The Pleasure of Word: Eroticism and Life in Spanish and Spanish American Poetry of the Golden Age

The aim of this course is to study the presence of vital pleasures in the Spanish and Spanish-American Poetry of the Golden Age (16th and 17th centuries). We will comment on brief texts written by canonical poets, in their relation with social and aesthetics context. After the explanation of historic-literary sources and the analysis of poems, the goal is that the students can make an interpretation about the evolution, during two centuries, of eroticism and other vital pleasures in the poetry of several Spanish and Spanish American poets. The basis of evaluation will be: 1. participation; 2. debates by groups; 3. individual essays. (1 unit)

Required texts: Selected poems by Garcilaso de Vega, Fray Luis de León, San Juan de la Cruz, Luis de Góngora, Lope de Vega, Francisco de Quevedo, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Juan del Valle Caviedes. These materials will be in electronic form made available to students upon arrival.