Desire/Gndr/Lyric Early Mod Fr

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course will study the development of lyric poetry from the age of the Italian genius Petrarch through the period of the great 16th-century French lyric verse–a period that established key themes, conventions, and psychological perspectives for modern poetry of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the context of the Renaissance world view and its related philosophical and literary traditions, we will examine how each poet defines his or her erotic, artistic, and/or cultural identity, and from it creates an original lyric speaking voice. Poets to be studied include Petrarch, Maurice Scève, Louise Labé, Joachim DuBellay, and Pierre de Ronsard. Cross-listed with the Comparative Literature Program. This course fulfills the upper-division pre-1800 literature requirement for the French major.