You may have some experience reading Middle English from ENGL 201 or other classes—or you may have no such experience at all. Or, if you do, you might describe it only as “bad” experience. In light of that, I’d like to offer the following:

1. On your first reading, pay attention to the glosses (the definitions offered to the right of each line, for words that are followed by a tiny superscript circle) but ignore the footnotes except in the rare case where the footnote information is necessary to understanding the Middle English. (Most footnotes give you historical and cultural information that’s helpful on a later reading, but often distracting on the first one.)

2. Read aloud, but with no attempt to make it “sound” like Middle English. Reading aloud distances you a bit from the visual weirdness of the Middle English (which existed before the standardization of spelling that happened in English after the printing press arrived a century after Chaucer lived). It will help you to understand by hearing sentences that you might not quite understand if you relied only on silent, visual reading. (I used to read Chaucer to my cat, when I was an undergrad.)

3. Make ‘factual’ notes in the margin as you read to keep yourself focused on what’s happening as you go—and also to help you later, when you want to return to a certain passage but have a hard time finding it because you can’t skim Middle English quickly the way you can Modern English.

4. Make note of things that confuse you, along the way. We can discuss some of those in class together.

5. Be patient with yourself, and don’t demand complete and utter comprehension of every single phrase.