LATIN 202: LATIN POETRY

Course Description: This course will start from the world and poetry of Catullus, one of the most spontaneous and personal of all ancient poets. Our attempt to reconstruct the Catullus that his friends and admirers knew in the mid-first century B.C. will lead us into several basic forms of inquiry: first, what exactly Catullus was expressing in his poems; then what artifice he used to express himself; and finally how he would have performed his poetry when he read to an audience. We will also look at the tradition of Latin Lyric in broader perspective, reading a series of authors in the medieval, renaissance and modern periods. In these we will see the rise of rhymed, stressed poetry, and then the renovation of ancient forms. The goal will be to gain an appreciation of one of the world's most influential and long-lived literary languages.

Requirements: For each week's reading, students will be required to read the selections carefully enough to be able to:

• pass a short quiz (unannounced) on the vocabulary and basic meaning and structure
• discuss the structure and artifice in English both in writing (weekly essay) and orally in class
• prove competence on a weekly sight reading
• audio record a rendition of five poems (soundcloud.com has generously agreed to sponsor the technology for this exercise)
• write a 5 page essay on a particular point of interest in the Latin (due no later than 5 PM Feb. 14, electronically submitted)
• complete a midterm and final exam showing a subtle understanding of the poetry

Grading:

• Quizzes: 10%
• Sight Readings: 10%
• Class Participation: 20%
• Midterm: 15% [March 7]
• Recitations: 15% [displaying your mastery of the meter and interpretation of the poetry's nuances]
• Essays: 15% [5 page essay due before 5:00 PM, Feb. 14]
• Final: 15% [7 PM April 29, 9 AM]

Assignments:

• Weeks 1: Grammar Review and Background
• Week 2: Catullus 3, 5 and 6 (recording of Cat 5 due by 5 PM Jan. 27)
• Week 3: Catullus 8, 11 and 16
• Week 4: Catullus 43, 51 and 69
• Week 5: Research and compose 5 page essay on Latin poetic style using a Catullus poem as subject
• Week 6: Catullus 70, 72, 74, and 76 (recording of Cat 72 due by 5 PM Feb. 22)
• Week 7: Catullus 77, 83, 85, and 101 and Catullus 64 in English
• Week 8: Catullus 1, Catullus 116, Review and Midterm (March 7)
• Week 9: Propertius 21 and Horace 1.5
• Week 10: Ovid Ars Amatoria book 1
• Week 11: Martial Epigram 1.7, Ausonius and Columba (recording of Ausonius due by 5 PM April 4)
• Week 12: Venantius Fortunatus' Verses composed at a party with Radegunde and her Sister Agnes and Sedulius Scotus' Contra Plagam
• Week 13: Sedulius Scotus' Surrexit Christus and Carmen Buranum -- Dum Diane
• Week 14: John Milton's Haec ego mente Review and Concluding Discussion (recording of Haec ego mente due by 5 PM April 25)
• Final Exam: 9 AM April 29

Online Resources

• Overview of Meters
• Latin Dictionary
• Latin Grammar
• An on-line bibliography of Catullus
• Translations of Catullus into English

Texts: Garrison, Daniel, The Student's Catullus. all assigned texts can also be found on this official course web site.

Attendance: Since class participation is a significant graded percentage of this course, each class a student misses will detract from this grade. Several absences will not do permanent damage, but more than 8 (out of 42 meetings -- i.e. almost 20%) will be serious.

Honor Policy: Like any academic work at UR all work done for this course falls under the honor code. If you have any doubt what constitutes "unauthorized assistance," please come and talk to the instructor before trying it.

N.B. The Department of Classical Studies does not allow make up tests under any circumstances, nor does it accept late work. This is an unswerving policy of the instructor also.

(last changed April 17, 2014)