72464 - Metrics and Contemporary Verse Theory (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

Students who take this class are introduced to the tools of analysis of a poem - metre, rhythm, intonation, and the history of forms - through a comparative perspective. Students are also expected to practice these skills upon several texts and authors belonging to a number of traditions and languages.

Course contents

Main topic: The "Endecasillabo". A True Story.

This class (30 hours) highlights a number of theories of verse and some contemporary tendencies in metrics and stylistics, with a general introduction and a focus on some case studies. This year the course program will focus on the history of Italian "endecasillabo", from its earliest stage to its development in Petrarch, up to the modernism and the most recent outcomes.

This course amounts to 6 credits. 

This course assumes a minimum of knowledge upon metrics and stylistics, acquired throughout the BA curriculum.
Classes begin on Wednesday 19th November, 2014, and go further with the following schedule:

Wednesday, 11 am-1 pm, Guglielmi Room, Via Zamboni 32;

Thursday, 11 am-1 pm, Guglielmi Room, Via Zamboni 32;

Friday, 11 am-1 pm, Guglielmi Room, Via Zamboni 32.

Readings/Bibliography

Throughout the class, several excerpts from books and articles will be read and discussed, in order to be prepared towards the final oral exam. At the end of the class, a detailed list of pages to be read will be provided. Books and articles that will be considered are as follows:

- Mihail Gasparov, A History of European Versification, ed. by Gerard Stanton Smith and Marina Tarlinskaja, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1996 (VII. Romance Syllabic Verse);

- Ugo Sesini, L'endecasillabo: struttura e peculiarità, "Convivium", 5, 1939, pp. 545-570;

- D'Arco Silvio Avalle, Preistoria dell'endecasillabo, Ricciardi, Milan-Naples 1963;

- Marco Praloran, Figure ritmiche dell'endecasillabo, La metrica dei Fragmenta, ed. by Marco Praloran, Antenore, Padua 2003, pp. 125-190;

- Stefano Dal Bianco, L'endecasillabo del Furioso, Pacini, Pisa 2007, pp. 13-26 (1. Tipologia dell'endecasillabo e questioni generali); 

- Pier Vincenzo Mengaldo, Caratteri dell'endecasillabo di Sbarbaro, "Stilistica e Metrica Italiana", 6, 2006, pp. 262-269;

- Paolo Giovannetti - Gianfranca Lavezzi, La metrica italiana contemporanea, Carocci, Rome 2010, pp. 222-234 (3. Esperienze di confine: l'endecasillabo tra "restaurazione" e sopravvivenze della metrica libera).

Further explanations on these and other resources will be provided throughout the class. Copies will be partially made available to students on time with a view to the exam; any other information will appear on a dedicated mailing list.

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures with a strong interaction between students and teacher.

Assessment methods

The final exam consists of an oral appointment, which aims to verify some methodological, personally developed skills. It focuses on the main theoretical matters approached throughout the class, and verifies the knowledge of the poems and essays that have been the subject of a common pursuit throughout the class. Students could be invited to read and comment some single poems or samples, of which they could be requested to evaluate features of prosody, metrics, rhythm and intonation.

A positive or excellent score (27 to 30/30, even with distinction) corresponds to a full mastering of technical, theoretical, historical and terminological resources of contemporary metrics, and to a strong ability to make connections among single parts of the course content, correctly approaching every textual feature with an appropriate language; an average score (23 to 26/30) goes to students who show some lacks in one or more topics or analytical proofs, or are able to use just mechanically the notions and resources of metrics; a pass or low score (18 to 22/30) to students who have severe lacks in one or more topics or exercises, or result to be not enough accurate while they are using notions and approaching samples. A negative score is assigned to students who are absolutely not able to use the general notions of metrics, and who cannot recognize the features of prosody, metrics, rhythm and intonation in a single text sample, and/or in general.

Students can sign up at the AlmaEsami web site (https://almaesami.unibo.it). The registration ends two days before the exam.

Teaching tools

Photocopied transcripts and electronic resources.

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Colangelo