Note: A placement exam will be required when you arrive on site.

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This course is designed for students who have completed or tested out of a minimum of four semesters (or six quarters) of college-level Spanish. However, students must take a placement exam to determine the course level into which they will be able to enroll.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this Course is to make available to students a series of basic concepts concerning the use of literary language applied to the art of verse and, specifically, to poetry in the Spanish language. Besides dealing with issues of a theoretical nature, access will be provided to the literary creativity as practised by key authors within Spanish Letters, with special reference to Andalusian authors of the twentieth century. Thus, a range of texts will be read and explored in class, the study of which will be focused in terms of the subject units within the syllabus. In this way, while forming an understanding of the theoretical principles that contribute to the configuration of each of its sections, students will also acquire a deeper awareness of Andalucía’s cultural heritage.

SYLLABUS
1. The Concept of Literary Theory.
1.1. The Theory of Literature.
1.2. Literary Criticism.
1.3. Literary History.

2. The Fundamental Characteristics of Spanish Poetics.
2.1. Poetry and Verse.
2.2. The Function of Poetics.
2.3. Meter.
2.4. Rhetoric.

3. Text in Verse
3.1. Syllable Count.
3.2. Rhyme.
3.3. Kinds of Verse.
3.4. Metrical Combinations.

4. Poetic Language
4.1. Poetics and Rhetoric.
4.2. Tropes.
4.3. Figures.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
HERNÁNDEZ GUERRERO, J. A., GARCÍA TEJERA, Mª del C. Historia breve de la Retórica. Madrid: Síntesis, 1994.
RHYTHMICA. Revista Española de Métrica Comparada (Sevilla).
TORRE, E. El ritmo del verso (Estudios sobre el cómputo silábico y la distribución acentual, a la luz de la Métrica Comparada, en el verso español moderno). Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, 1999.
-----. Métrica española comparada. Sevilla: Publicaciones de la Universidad de Sevilla, 2000.
-----. La poesía de Grecia y Roma. Ejemplos y modelos de la cultura literaria moderna. Huelva: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Huelva y Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 2001.
UTRERA TORREMOCHA, Mª. V. Teoría del poema en prosa. Sevilla: Universidad de Sevilla, 1999.
-----. Historia y teoría del verso libre. Sevilla: Padilla Libros-Cuadernos de Teoría de la Literatura, 2001.

ASSESSMENT
Assessment will be carried out in overall terms, taking into account students’ active participation in class, together with the work input of each individual, involving the profitable use made of session explanations concerning the theoretical groundings upon which Spanish poetics is based. Thus, on the one hand, it is the oral contribution of students within class sessions which will be calibrated (the asking of questions, the clarifying of doubts, the offering of constructive input), thereby ensuring the clearing up of uncertainties and, likewise, a participative environment. On the other hand, consideration will also be given to on-going individual assignments concerning the basic concepts of the syllabus content dealt with in class sessions, these assignments, in written form, needing to be handed in at the end of the semester. Lastly, a final compulsory exam, based on specific literay texts, will be set, so that the concepts assimilated from the Course may be applied in a practical way and in terms of activity models used during the semester.

Three factors will be taken into account when assessing student performance in this Course:
Class Participation: Regular Attendance, the Asking of Questions, Role in Class Discussions, Performance in Practical Exercises.
Assignment Completion: a Summary of the Contents of Class Sessions.
Practical Exam: the Application of the Key Concepts of Poetics to the Exploration of Literary Texts, as Assimilated during the Semester.