Research Topics for research groups 2-6.

The Song of Roland

  1. Oral composition, aural perfomance, and poetics.
  2. The depiction of the pagans.
  3. Relationship of the poem to the first crusade.
  4. Treatment of Christian ideas in the poem.
  5. Symbolic meaning in the poem (dreams, colors, etc.)
  6. Post-1980 critical approaches to the poem.

The Lais of Marie de France

  1. Feminist studies of the Lais.
  2. Relationship of the Lais to her other works.
  3. Who was the author? And does it make any difference in interpreting her works?
  4. The symbolic meaning of fantasy.
  5. Feminist interpretations of Marie's Lais.
  6. Marie de France's concept of love.

Lancelot

  1. Relationship of Chrétien's work to the Old French Lancelot.
  2. Twelfth-century chivalric values in Lancelot.
  3. The role of women in Lancelot.
  4. Who was the author and what is the importance of biography to interpretation of text?
  5. Marie de Champagne as patroness.
  6. The concept of love in the poem.

Perceval

  1. The role of women in Perceval.
  2. The development of the character of Perceval in the Quest of the Holy Grail.
  3. The patron of Perceval.
  4. The role of Gawain in Perceval.
  5. Twelfth-century chivalric values in Perceval.
  6. The unfinished quality and post-modern values.

The Death of King Arthur

  1. Comparison of the Old French version to Malory.
  2. The depiction of Lancelot.
  3. The relationship of illustrations to text in Yale 229.
  4. The text in historical context: thirteenth-century Flanders and Yale 229.
  5. Apocalypse or tragedy in the poem.
  6. The depiction of Geneviere.