Course | ENGL 301A: Middle English Literature - The Order of Love

A new class is available for University of Waterloo Undergraduates for Winter 2025, ENGL 301A: Middle English Literature - The Order of Love. The class is taught by Prof. Norm Klassen. Please see the description below.

This course is subtitled “The Order of Love.” In it we will learn about famous worshippers of Venus, who make up a fraternity or order. We will also learn about love’s order, the demand or command of love, as when Jocelyn asks Heath Ledger to do his worst in The Knight’s Tale. We’ll consider the ordering of our affections and whether it’s possible even to name the restlessness we sometimes feel within. Then there’s the architecture of medieval churches, which has been called “the geometry of love.” And a tapestry series organized around the phrase “À Mon Seul Désir” (“To my one desire”). And let’s not forget the love that orders the universe, everything seeking its proper place, moved by the love that moves the sun and other stars, as Dante puts it. Come. Be moved.