STYLISTICS AND PROSODY

The course is classified as a related and supplementary activity (attività affine e integrativa) within the Master’s Degree Programme in Philology, Linguistics, and Italian Literature. It aims to provide advanced knowledge of the discipline across its theoretical, historical, and practical dimensions, with a specific focus on the tools of stylistic and metric analysis. In short, the course intends to offer students a solid theoretical foundation and advanced competence in the formal analysis of texts.

1. Knowledge and Understanding
1.1 Know the main characteristics of the genre (epic and romance), its genesis, and its evolution in relation to the Italian and European literary context, as well as Greek and Latin models.
1.2 Know the sixteenth-century critical debate surrounding the Italian meters suited for the poem (heroic, romance, or sacred): Dante's terzina, ottava rima, and endecasillabo sciolto (blank hendecasyllable).
1.3 Understand the style, vocabulary, and grammatical structures of the language used in the poems examined.
2. Applying Knowledge and Understanding
2.1 Know how to navigate the history of the poem in octaves, contextualizing authors and works in time and space.
2.2 Be able to identify the stylistic features and rhetorical figures within the language of the considered poems.
2.3 Know how to paraphrase the passages read and commented on during lectures.
2.5 Know how to recognize the metric and grammatical peculiarities of the passages read and commented on during lectures.
3. Work independently on seminar topics. (Note: in the original text, this is numbered as 3 under section 2).
3. Making Judgements
3.1 Know how to critically evaluate the adequacy of the formal analysis models (rhetorical, stylistic, grammatical) applied to the passages read in class.
4. Communication Skills
4.1 Know how to communicate the specific features of the form, style, and language of the examined poems, using appropriate terminology.
5. Learning Skills
5.1 Know how to critically study the reference texts, hierarchizing information and making connections between different concepts.

None. A basic knowledge of Italian metrics, rhetoric, linguistics, and literature is desirable.

Course Title: The Ottava Rima (Boccaccio to Marino)

Following a brief historical and methodological introduction to the discipline, the course will focus on the ottava rima, its genesis, and its history, investigated through significant textual episodes. Starting from a discussion on the controversial origins of this meter, the birth and development of poems in octaves will be examined, from Boccaccio to Marino, through the close reading and commentary of significant passages. Special depth will be given to the use of the ottava in Renaissance translations of classical poems (with particular regard to Ovid’s Metamorphoses).

Study materials, selected passages, and the specific bibliography will be provided during classes and made available on the Moodle platform.

A) Useful Reference Texts:
Pietro G. Beltrami, La metrica italiana, Bologna, Il Mulino (any edition).
Pier Vincenzo Mengaldo, Prima lezione di stilistica, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2007.
Luigi Matt, Manuale di stilistica, Firenze, Vallecchi, 2024.
Luca Zuliani, Stilistica e metrica, Roma, Carocci, forthcoming.

B) Required Texts:
Armando Balduino, “Pater semper incertus”. Ancora sulle origini dell’ottava rima, «Metrica» 3, 1982, pp. 107-158.
Alberto Limentani, Struttura e storia dell’ottava rima, in «Lettere Italiane», XIII (1961), pp. 20-77.
Marco Praloran, Il poema in ottava. Storia linguistica italiana, Roma, Carocci, any edition (selected passages).
Giovanni Andrea Dell’Anguillara, Le metamorfosi d’Ovidio, ed. by Alessio Cotugno, Manziana, Vecchiarelli, 2019, vol. I.
Giambattista Marino, L’Adone, ed. by Emilio Russo, Milano, BUR, 2018 (selected passages).
Giovanni Pozzi, La rosa in mano al professore, ed. by Davide Colussi, Macerata, Quodlibet, 2023 (Ch. IV, L’ottava in forma di rosa).
Marco Praloran, Il tempo nel romanzo, in Il Romanzo, ed. by Franco Moretti, vol. 2, Le forme, Torino, Einaudi, 2002, pp. 225-250.

A 30-minute oral examination will assess knowledge of the topics covered and of the reference texts, as well as the ability to apply stylistic and metrical analysis to the selected texts.

oral

The instructor is responsible for ensuring the authenticity and originality of all examinations and coursework. In cases of suspected academic misconduct, an additional on-site assessment may be required during the exams, which may differ from the standard format.

A. Marks in the range 18–22 will be awarded in the presence of:
acceptable but barely sufficient knowledge of the syllabus;
limited analytical ability and only minimally adequate communication and argumentative skills.
B. Marks in the range 23–26 will be awarded in the presence of:
fair knowledge of the syllabus;
adequate analytical and communication skills (with some imprecision in the use of disciplinary terminology).
C. Marks in the range 27–30 and honours will be awarded in the presence of:
good, very good, or excellent knowledge of the syllabus;
good to excellent analytical, communication, and argumentative skills, with full command of technical language and independent critical insight (honours).

The course consists of lectures and seminar activities, including guided textual analysis and group discussion.