Learning objectives
The present module is the second unit of Latin Literature 2-unit course (12 CFU) and aims at providing students with critical methodology, translation techniques and critical reading and interpretation of Latin literary texts.
Focusing on poetry, the course aims at introducing students to poetic literary genres and classical poets in particular, so that students should:
- be able to place authors and literary movements in their proper historical context;
- be able to translate and analyze Latin literary texts and make personal judgements on Latin works and authors;
- have developed the ability to synthesize contents and properly assess and communicate their knowledge;
- have developed and demonstrate learning abilities recommended for further studies in Classics.
Classroom lectures, which are supplemented by practice sessions and tutorials (morphology, syntax, scansion, meter), will focus on the reading and interpretation of the texts provided.
Prerequisites
Verification of the absence of any formative weaknesses through a preliminary written test consisting of a translation from Latin of a text by an author from the classical age.
Course unit content
Readings from Late-Republican and Julio-Claudian poets.
Classroom lectures will focus on selected passages of authors ranging from Late Republic to early Augustan age, special focus being placed on Catull, Lucretius, Vergil and Lucan, and on their civil war-related compositions.
Full programme
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Bibliography
Classroom lectures:
Selected bibliography on the topic discussed will be provided during lessons.
Required Text Books:
A. Morphology and Syntax (students will be free to select a Latin Grammar textbook of their choice);
B. History of Latin Literature (students will be free to select a Latin Literature textbook of of their choice);
C. Seneca, De vita beata;
D. Vergil, Aeneid (a book to be chosen in consultation with the module tutor)
Teaching methods
The course consists of classroom lectures supplemented by weekly tutorials.
Through classroom lectures students will be guided to a first methodological approach for the study of different texts according to the specific features of literary genres and authors.
Classroom lectures will be supplemented by practice sessions and tutorials to support students in gaining the resources and skills needed to properly read and translate texts and to understand the most important phonological and metrical aspects. Tutorial activities will be scaled up and down according to students’ abilities and needs.
Assessment methods and criteria
Students will be assessed by an oral examination based on the readings and other material used in the course and that will be administered at the end of the single module or at the end of the two courses.
The assessment aims to test:
1) proper knowledge and critical understanding of the literary and cultural background of the main and most important literary genres within the field of Latin Literature;
2) proper reading and translation of Latin texts;
3) critical and interpretation skills along with the ability to produce personal reinterpretation and interdisciplinary links;
4) oral proficiency; correct use of language; ability to give proper answers to given questions.
Students will have to fully achieve the first two assessment criteria and score a minimum of 60 percent or better to get a pass grade.
Other information
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