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updated: 12/26/05 Latin
Poetry: Catullus Professor Ortwin Knorr Attendance:
(LATIN 232 - Spring 2006)
TTh 11:20-12:50 pm, Eaton 108
Classical Studies Program
Email:
oknorrATwillamette.edu
Phone: x6029
Mailbox: 107 Eaton
Office Hours: W 10:20 am - 11:20 am
and by appointment, 306 Eaton
A highly
talented poet who died very young, at age 30, Catullus (ca.
84-54 BCE) and his friends started a new poetic movement in
Rome. The Neoterics ("New Poets") looked down upon
people like Cicero, twenty years their senior, who dabbled in
epic poetry. Instead, they wrote small, meticulously crafted
poems in the spirit of their idol, the Hellenistic Greek poet
Callimachus.
Some of Catullus' most beautiful (and some of
L.
Alma-Tadema,
Catullus at Lesbia's (1865)his
most disturbing) poems relive his stormy, adulterous love affair
with Lesbia a.k.a. Clodia,
a notorious
femme fatale and the sister of Cicero’s arch enemy Clodius.
Others wittily express the poet's love for poetry and his friends,
and the contempt he felt for would-be poets and political enemies.
Readings will mostly focus on Catullus, but for comparison we
will also read brief selections from Horace, Ovid, and some
older poets.
Goals of the course:
At
the end of this course, students should
•
be
familiar with the standard vocabulary of Latin poetry
•
be
able to recognize and scan several common poetic meters,
•
be
able to appreciate and intelligently discuss Catullan and similar
ancient and modern poetry
Required Textbooks:
Daniel
H. Garrison, ed.,
The
Student's Catullus, 3rd ed., Norman, OK: University
of Oklahoma
Press,
2004, ISBN: 0806136359, $19.95 (pb)
John
Traupman,
The
Bantam New College Latin & English Dictionary, New York:
Bantam
Books, 1995 (ISBN: 0-553-57301-2).
Charles
Bennett,
New
Latin Grammar, Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci, 2000
(repr.
of 1908 ed.) (ISBN: 0-86516-261-1).
Recommended
Reading:
Steven
Saylor,
The
Venus Throw, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996 (ISBN: 0312957785)
(a mystery novel partly based on Catullus' poetry).
I not only expect that you attend classes regularly, it is also
important for your success in this (as in any other) class. Absences
will be reflected in your final grade, and you will not be able
to discuss the assigned readings at the same level as the rest of
the class. If you need to miss class for legitimate reasons
(illness, exams, athletics, etc.), please inform me per email as
soon as possible. Please note that it is your responsibility
to get homework assignments from your classmates if you miss class.
Quizzes:
There will be a quiz approximately every two weeks to test your
familiarity with Catullan vocabulary and meter. Each quiz will consist
of a poem by Catullus to be translated into idiomatic English and
one or two background questions on Catullus and his poetry. There
will be no make-up quizzes, but you will be able to drop your
lowest quiz grade as long as you write all the quizzes.
Final Exam:
Your final exam will follow the format of the quizzes, except that
it will be longer.
Honor Code:
All members of this class agree to be bound by an honor code. As
a matter of practice, that means that you do not cheat on quizzes
or exams. Collaboration on homework is fine, even encouraged, as
long as all members of a collaborative effort work equally. Simply
copying the homework of a classmate does you absolutely no good
and would in my view constitute a violation of the honor code.
Grading Policy:
Your grade for the course will be based on:
• your class participation and attendance (25%)
• 5 of 6 quizzes (50%)
• a final exam (25%)
Syllabus:
For a detailed syllabus with the assignments for every day, please
click here.
(not yet updated for 2006!)
Please note the following important dates:
March
27-31, 2006 (Mon-Fri)
Spring
Vacation
May
9, 2006 (Tu)
Final
Exam 2:00-4:00 pm, Eaton 108