The fourteenth-century author, Geoffrey Chaucer, is known as the “father of English poetry” and is one of the greatest literary artists who ever lived.  He was fully engaged with the political and religious issues of his day, and his works continue to delight readers for their extraordinarily vibrant and varied expressions of human experience.  In this course, we read a selection from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales within the larger historical and cultural accomplishments of late medieval Western Europe.  Our interdisciplinary approach will allow us to explore topics such as authority and personal identity, ethical principles and the ideals of chivalry, religious orthodoxy and heresy, love and marriage, and the development of the English language.   We shall discuss Chaucer’s remarkable range of literary genres in relation to other authors and literary traditions of his time, for example Dante’s Divine Comedy and the Tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.  Medieval pilgrimage and the metaphor of journey will be a guiding principle that will help organize our readings and discussions.    We shall devote some attention to Chaucer’s writings in their original Middle English, but students will have the opportunity to read the texts in modern English translation.