Chaucer's Poetry Lesson Plan

Chaucer’s "Troilus and Criseyde" is an epic poem. What are the major conventions of epic poetry?

Based on previous experiences with epic poetry, students may suggest the following attributes:

1. An enormous, variegated setting

2. Invocations to deities of inspiration (such as Muses)

3. A focus on the exploits of various heroes

4. A focus on mythological or religious subject matter

5. The epic poems that students are most likely to have come into contact with are classical (The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Æneid, etc.) or mediæval/early modern (The Faerie Queene, Paradise Lost). The teacher should encourage students to think broadly across these time periods.

Chaucer’s...