RLFR 303(F) The Voyage of the Renaissance Poet: The Poetics of Regret and Transcendence
The French Renaissance discovery of a vernacular poetic consciousness is one of the most significant and creative literary contributions of the early modern period. Many aspects of this discovery are rooted in the reappraisal of ancient culture and in the tendency to personify, through myth, the transcendent impulses of the Poet. This course will explore the main features of this poetic phenomenon through the themes of opportunity/regret, poetic intoxication, erotic madness, divine inspiration, and the Sublime as they emerge from Renaissance literary incarnations of mythological figures such as Kairos/Occasion, Bacchus, Venus, Eros, and Apollo. Readings will consist mainly (though not exclusively) of selected poetic texts from the work of Du Bellay, Sceve, and Ronsard and of prose texts from Rabelais and Montaigne; brief background readings from Longinus and Quintilian. Conducted in French. Requirements: class participation, three shorter papers, one hour-long test, and oral presentations. Prerequisite: French 109 or 110, or permission of instructor.