UCJNUK14 History of poetry

Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Summer 2023
Extent and Intensity
0/8/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Dr. phil. Martin Maurach (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
doc. Dr. phil. Martin Maurach
Institute of Foreign Languages – Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
What kind of beast, after all, might be a poem? How can it be distinguished from prose works, e.g. a short story or perhaps - a user's manual? How can poems be analysed in a well-structured, informed way? How did this literary genre develop during, say, the last 400 years? Do poems anyhow matter politically or in society? Drawing on the most important periods of the history of poetry, this course tries to find answers to at least some of these questions. It is going to draw on texts by Claudius, Gryphius, Goethe, Hölderlin, Fontane, Brecht, Benn and others. The seminar combines elements from both a lecture and practical exercises. Special emphasis will lie on analysing form and structure of individual texts as exactly as possible. In this way the students are to learn step by step how to analyse less complicated poems which yet are important and representative of their genre on their own. In addition, the attention of students ist to be drawn to fundamental changes in the general picture of literary genres during the course of history. With the help of poetological essays from the 19th century the aesthetical base of the concept of "Erlebnislyrik" is to be introduced, which for a long time after Goethe's death still has worked as the most important distinguishing mark of poetry in general. Based on cute reflections by the literary historian Peter Wapnewski it is to be contrasted with the modernist view of poetry from the 20th century which is based on form.
Syllabus
  • 1. Andreas Gryphius, Martin Opitz
    2. Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, Matthias Claudius, Christian F. Gellert, Ludwig Gleim
    3. Johann Wolfgang Goethe
    4. Friedrich Schiller
    5. Novalis
    6. Heinrich Heine
    7. Theodor Fontane and the ballad
    8. Stefan George, Rainer Maria Rilke
    9. Gottfried Benn, Bertolt Brecht
    10. Paul Celan, Erich Fried
    11. Durs Grünbein and contemporary poetry
Language of instruction
German
Further Comments
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is also listed under the following terms Summer 2018, Summer 2019, Summer 2020, Summer 2021, Summer 2022.
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