Golden Age Poetry. Theory and Practice of Lyric Reading

Undergraduate / Graduate

In this course we will read a few classic Spanish poems of the Golden Age from different methodological and theoretical paradigms. Each class session will revolve around one or a few poems in order to allow time for in-depth discussion and analysis, and we will often pair these lyric texts with influential critical readings of them. On the one hand, this will provide students with an introduction to the main poetic traditions, themes, and authors of the Spanish Golden Age in their historical context. On the other, we will critically examine a varied array of reading strategies and interpretive paradigms, including structuralism and post-structuralism, philology and textual criticism, Marxism, feminist criticism and gender studies, New Historicism, and emerging scholarship in "lyric theory." Moreover, we will engage in a discussion about the value, the meaning, and the social uses of poetry broadly considered.