Department of French and Italian

French Renaissance Lyric

This course studies the poetry and poetics of the French Renaissance from the Rhétoriqueurs to D’Aubigné and the Baroque poets. We will begin with Jean Molinet’s Art de rhétorique from the very end of the fifteenth century, which is both a treatise on poetry and an anthology of poems in late Medieval formes fixes. Next we will read some psalm translations of Clément Marot and some chansons spirituelles of Marguerite de Navarre from the reign of François I. From the École lyonnaise we will sample some dizains by Maurice Scève and Pernette du Guillet. From the Pléiade at mid-century, we will read the sonnets of Pierre de Ronsard and Joachim Du Bellay as well as their arts poétiques, especially Du Bellay’s Deffence et illustration de la langue françoise. Our list concludes with D’Aubigné’s Printemps and some of the metrical experiments in vers mesurés conducted at the end of the century. Students will do an in-class exposé and write a term paper on a subject chosen in consultation with the professor.

Books
Joachim Du Bellay, Les Regrets, (Gallimard)

Pierre de Ronsard, Les Amours, (Le Livre de Poche)

Class # 30536