WSTD 534 - Woman in Poetry:From the Troubadours to the Petrarchans

Institution:

University of Pennsylvania

Subject:

Description:

Kirkham. Conducted in English, undergraduates by permission only. The course explores female voices in medieval and early modern literature from Italy and France. We shall begin with the foundations of the "courtly" lyric tradition, reading the "trobairitz" (female troubadours). Next we shall turn to early Italian texts in which woman is the object of a male gaze. We shall consider both the classical "high" style that idolizes woman (Petrarch) and programmatic departures from it (Dante's "Stony Rhymes," satirical dialogues, and humorous misogyny). Our point of arrival will be the Petrarchan poetesses of 16th-century Europe, with an emphasis on the Italians (Vittoria Colonna, Gaspara Stampa, Laura Battiferra degli Ammannati). What were the literary and philosophical traditions that shaped notions of female identity How do women establish their own textual space when appropriating a genre that had been the vehicle for a masculine first-person voice How do the images of women as scripted by men, or staged through male cross-voicing, differ from those in poetry written by women What are problems and issues in constructing a national history of women poets Course conducted in English, with texts available both in English and in the original. Undergraduates by permission. Requirements: class participation; a final oral presentation on a woman poet of the student's choice, and a term paper of not more than 20 pp. or a take-home final.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.upenn.edu

Phone Number:

(215) 898-5000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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