Lecture (LEC)

• This course meets with CMLT-C 321, MEST-M390, and MEST-M 502
• TOPIC : Lyric Poetry in Medieval Europe

Have you ever wondered who invented the sonnet? Or what the first troubadours sang? Did you know that the Arabic lyric form called the muwashshah was invented in medieval Europe? Or that a 9th-century Carolingian woman wrote Latin puzzle poems? The sestina used by modern poets like W. H. Auden and Kona Macphee and many of the hymns still used by modern Christians were invented in medieval Europe. From love songs to religious chants, puzzle poems, and political satires, lyric poetry by artists in medieval Europe created or participated in traditions that continue to shape poetry and song today. Lyric poems from medieval Europe also provide us with the clearest examples of interaction between different languages, religions, and social groups during this time. In this course, we will examine the development of lyric poetry in Europe from the fourth century through the fifteenth century. We will study examples of religious and secular lyrics from a wide range of languages (Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, English, Occitan, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, and Italian), learning about traditions and innovations in form and content, as well as the relationship between verbal text and musical setting and the social roles played by lyric poetry. Some of the issues we will explore are the representation of subjectivity in lyric poetry, shared discourses of desire in religious and secular lyrics, the role of dialogue within and between lyric poems, and the embedding of lyric poems in works in other genres. In addition, we will examine the relationship of oral performance and manuscript transmission of lyric poems.