Reading French Verse 1857-1876 (U03964)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : LLC-4-U03964

The two decades covered by this course saw the apotheosis of French verse, with the composition of many of the most famous poems in the language (such as Baudelaire’s ‘Le Cygne’ or Mallarmé’s ‘Après-midi d’un faune’, as well as all Rimbaud’s verse), exploiting to the full the mechanisms of traditional French versification. But at the same time, that exploitation exposed the limits of the tradition; and this period also saw the beginning of the end for the hegemony of traditional verse forms. The course will concentrate first on giving students an understanding of how French verse works, prosodically and semantically; then we will examine how it evolved, and how the links between verse forms and the idea of poetry developed. The poets studied will be Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, and Mallarmé.

? Keywords : French verse

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : Pass in French 2 Entry to Honours in French

Subject Areas

Home subject area

European Languages and Cultures - French, (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, Schedule G)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 4th year

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Tutorial	Thursday	09:00	10:50	Central

? Additional Class Information : This course will be taught either in semester 1 (blocks 1 and 2) or in semester 2 (blocks 3 and 4). The class session time given above is provisional; its timetable slot should be determined by DELC to optimise choice for students.

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Students will acquire an advanced appreciation of both traditional and modern techniques of analysing French regular verse, as well as of the rationale behind these techniques. They will also gain an understanding of how the rules of versification interacted, during this critical period in literary history, with a concept of literature which rejected in principle the possibility that rules could be formulated to define or constrain art.
By the end of the course, students will be expected to show the ability:
• to demonstrate advanced knowledge and understanding of the subject;
• to recognise and acknowledge the complexity of the subject;
• to show a good understanding of, and apply competently, complex conceptual frameworks;
• to construct coherent arguments which demonstrate an awareness of the problems posed by the texts and issues which they are studying;
• to demonstrate a high level of expression in both written and oral presentations;
• to demonstrate the mastery of relevant technical terminology and research methods;
• to offer alternative perspectives, identify and accommodate ambiguities and show an awareness of nuance;
• to develop original ideas;
• to demonstrate an awareness of the research agenda relating to the topic.