Look up Geoffrey Chaucer in the Urban Dictionary, and you will find an entry describing him as the original urban dictionary, a “medieval poet” whose Canterbury Tales “is a collection of stories filled with plenty of swearing, slang, and fart jokes.” In this course we will read and discuss that Chaucer–the brilliant, hilarious, dirty poet of the Canterbury Tales. We will enjoy this fun, often moving text while learning about the poet’s artistry, both the literary traditions he so deftly works over, and the sexual, political, and religious issues he so astutely figures and, as is so often the case, perverts.
