This course will provide an introduction to poetry in French by focusing on poetic “practice” – the practice of reading/saying/hearing poetry, the practice of composing poetry, the practice of materializing poetry on the page – and how and why it matters to our everyday lives. As we explore diverse poetic practices, ranging from the Middle Ages to the present day, we will consider how poetry has served as a vital form of embodied expression with unique capacities to enchant, impart knowledge, provoke meaningful experiences, and foster new forms and terms of communicating with the world in order to effect change. Not only will we engage in close and creative readings with French and Francophone poetry, placing voices across the centuries in conversation with one another, but we will also cultivate our own poetic practices through collection, composition, and exchange to be materialized in a final personal poetic anthology.
Course conducted in French.
