The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and her Tale in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is taking up a good deal of my time these last few days. One of my beloved college students and I are actively taking on two literary critics in what her professor calls a “literary conversation” regarding the Wife of Bath’s feminism vs antifeminism. This is a eight to ten page paper that requires coming up with an original claim, bringing in two critics and then refuting their claims with evidence from the primary source material, aka The Canterbury Tales. That may sound simple to some, but let me assure you that it ain’t all that simple. My student has done a great job of reading lots of secondary sources and coming up with great quotes. Our next task (which has been ongoing for the past several days) is to construct a cogent argument that makes use of the information we’ve learned through the research. In other words, paring down everything that does not somehow refute the critics’ claims and/or strengthen our claims. Eliminating information that is not right on point can be tough, but it is necessary when constructing a paper that flows easily from one point to the next. The truth is we stopped tonight because my eyes were starting to cross from fatigue. I have been working all day with college essay kids. We will resume at 9:30 in the morning since the paper is due on Thursday.
I enjoy this process. Great for keeping the mind sharp and honing analytical skills. Just not so good to try to do late at night after a long day’s work.
Heading around the block with the dogs.
Talk tomorrow.
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