"The Canterbury Tales": Writing Homework Assignment - The Knight's Tale or The Nun's Tale

Your homework assignment for this unit is to read a tale that is NOT located in our text book and to respond to that story. For this assignment, we have given you the choice of selecting either the Knight's Tale or the Nun's Tale. 

Here's a quick synopsis of each below if you need it:

• The Knight's Tale - Two cousins (almost like brothers), Palamon and Arcite, both fall in love with the same woman whom they see from the window of their prison in Athens, where they have been thrown after losing in a battle against king Theseus. The woman, Emelye, is the Theseus' sister-in-law. One day, Arcite is freed, but is banished and forbidden to return to Athens. He becomes jealous that Palamon gets to look at Emelye every day. However, Arcite eventually returns Athens in disguise and he and Palamon are pitted against each other in a battle for Emelye. This tale focuses on topics that the knight embodies: fortune, honor, and courtly love.
• The Nun's Tale - A rooster named Chanticleer is hopelessly in love with a hen named Pertelote. Chanticleer has a disturbing dream one night of a fox coming into the henhouse and snatching them up. Pertelote tells him not to worry and it is just a dream. However, the fox does appear one day and has his eye on Chanticleer and the other hens. This tale focuses on topics that the nun might concern herself with: appearance, courtliness, and flattery.

Your task for this assignment is to simply track your thinking as you read. When we read, we are always asking ourselves questions or monitoring our own understanding.We make predictions, wonder about the author's purpose, or react emotionally. While you read one of these two tales, keep track of these reactions every stanza or so and write them on a post-it or in a notepad or notebook. 

At the end of reading, select one of those thoughts. On the lined paper in the packet below, you are going to write/attach your idea or thought and then elaborate on it now that you have finished reading. The goal with this assignment is to demonstrate that you are thinking critically while reading, not just skimming through the words on the page. 

The second assignment in the packet is an in-class activity that we will do in groups. You do not have to worry about this second activity until Thursday, October 11th. What is important is that you come to class with that first writing finished. And yes, it should take up most if not all of the lines on the page. 

The QR codes in the packet will lead you to the tales. Copyright laws prevent me from posting the links to them here. If you need a printed copy, you may request one in class.