Unit+1+Middle+Ages

These Focus Standards have been selected for the unit from the Common Core State Standards.
 * OVERVIEW**
 * Although the Middle Ages often is characterized as a period of darkness, the literature and art of the time typically suggest a more complex picture. Through a combination of close reading and exposure to an array of texts, students observe how satire reveals some of the contradictions and divergences within medieval literature and will draw connections between literary form and philosophy. In addition, they consider how certain traits of medieval literature can also be found in the art of the period: for instance, how characters have symbolic meaning both in literature and in iconography. Students write essays in which they analyze a work closely, compare two works, or trace an idea or theme throughout the works they have read.
 * FOCUS STANDARDS**
 * **RL.11-12.5:** Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
 * **RI.11-12.2:** Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
 * **W.11-12.1(a-e):** Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
 * **SL.11-12.4:** Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range or formal and informal tasks.
 * **L.11-12.3(a):** Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.


 * SUGGESTED STUDENT OBJECTIVES**
 * Consider how medieval literature exhibits many tendencies rather than a single set of characteristics.
 * Observe literary elements (e.g., allegory, farce, satire, foil) in medieval literary works and identify characteristics of medieval literary forms.
 * Understand how literary elements contribute to meaning and author intention.
 * Consider glimpses of the Renaissance in certain works of medieval literature and art.
 * Consider how medieval literary and artistic forms reflect the writers’ and artists’ philosophical views.
 * Examine the literary, social, and religious satire in Chaucer’s //Canterbury Tales//.
 * Consider the role of the framed narrative in Chaucer’s //Canterbury Tales//, Dante’s //Inferno//, and other works.
 * Compare works of medieval literature and art, particularly their depiction of character and their focus on the otherworldly.


 * SUGGESTED TEXTS**

Literary Texts

__Novella__ //The Decameron//

__Drama__ //The Summoning of Everyman// //Farce of Master Pierre Pathelin//

__Poetry__ //The Canterbury Tales// (teacher's discretion on selection depending on class) //Sir Gawain and the Green Knight// //Inferno// "When the Leaf Sings" (Arnaut Daniel) "The Bitter Air" (Arnaut Daniel) "I see scarlet, green, blue, white, yellow" (Arnaut Daniel) "The Ruin" "The Wanderer" "Lord Randall" "Dance of Death" ("Danza de la Muerte")

__Informational Texts__ //Confessions// (Saint Augustine) //The One and the Many in the Canterbury Tales// (Traugott Lawler) //St. Thomas Aquinas// (G.K. Chesterton) //The History of the Medieval World: From the conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade// (Susan Wise Bauer)

__Art, Music, and Media__ Cimabue, //Maesta// Giotto, Arena Chapel frescos Duccio, //Maesta//