MEDIEVAL GERMANIC LITERATURES

Academic Year 2022/2023 - Teacher: CONCETTA SIPIONE

Expected Learning Outcomes

Students should demonstrate to possess at the end of the course, according to the Dublin descriptors:

1) knowledge and ability to autonomously understand poetic texts in Anglo-Saxon;

2) ability to apply linguistic and philological tools for the understanding and interpretation of poetic texts in Anglo-Saxon;

3) ability to integrate knowledge as well as to formulate judgments on the basis of partial or incomplete information, implied or inferred from the texts;

4) ability to clearly communicate their conclusions and the rationale underlying them in order to share them with specialists and non-specialists;

5) development of ability to learn autonomously.

Course Structure

· Traditional /Lectures.

· Translation exercise from Medieval texts.

Attendance is highly recommended.

Required Prerequisites

English language proficiency at the B2+/C1 level of the European Framework.

It is advisable to have taken the Germanic Philology exam in the bachelor's degree.

Attendance of Lessons

Not mandatory

Detailed Course Content

· phonological development from Germanic to the Anglo-Saxon dialects;

· essentials of Anglo-Saxon morphology;

· basic elements about history and culture of Britannia from the Germanic migration up to the Norman Conquest;

· the main Anglo-Saxon literary and poetic records;

· Interplay between individual an community in Old English poetry.

Reading of selected passages from Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxon Elegies (The Wife’s Lament, Wulf and Eadwacer, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Ruin). Original texts available on Studium.

Textbook Information

Molinari, M.V., La filologia germanica, Bologna 1987, pp. 91-117.

· Dispense di fonologia su Studium (20 pp.).

· Fulk, R.D./ Cain C.M., A History of Old English Literature. Second Edition Malden/Oxford 2013, pp. 256-273, 279-310.

· Klinck, A.L., The Old English Elegies, London-Ithaca 1992, pp. 11-26, 30-40, 47-54, 61-63.

· Hume, K., «The Concept of the Hall in Old English Poetry», Anglo-Saxon England 3 (1974), pp. 63-74.

Dizionari consultabili on line

· Bosworth, J., An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Londra 1882-98, rist 1976.

https://bosworthtoller.com/

· Clark Hall, J.R., A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Second Edition, 1916

http://www.germanic-lexicon-project.org/texts/oe_clarkhall_about.html

Learning Assessment

Learning Assessment Procedures

The oral examination will focus on the in-depth analysis of one or more texts presented in class; students will be expected to be able to read and translate the passages from the original language and examine them both linguistically, stylistically and in terms of content; to this end, they will make use of the relevant literature and manuals listed in the bibliography and available on STUDIUM and any other critical material provided by the lecturer during the course of the lectures.

The mastery of content and skills acquired, linguistic accuracy, lexical property and argumentative ability demonstrated by the candidate will be taken into account in the assessment of the examination. It will also take into account the critical skills of the student in establishing relationships and connections between various aspects of the discipline.

Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises

Explain the phenomenon of palatal metaphony.

What major codes do the Anglo-Saxon poetic corpus convey ?

What are Anglo-Saxon elegies and what is meant by this label?

VERSIONE IN ITALIANO

Corso di laurea magistrale in

Lingue e letterature comparate