FRW 4214

   Readings in Renaissance Literature

FRW 6346

   Poetry of the Renaissance
 
 

Tuesday Periods 9-11
CBD210                                                                                    Spring 2003
                                                                                                 Dr. William Calin
 
 

Six Poets of the Golden Age

   I.  The period extending from 1400 to 1660 is one of extraordinary richness in the production of lyric poetry.  The impact of poetry, both within France and outside the kingdom, in both esthetic and historical terms, is such that we can consider these years to have been a Golden Age. This course will focus on six poets from the Renaissance and early Baroque, that is the sixteenth century plus two decades of the seventeenth. These are Louise Labé, Joachim du Bellay, Pierre de Ronsard, Jean de Sponde, Agrippa d’Aubigné, and Jean de La Ceppède. One session will be devoted to the Occitan Baroque, in this case writers in Provençal. We shall look at the relationship of literature to historical reality: the mind-set of a feudal-aristocratic and classical-Christian culture; an age of enthusiasm for Graeco-Roman Antiquity and for the Wars of Religion. Central to our preoccupations will be gender (attitudes toward women) and devotion (attitudes toward the church, death, and God). In other words, Eros and Caritas. We shall also scrutinize the workings of literature itself, with special attention to image and archetype, from the perspective of modern criticism. Among the approaches to be employed: Freudian, Jungian, Marxist, gender-related, narratology, and intertextuality. We shall concentrate on the close reading of selected brief texts or brief passages from longer texts.
 
 
 

II.  Students are expected to keep up with reading assignments and to participate actively in class discussion.

One ten-to-twelve page paper (FRW 4214) or one twelve-to-fifteen page paper (FRW 6346). No exams. No incompletes.
 

III. Floyd Gray, ed. Anthologie de la poésie française du XVIe siècle. Charlottesville, VA: Rookwood Press.

                  IV.
                             January    7        Introduction

                                         14       Louise Labé

                                          21       Joachim du Bellay

                                         28       Du Bellay

                 February   4       Pierre de Ronsard  
  11       Ronsard

  18       Ronsard


       25       Jean de Sponde


                 March       4       Agrippa d’Aubigné

                                           11      Secular Holiday

                                           18      D’Aubigné

                                          25      D’Aubigné

                 April         1      Jean de La Ceppède                                            8      La Ceppède         15      Occitan Baroque  
  22      Reading Period
 
 
 

V. Office Hours: Thursday + Friday, Period 9

    Office Phone: 392-2016 X 238

   Home Phone: 373-3739

   Courriel: wcalin@rll.ufl.edu