Prof. Laura QuinneyCOML/ENG 149A
Rabb 131MW 2-3:20
own 002
Office hrs: M 1-2, W 3:30-5 and by appt.
Mr.
HELL: THE POETRY
Required books:Dante, The Inferno, trans. Hollander
Louise Gluck, Averno
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Norton Critical Edition
Darren Oldridge, The Devil: A Very Short Introduction
All other texts will be provided on the course’s LATTE website.
Syllabus:
MAug 29Introduction
WAug 31The New Testament, Revelation.
Borges, “The Duration of Hell”
MSept 5No class
WSept 7PART I: THE DESCENT TO THE UNDERWORLD
Homer, The Odyssey, Book XI
Emily Vermeule, “Creatures of the Day: The Stupid Dead 1”
(Aspects of Death in Early Greek Art and Poetry, pp 1-41,
ThSept 8Brandeis Monday
Homer and Vermeule, cont.
MSept 12Plato, The Myth of Er (The Republic 614b-621d)
Alain Badiou, “The Mobile Eternity of Subjects,”
Plato’s Republic: A Dialogue in 16 Chapters, pp. 369-385)
WSept 14Discussion sections
MSept 19Vergil, The Aeneid, Book VI
WSept 21Samuel Johnson, Rambler No. 121, “On Imitation”
MSept 26PART II: SATAN
Darren Oldridge, The Devil: A Very Short Introduction
Dante, The Inferno, cantos 1-4
John Freccero, “Introduction to Inferno,”
(The Cambridge Companion to Dante, pp. 172-191)
WSept 28Discussion sections
Dante, The Inferno, cantos 5-11
MOct 3No class
WOct 5Dante, The Inferno, cantos 12-21
FOct 7FIRST 5-7PP. PAPER DUE
MOct 10Dante, The Inferno, cantos 22-29
WOct 12No class
MOct 17No class
WOct 19Dante, The Inferno, 30-34
Tennyson, “Ulysses”
Seamus Heaney, “Ugolino”
MOct 24No class
TOct 25Brandeis Monday
Genesis 1-2.
Milton, Paradise Lost, Books 1-3
WOct 26Discussion sections
Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 4
MOct 31Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 9
WNov 2Shelley, from Preface to Prometheus Unbound and A Defence of
Poetry (Paradise Lost, pp. 393-5)
William Flesch, from The Majesty of Darkness (Paradise Lost,
pp. 425-27)
William Empson, from “Satan” (Paradise Lost, pp. 417-20)
Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
MNov 7PART III: THE MYTH OF ORPHEUS
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 10, ll. 1-85
Vergil, Georgics, Book 4, ll. 453-527
Browning, “Orpheus to Eurydice”
Rilke, “Orpheus, Eurydice, Hermes”
Blanchot, “The Gaze of Orpheus”
(The Gaze of Orpheus and Other Literary Essays, pp. 99-107)
WNov 9Discussion sections
CREATIVE ASSIGNMENT DUE
MNov 14Jack Spicer, “Orfeo”
Carol Ann Duffy, “Eurydice”
Adrienne Rich, “I Dream I’m the Death of Orpheus”
Linda Gregg, “Eurydice”
Film: “Black Orpheus” (dir. Michel Camus, 1959)
WNov 16PART IV: THE MYTH OF PERSEPHONE
Homeric Hymn to Demeter
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 5, ll. 332-571.
Eavan Boland, “The Pomegranate”
Rae Armentrout, “Upper World”
Rita Dove, “The Bistro Styx”
MNov 21Louis Gluck, Averno
WNov 23No class
MNov 28PART V: MODERN HELLS
Shelley, “The Triumph of Life”
Yeats, “Cuchulain Comforted”
Wilfred Owen, “Strange Meeting”
WNov 30Discussion sections
MDec 5T.S. Eliot, “The Wasteland”
WDec 7Beckett, The Lost Ones
FDec 9FINAL 5-7PP. PAPER DUE
Course Requirements:
1) Attendance and participation. Up to three unexplained absences without penalty. (10%)
2) Occasional very short writing assignments for section. (10%)
3) One creative assignment: choice of options (poem, video, artwork, musical composition). (20%). Due date: Wednesday, 11/9.
4) Two 5-7pp. papers. (30% each) or 12-15pp. term paper (60%). First 5-7pp. paper due:Friday, 10/7. Second 5-7pp. paper due: Friday, 12/9. Term paper due: Friday, 12/9. (The term paper option is intended primarily for English majors wanting to fulfill the 12pp.+ paper requirement.)
Course Rules:
1)Please bring a copy of the poems under discussion to class.
2)There may be occasion to use your electronic devices to look something up in class. Please do not use your electronic devices in class for any other purpose.
3)No plagiarizing. No cheating.
4)Inform me the first week of class if you have a documented disability.