Languages
Great poets of the Spanish Literature
Area:
Literature / Literatura The course is designed to North American students who want to acquire a general and complete knowledge of Spanish poetry from the Medieval Ages until today. The course has been designed from a practical point of view within a historical and socio cultural context.The course structure tends to integrate the different poetry movements in history, so that students can identify each literary text according to the characteristics of any artistic period.
Students will be familiarized with the most remarkable characteristics and style of an author to identify each literary work according to the generalities of each period. Readings of poems will be done during class time so students can obtain the skills to make critical and personal comments that show the knowledge gained by the student.
Field trips:
Visit to the Literary District in Madrid
This activity will be carried out outside of class time to finish with the academic calendar. This district is well known because some of the most famous writers, from the Golden Age like Cervantes, Góngora or Quevedo lived there.
Among the places to be visited it is the Saint Sebastian church where Zorrilla, Larra, Bécquer and Menéndez Pidal were married. Jacinto Benavente was baptized and it is where the death certificate of Cervantes and Lope de Vega is kept. Another interesting literary place is the print of Juan Cuesta where the first Don Quixite edition was printed.
To finish the activity students will have to read and comment some of the most known sentences of the Spanish literature carved along the Huertas Street. Finally the Fonda de San Sebastian, will be visited as it was where Moratín Iriarte and López de Ayala used to discuss issues about the country. Students will have to complete the assigned exercises by the teacher to better understand the authors’ biography and the context where some of the most remarkable literary works were written.
Visit to the National Librery
The activity will be carried out outside of the class time to cover the requirements of the academic program. Students will visit the Museum of Books of this institution which is the most important of the Spanish Library System. It has several millions of volumes as a copy of every book printed in Spain has to be kept here. Students will see books from the first printed years until the electronic books of our days. Students will have to answer several questions prepared by the teacher and related to the printing development in Spain.
