Chaucer or jane austen?

LSE1996

Hey guys... so my teacher wants to force us to do Chaucer's Wife of Bath for A level English Lit but everyone in our class wants to Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen?

Which book is easier? Which would you choose? :confused:

Reply 1

Old_Simon

12

Wife of Bath is awesome. Chaucer can be hilarious if you really get into it and understand the text.

Reply 2

yo radical one

6

Pretty sure neither of these people wrote books on maths :s-smilie:

Reply 3

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by LSE1996

Hey guys... so my teacher wants to force us to do Chaucer's Wife of Bath for A level English Lit but everyone in our class wants to Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen?

Which book is easier? Which would you choose? :confused:

I would choose the one the teacher has chosen for you because s/he knows the text well, knows the calibre of the class and has probably had experience of teaching it for A level and knows how to do it. Also, Chaucer is damn good fun. (Not that JA isn't.)

Reply 4

bramley

9

I like Chaucer and did it for A2. The language is not as easy as Austen but it makes for good analysis. The Wife of Bath is a good one, and you won't be lost for things to say. Austen is also good to study, I almost did some but ended up doing another novel.

Personally I would go for Chaucer, even if the language is harder to get I find it more interesting and I always found Austen a bit hard going. I think Chaucer is very special, the whole of the Canterbury Tales is very diverse. Of course this is totally subjective and you may be going against the grain with Chaucer :redface:

.

Reply 5

Swanbow

19

I did 'A Millers Tale' for A2. Once you can get around the archaic use of language it is actually quite hilarious. Personally I'd go for Chaucer as I'm not a big fan of classical romantic fiction.

Reply 6

LSE1996

OP

2

Original post by yo radical one

Pretty sure neither of these people wrote books on maths :s-smilie:

What? This isn't the A-Level maths thread.

Reply 7

LSE1996

OP

2

So is the consensus Chaucer or Jane Austen?

Reply 8

nulli tertius

21

Original post by yo radical one

Pretty sure neither of these people wrote books on maths :s-smilie:

You are not correct, one of them did.

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote A Treatise on the Astrolabe.

http://machias.edu/faculty/necastro/chaucer/texts/astr/astr107.txt
http://machias.edu/faculty/necastro/chaucer/texts/astr/astr207.txt

Reply 9

LSE1996

OP

2

Original post by bramley

I like Chaucer and did it for A2. The language is not as easy as Austen but it makes for good analysis. The Wife of Bath is a good one, and you won't be lost for things to say. Austen is also good to study, I almost did some but ended up doing another novel.

Personally I would go for Chaucer, even if the language is harder to get I find it more interesting and I always found Austen a bit hard going. I think Chaucer is very special, the whole of the Canterbury Tales is very diverse. Of course this is totally subjective and you may be going against the grain with Chaucer :redface:

.

Thank you! Very helpful!

Reply 10

Old_Simon

12

Original post by LSE1996

Thank you! Very helpful!

The Wife of Bath's Tale is full of the issues of feminism so it has a modern resonance and relevance as well.

Reply 11

kangarooblue

1

I'm doing Chaucer's Wife of Bath for A2 and did Pride and Prejudice for gcse coursework. Chaucer is very funny, and interesting too as it is SO different to what you'd see today. The language is fine, too. The glossary you always get explains it all, and it has a lovely sound quality.

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Reply 12

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by LSE1996

So is the consensus Chaucer or Jane Austen?

Well, if you look at all the posts so far, Chaucer has had 100% of the votes.

Reply 13

LSE1996

OP

2

Is Chaucer good for essays though? I'm just kinda scared.. how do you approach it as a poem or as prose? Like right now I don't understand the concept of his writing..

Reply 14

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by LSE1996

Is Chaucer good for essays though? I'm just kinda scared.. how do you approach it as a poem or as prose? Like right now I don't understand the concept of his writing..

It's a bit of both, really. There's plenty of material to go on. Trust me on this. (I've taught Chaucer at A level for donkey's years.) Your teacher will point out the way, and there are lots of study guides as well.

Reply 15

LSE1996

OP

2

Original post by kangarooblue

I'm doing Chaucer's Wife of Bath for A2 and did Pride and Prejudice for gcse coursework. Chaucer is very funny, and interesting too as it is SO different to what you'd see today. The language is fine, too. The glossary you always get explains it all, and it has a lovely sound quality.

Posted from TSR Mobile

did you enjoy chaucer more than JA then?