeed at least to bounce ideas off the professor who will give you a good idea if you're headed in the right direction. That being said there is a lot of creative freedom with the essays if you're into that sort of thing. Lectures are fun and funny and Professor Fisher is engaging!
Fall 2023 - Each class, you will read one of the Canterbury Tales and discuss. There was the translation project and the midterm essay that took place around the middle of the quarter, with the translation project a nearly guaranteed A, and the midterm essay much harder. Apparently the skew of grades for the essay was mostly Bs, so it is not a walk in the park exactly. The readings are quite long and close reading skills are very necessary as both the midterm and the final essay are entirely comprised of close reading analysis and one is 4-5 and the other is 8-10 pages long. Office hours are perhaps necessary to succeed at least to bounce ideas off the professor who will give you a good idea if you're headed in the right direction. That being said there is a lot of creative freedom with the essays if you're into that sort of thing. Lectures are fun and funny and Professor Fisher is engaging!
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Most Helpful Review
I took 140A this past summer (09) on a recommendation that Huehls was a good teacher. While I found the material to be difficult at some time, Huehl's teaching style made it much easier to comprehend the material. He won't try to impress you, but he is fair and can be funny and works hard to make sure everyone understands the concepts. It was often hard to capture my analysis in a one-page response (we had to turn in 4 for the 6 weeks), but I liked getting to discuss nearly every author, instead of only a few in one or two large papers. The final was very comprehensive, but quite fair. He will help you review and is very approachable in office hours. I highly recommend Mitchum Huehls as a professor. One of my favorites
I took 140A this past summer (09) on a recommendation that Huehls was a good teacher. While I found the material to be difficult at some time, Huehl's teaching style made it much easier to comprehend the material. He won't try to impress you, but he is fair and can be funny and works hard to make sure everyone understands the concepts. It was often hard to capture my analysis in a one-page response (we had to turn in 4 for the 6 weeks), but I liked getting to discuss nearly every author, instead of only a few in one or two large papers. The final was very comprehensive, but quite fair. He will help you review and is very approachable in office hours. I highly recommend Mitchum Huehls as a professor. One of my favorites
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - Professor Jager is a delight. I have zero interest in anything to do with literature in Middle English, but this class reconciled me with the idea that it is actually interesting, humorous, and not hard to understand at all despite how funny it sounds being read aloud. This class is very dependent upon discussions and participation, so make sure you study (or at least google) the assigned reading and listen to the pre-recorded lectures before every class so you can contribute. There is one course paper due towards the end of the quarter and weekly quizzes, which are completed at your own leisure and not in class. You also have to recite a portion of the Canterbury Tales but it's super easy with a little bit of rehearsing. Overall, this class was very enjoyable with a minimal workload. I would definitely recommend taking this class with Jager if you can!
Winter 2024 - Professor Jager is a delight. I have zero interest in anything to do with literature in Middle English, but this class reconciled me with the idea that it is actually interesting, humorous, and not hard to understand at all despite how funny it sounds being read aloud. This class is very dependent upon discussions and participation, so make sure you study (or at least google) the assigned reading and listen to the pre-recorded lectures before every class so you can contribute. There is one course paper due towards the end of the quarter and weekly quizzes, which are completed at your own leisure and not in class. You also have to recite a portion of the Canterbury Tales but it's super easy with a little bit of rehearsing. Overall, this class was very enjoyable with a minimal workload. I would definitely recommend taking this class with Jager if you can!
Most Helpful Review
After reading these evaluations I was disappointed to find myself regretting taking this class with Maniquis. The first class was intriguing I suppose, but Maniquis lacked energy and listening to him required extreme labor. Lectures were slow-paced which was fine, but drawn out with tangents. He spent more time talking about what we SHOULD know rather than what we did know, or came to learn. I found his lectures unorganized, unstructured, and often not worth the amount of time I put in. For the amount of reading assigned, very little of it was gone over. What is the use of encouraging us to be on our 3rd reading of XX if there is no incentive besides being lost in its own complexity? I also found Maniquis to be a bit condescending in answering questions or responding to comments. I didn't get his method of "pushing" students to higher limits of thinking, sorry. I am sure some students will like his teaching style, though from the amount of Facebooking and iChat-complaining I observed in class, I'm not confident a lot of other students will take another class with him.
After reading these evaluations I was disappointed to find myself regretting taking this class with Maniquis. The first class was intriguing I suppose, but Maniquis lacked energy and listening to him required extreme labor. Lectures were slow-paced which was fine, but drawn out with tangents. He spent more time talking about what we SHOULD know rather than what we did know, or came to learn. I found his lectures unorganized, unstructured, and often not worth the amount of time I put in. For the amount of reading assigned, very little of it was gone over. What is the use of encouraging us to be on our 3rd reading of XX if there is no incentive besides being lost in its own complexity? I also found Maniquis to be a bit condescending in answering questions or responding to comments. I didn't get his method of "pushing" students to higher limits of thinking, sorry. I am sure some students will like his teaching style, though from the amount of Facebooking and iChat-complaining I observed in class, I'm not confident a lot of other students will take another class with him.