The purpose of the course is to provide a methodology for analyzing poetic texts. It explores the concept of modernity in the French poetry at the turn of the 19th and 20th century, through four authors (Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal; Verlaine, Les poèmes saturniens; Cendrars, Du monde entier (1912-19); Apollinaire, Alcools).
The study of each collection lasts about four weeks. It consists of a general introduction to the poet and the collection; the study of a theoretical text of the poet; the study of specific poems.
For each class students are asked to have attentively read the texts (to have looked up difficult words in the dictionary) and to have prepared an explanation for the poems.
Method of presentation:
Lecture and discussion.
Required work and form of assessment:
Attendance and participation (10%), term paper (25%), mid-term exam (25%), final exam (40%).
content:
1) Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal
1) Le serpent qui danse (n° 28)
2) L’invitation au voyage (n° 53)
3) Spleen (4) (n° 78)
4) Le cygne (n° 89)
1) 4 extraits de Pâques à New-York et de La Prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jehanne de France
4) Apollinaire, Alcools
1) Zone
2) Le pont Mirabeau
3) Marie
4) La Loreley (Rhénanes)
Required readings:
Baudelaire Charles, Les Fleurs du Mal (1857), Librio, 2004.
Verlaine Paul, Poèmes saturniens (1866), Ed. par Martine Bercot, Paris : Librairie générale française, 1997. Le Livre de Poche. Classique/Le Livre de poche.
Cendrars Blaise, Poésies complètes : 1912-1924. Du monde entier (1912-19). Paris : Gallimard, 1947. Poésie / Gallimard.
Apollinaire Guillaume, Alcools (1913). Paris : Gallimard, 2004. La Bibliothèque Gallimard.
Mazaleyrat Jean, Eléments de métrique française, Armand Colin, 2004.
Buffard-Moret Brigitte, Précis de versification. Armand Colin, 2011.
Recommended readings:
Bonnefoy, Yves. Rimbaud par lui-même. Paris: Le Seuil. 1985
Chadourne, Jacqueline. Cendrars poète du cosmos. Paris: L’Archipel. 1983
Nadeau, Maurice. Histoire du surréalisme. Paris: Le Seuil. 1985
Raymond, Marcel. La poésie de Baudelaire au surréalisme. Paris: Corti, 1949.
Richard, Jean-Pierre. Poésie et profondeur (sur Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine) Paris: Le Seuil, 1969.
Collectif: Valéry Larbaud et la littérature de son temps. Paris: Klincksieck. 1990
The purpose of the course is to provide a methodology for analyzing poetic texts. It explores the concept of modernity in the French poetry at the turn of the 19th and 20th century, through four authors (Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal; Verlaine, Les poèmes saturniens; Cendrars, Du monde entier (1912-19); Apollinaire, Alcools).
The study of each collection lasts about four weeks. It consists of a general introduction to the poet and the collection; the study of a theoretical text of the poet; the study of specific poems.
For each class students are asked to have attentively read the texts (to have looked up difficult words in the dictionary) and to have prepared an explanation for the poems.
Lecture and discussion.
Attendance and participation (10%), term paper (25%), mid-term exam (25%), final exam (40%).
1) Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal
1) Le serpent qui danse (n° 28)
2) L’invitation au voyage (n° 53)
3) Spleen (4) (n° 78)
4) Le cygne (n° 89)
2) Verlaine, Poèmes saturniens
1) Mon rêve familier (Melancholia)
2) Grotesques (Eaux fortes)
3) Promenade sentimentale (Paysages tristes)
4) Nocturne parisien (Caprices)
3) Cendrars, Du monde entier
1) 4 extraits de Pâques à New-York et de La Prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jehanne de France
4) Apollinaire, Alcools
1) Zone
2) Le pont Mirabeau
3) Marie
4) La Loreley (Rhénanes)