I am deeply interested in form, but I realize that others may think it is not a serious issue. That being said, some of you might be interested in reading my chapter
“Approaches to the Design of Petrarch’s
Canzoniere” in Approaches to Teaching Petrarch’s Canzoniere and the Petrarchan Tradition, ed. Christopher Kleinhenz and Andrea Dini. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2014.This is a very lively piece, based on much experience,
and I've had a a number of delighted responses to it. I offer it simply as a model of what can be done in the way of enquiring into form in a number of ways, though those of you teaching the Amoretti will find it useful for other reasons. It's not as
au courant as it might have been, because I wrote it in a hotel room in Winnipeg in 2004 while my husband was at a conference, and the MLA didn't publish the darn book for a decade, but hey, I did my best. Makes serious demands, but very student-oriented.
Good for grad students too. Enjoy! Germaine
[log in to unmask]">1. Form is something that you can take an interest in for its own sake. It doesn't have to be auxiliary to something else. I'm not saying this kind of interest in form is better or purer than the expressive interest described above, just that it's possible -- and it's something artists in particular are susceptible to.--
2. Some artists are interested in ideas, but their ideas are no good; their art is great in spite of their interests.
3. Same with politics.
4. Most people's interest in an artist's ideas or politics is secondary. That is, it develops after the art grabs them. This is especially true of old art, like Spenser's. As a Christian, I share some of his most deeply held beliefs. But I don't go to Spenser for instruction in them; and the sectarian controversies that impassioned him have even less hold on me than the doctrinal. I can take an interest in his politics, because he is wrestling with enduring problems. As an American, though, it is hard for me to shake the conviction that he is holding the wrong end of the stick.
In short, I am interested in Spenser's ideas because I am interested in him. And I am interested in him, not because he was a lovely human being or an important philosopher, but because he created beautiful verses and numinous temples. Teaching the ideas and the politics is emphatically not a waste of time. But it will, in my opinion, be pouring water into sand if we don't give students a reason to care about Spenser in the first place. That reason, I think, is usually an experience rather than an idea or controversy.
Professor of English Virgil reception, discussion, documents, &cEast Carolina University "Beep beep and beep beep, yeah."
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-- *********************************************************************** Germaine Warkentin // English (Emeritus), University of Toronto [log in to unmask] http://www.individual.utoronto.ca/germainew/ "There has never been a great age of science and technology without a corresponding flourishing of the arts and humanities." -- Cathy N. Davidson ***********************************************************************