JAN 314 - Love Poetry, Philosophy, and God

Instructor(s):  Downey, Patrick
Email:  pdowney@stmarys-ca.edu

This course will explore love poetry, particularly as it is directed to, or related to, the gods, God, or the Divine in general. We will begin with a few examples pointing out some of the different directions we will take. We will then get our philosophical bearings by two different accounts of “erotic madness” as given by Plato. The speech of Aristophanes in praise of the god Eros will then be connected to Rousseau as a means of elaborating on what might be termed “romantic love.” Next, we will turn to the Old Testament and examine some of its themes in the light of Leonard Cohen’s lyrics and songs. The New Testament will then be looked at with a little help from Bob Dylan. Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poetry will then serve as an entry to that most famous example of divine love poetry, “The Song of Songs.” Finally, finishing out this section on Christian love poetry, we will look at St. Augustine’s Confessions for his account of the various nature of our loves. De Rougemont’s Love in The Western World, will serve as our introduction to courtly love poetry, and we will read Marie de France’s Guigemar as an example, along with Coleridge’s “Aeolian Harp” as a sort of critique. Finally, we will read C.S. Lewis’s Surprised By Joy for his account of what he means by “joy,” as a sort of summing up the various ways of looking at the Divine and our poetic relationship to it.
 

Prerequisites & Notes
None

Credits: 3-CU