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

Learning outcomes

Students who take this class are introduced to the basic skills of the analysis of poems - 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: Opening the Field: from "Free Verse" to "Research Poetry".

This class (30 hours) highlights the theory and practice of metrics in the 20th and 21st century poetry, through a theorical introduction and a focus on some case studies. This year the course program will take its start from the international free verse, to deepen afterwards the relationships between verse and prose, and verse itself as a field of perception, and the acoustic and visual metaphors related to the experimental practice of metrics in the poetry of the last decades. 

This course amounts to 6 credits. 

This course assumes a minimum of knowledge upon metrics and stylistics, acquired throughout the BA curriculum.
Classes begin Wednesday 27th November, 2013, 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:   

Alfonso Berardinelli, La poesia verso la prosa. Controversie sulla lirica moderna, Bollati Boringhieri, Turin 1994; 

Nigel Fabb, Why is verse poetry?, "PN Review", 189, 36, 2009, pp. 52-57;

Mihail Gasparov, A History of European Versification, ed. by Gerard Stanton Smith and Marina Tarlinskaja, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1996;

Paolo Giovannetti - Gianfranca Lavezzi, La metrica italiana contemporanea, Carocci, Rome 2010;

Charles O. Hartman, Free verse. An Essay On Prosody, Princeton University Press, Princeton (NJ)  1980;  

Clive Scott, Vers libre. The Emergence of Free Verse in France, 1886-1914, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1990 [also available on bibliographical databases provided by the University library resources].

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

Classes with a strong interaction between students and teacher.

Assessment methods

The final exam consists of an oral appointment, which aims to verify in each student some methodological, personally developed skills. It focuses on the main theoretical matters approached throughout the class, and verifies the knowledge of the texts of poetry and criticism upon which the common work group has been exerced. Students could be invited to read and comment some single poems or samples, of which they are requested to be aware of prosody, metrics, rhythmical and intonational features.

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 any single part of the course contents, and to correctly approach textual features 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 exercises, 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 seem to be not accurate enough, every time they try to use the notions or approach the 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 even inb a single text sample, or cannot generally manage the technical language of metrics.

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