Investigation of significant genres and modes of writing as they recur in the course of Italian cultural history.

This seminar will consider the wide range of medieval Italian poetry, from the Siculo-Arab poets of 12th-century Sicily to 13th-century poets such as Giacomo da Lentini, the Compiuta Donzella, Immanuel of Rome, and Dante Alighieri. We will emphasize points of Mediterranean connectivity, thinking medieval lyric in other vernacular traditions such as Occitan, Andalusian muwashshah, and Persian. We will also move through the various schools of the ltalian lyric tradition, thinking about voices both marginalized and canonical, as we make our way to a full reading of Dante’s lyric corpus and consider his role in establishing a literary history that codifies categories of his own creation.

Prerequisite: graduate standing or consent of instructor.

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