Along for the Ride: the 31St Pilgrim

E12: The Canterbury Tales

Along for the Ride: the 31st Pilgrim

The Task:(1) Using Chaucer’s pilgrims as a model, become the 31st pilgrim by writing your own character introduction to be added to “The Prologue.”

(2) Following your poetic introduction, include a prose rationale explaining your characterization as a pilgrim in Chaucer’s famous verse narrative.

• Your poetic introduction should mimic Chaucer’s writing style and should be written from a third person point of view (do not use “I”)
• Your poem should be a minimum of 16 lines and must be written in partial iambic pentameter (each line should contain exactly 10 syllables)
• You must follow an “aa, bb, cc, dd, ee . . .” rhyme scheme(each pair of lines must rhyme).
• You should decide upon a name for your “character-self” that conveys your profession, social position, a hobby, a talent, or a personality trait that has been translated into medieval society. For example, they did not have “basketball players” in the Middle Ages, but they did have “athletes.”
• Prominently write your character’s name above your poem and also include it within the first line.
• Your poem should clearly and fully characterize you as a pilgrim from the Middle Ages, including physical attributes, clothing and equipment, personality, position within society, and any other relevant or interesting details.
• After composing your poem, provide a two-paragraph rationale explaining your choices. In the first paragraph, explain why you chose to characterize yourself the way you did, and describe how who you are in modern society translates into the Middle Ages. In the second paragraph, describe how you would interact with a minimum of four of the other pilgrims. With whom would you get along? Who would you avoid? Be sure to demonstrate an understanding of the other pilgrims in your response. The length of your rationale (including both paragraphs) should be a minimum of 200 words.
• The entire assignment should be typed, grammatically correct, and follow MLA format, including:
• A heading in the upper left-hand corner of the first page listing your name (first and last), your teacher’s name, the title of the course (English 12), and the date
• 12-point font, one and a half or double spacing, and one-inch margins on all sides
• This assignment will be scored out of a possible 30 points in the “Proficiency” category.

Rubric

_____ (10): Format and Organization

-MLA format

-Third person PoV

-Minimum of 16 lines

-Use of partial iambic pentameter

-Consistent rhyme scheme

_____ (10): Quality of Writing and Development of Ideas

-Characterization

-Clarity of ideas/grammar

_____ (10): Rationale

-Two organized paragraphs of at least 200 words

-Explains characterization and interactions with other pilgrims