Découvrir la Poésie Française

Description

Découvrir la Poésie Française

Tuesday | 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm | July 9th – July 30th

Level : B1+ (High Intermediate to Advanced)

Prof : Carol MacKay

Location : In-Person, at the AFL Office

Duration : 4 weeks, 6 hours

Required Materials : N/A

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will acquaint participants with some of the greatest poems of French literature while offering strategies to analyze, interpret, and read aloud French poetry.   Situating poems in their cultural and historical contexts will help to understand this aspect of French culture in the company of some of France’s greatest poetic voices.  The shorter texts of poems allow time for a close reading that can also help improve language proficiency by enriching vocabulary, reviewing syntax and syllable division, practicing pronunciation and intonation, and appreciating the aesthetic values of the language.

 

We will read a variety of poems with different themes and forms from different time periods, Authors will include Louise Labé, Pierre Ronsard, Joachim Du Bellay, Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire, Paul Éluard, Jacques Prévert, Robert Desnos, and others. Before reading the poems, we will discuss some ways to analyze poetry and learn rules for pronouncing traditional French poetry. A short introduction will situate each poem in its cultural, historical, and biographical context.  After analyzing each poem together, we will listen to recordings and practice reading the poems aloud. The remaining and largest portion of class time will be devoted to discussing individual responses to the poems.  Handouts will be provided with copies of the poems and reading notes.  Two poems will be planned for each class to be discussed as time allows, with suggestions for additional poems for any who might like to read further.  Classes will not be sequential, as each class will begin anew and be independent of the others except in applying the reading strategies learned in the first class.

 

ABOUT THE PROF

Carol MacKay has a Ph.D. in French literature from the University of Kentucky and was a French professor at the college level for her whole career.  Her main area of literary interest was pre-Enlightenment literature, but she taught literature from all periods as well as a wide variety of courses in French language and culture   Her last position was at the University of Southern Indiana, where she served as Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and from which she retired as Associate Professor Emerita.