After reading both the Friar's Tale and the Summoner's Tale, and discussing them in class, I found it extremely interesting to see not just what played out in the stories, but also what everyone else had to say about the tales and the ways in which they relate to one another. While I get my own personal enjoyment from reading Chaucer's stories, I love having the opportunity to hear the thoughts of others as well. Even though I may have one interpretation of a tale, another individual who brings their own set of personal experiences and prior knowledge to their reading will undoubtedly see things a bit differently than I. Having a chance to hear the varying thoughts and ideas of others, especially when discussing something as complex as Chaucer, really makes a huge difference and adds a whole new dimension to the experience of reading The Canterbury Tales.
On that note, I especially liked how we broke away from our normal pattern and discussed things a bit differently today, as I loved having the opportunity to explore one particular element of the tale in depth and then getting to hear what the other groups came up with concerning their area of focus. I also thought this added a personal dimension to the discussion today, as I had the opportunity to work and speak directly with Yasmine and Heather, both of whom I hadn't interacted with before other than in big group discussions. I thought our group worked really well together and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to hear my group member's personal thoughts as we worked through our area of focus together.
I also believe it was a nice break to only have to consider a small section/theme from the Summoner's Tale for a change. When we discuss a tale in its entirety as a class I often find myself not necessarily overwhelmed but having a hard time trying to wrap my head around both the current discussion and the themes of tale itself at the same time. In other words, I feel like there is so much material and so many things that can be said about Chaucer's tales that I often don't know which areas to focus on or where to take the discussion next.
I like delving deeply when I analyze and in larger group discussion we tend to discuss a lot of the points from the tales but we don't linger on any one point for too long. I loved the way we discussed things today though because we had more of an opportunity to delve deeper. Only having one particular theme/area of the story to focus on and consider really helped me to better understand the Summoner's tale as a whole. Not only was I able to have a more personal discussion about the text but I was also able to hear the thoughts of the other groups who also had this same opportunity. It made for a new dynamic today and in the end I believe that I understand more of the complexities of this tale that I would have if we had perhaps discussed it in class. Instead of trying to wrap my head around all three of our main points today at once I was able to focus all of my attention on my group's particular idea and then re-group with the class at the end to hear what others came up with. I was able to absorb the other group's points much easier than I believe I would have if we had discussed things in a different manner. Although I was a little unsure at first, overall I really enjoyed the way we discussed things today and I would love to have another discussion set up like this before the end of the semester!
I agree. I liked the opportunity to look at one aspect in depth and discuss. I find that we move quickly when we discuss things as a group, and sometimes, what I wanted to contribute to the conversation does not come into my head right away, and I end up two steps behind. Splitting off into smaller groups allowed me to take a little more time looking at something and contribute what my thoughts were. I left class Tuesday feeling like I had contributed more than any previous class. This is definitely a great format to use in the future.
ReplyDeleteI also felt like I had left class contributing more than I had before in any previous discussion, Jessica, so I'm glad you pointed out that you felt the same way! In addition, I also agree that sometimes discussions move very quickly and I end up behind, considering what it was that I wanted to say a moment before only to realize that everyone else is already talking about something else. I'm glad to know others liked the format of the small groups as much as I did
DeleteI agree also! lol It made it easier focusing on something particular that I had a question about and hearing from you guys. At times I had an idea but wasn't sure what it was leading to. You and Heather really help me to see some things that I wasn't even thinking about. And, like you said it was good to focus on smaller aspects of the tale and understanding it.
ReplyDeleteI’ll echo the sentiment one more time and say that I agree as well. It does often seem that I catch on to something during class but as try to figure it out the discussion, as they are apt to do, runs too fast for me. So you mentioned that in discussing one particular aspect (your group was how does he measure up as a friar, right?) of the tale you got a better understanding of the whole. What about the story did a detailed look at that topic lend you? You may have said it in class and I just don’t remember, or I could make something up on my own, but as you said it’s helpful to hear what others bring up.
ReplyDeleteI was in the first group on Tuesday, the one in which we discussed the type of tale the Summoner chose to tell and the questionable character of the host - I forget how exactly Dr. MB worded it (what our group was supposed to be focusing on) but those are all of the that things we discussed. I'm really glad you're interested in hearing more about what we talked about, Andrew, and what a detailed look at the topic helped me to understand...
DeleteBasically, Yasmine, Heather and I started our discussion by considering why the Summoner chose to tell the tale that he did. We didn't discuss the prologue very much but we did all agree that the tale we, as readers, receive from the Summoner defiantly wasn't what we were prepared for. We talked about how it seemed like we should have been greeted by a scathing tale from the Summoner since he was forced to sit quietly and listen the the entire Friar's tale - probably growing more and more angry by the minute. As an extension of this thought, we also considered who was the 'winner' out of the two - or if one even existed. Eventually, after discussing the tale a bit, we came to the agreement that if we were to pick a 'winner' it would probably have to be the Summoner's tale, as even though it wasn't as scathing as the Friar's it would have left the Friar with bigger emotional sting due to this very fact. I mean, if I were the Friar I would have been enraged at the fact that the Summoner's tale didn't initially appear as cruel or damming as my own. My group members and I talked about the fact that while the Friar's tale is more openly hateful, it is the Summoner who is the cleverer of the two characters and who pays the biggest insult to the other in the end.
Lastly, we also discussed the host who we saw as being pretty changeable. In the Friar's prologue he is quick to stop the Friar when he initially insults the Summoner but yet in the tale he is quick to stop the Summoner form interrupting the Friar. This could have been due to the fact that the Summoner answers the Friar's insult with a "bring it on, Friar," causing the host to stop his apprehensions of the Friar's story at this point. Either way it makes for an interesting point to consider. I believe there may be more to explore with the character of the host but this is as far as I've gotten with my own thoughts for now.
I could be forgetting something we went over but that's the general idea. If I had to pick one thing that the discussion helped me to understand in a new light it would certainly be the fact that the Summoner (at least in my opinion) paid the Friar a greater insult by choosing a tale that is, superficially at least, not as spiteful. However, and I'm just now remembering this, my group also considered the possibility that the Summoner gave the Friar in his tale somewhat sound moral advice to offer as a way of speaking through his character to the actual Friar - especially when he speaks of holding anger in one's heart. I'm sot sure to what extent this actually applies but it was interesting to consider.
This comment is getting extremely long so I'm going to cut it off now but let me know if you have any questions or comments about anything I said, as I'm not sure how much sense I just made :)
Glad everyone feels this way because I have a similar strategy in mind for today's discussion. It's something I like to do once we have several weeks behind us ... allows everyone to feel more level with the language and able to do that close reading that Katie speaks about so clearly here.
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