Classics · Columbia University
My favorite professor this semester. Professor Franklin has a great sense of humor. She tells the best anecdotes about growing up in Italy and her long career in academia. Best of all, she bears a striking resemblance to Edna Mode from the Incredibles, with her fabulous outfits, glasses, and hair. Her presence is equally as demanding of respect as Edna's. The class is not so much about grammar as it is about translating real Latin texts. Still, if you have a grammar question, she is very receptive and will take the time to review it. Although she is a master of the language and the history, Professor Franklin is also very considerate of students' ideas, and she frequently asks for input from her (equally knowledgable) TA. Of course, there is an expectation that you will do the work by preparing translations for the class. When she noticed that some of us were more prepared than others, she began randomly calling on people, which I think worked to the benefit of those who weren't as prepared. Definitely recommend! Loved her.
I took the Medieval Latin survey (V3033) and a more advanced course on Biblical Exegesis (W4152--topic changes every year). Without a doubt, Professor Franklin is one of the best professors I had at Columbia and particularly within the Classics Department. Particularly in the survey--and unlike many professors in the Department who end up emphasizing one over the other--Professor Franklin maintains a proper balance between time spent on reading Latin and practicing language skills and delving interpretatively into the text or its historical context. Professor Franklin is always friendly and intersperses her classes with hilarious and incredibly interesting anecdotes about her illustrious career as a scholar of Medieval Latin. She has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of centuries of Latin literature and theology, and particularly of the Church Fathers. She is, moreover, always willing to talk during her office hours--always helpful, friendly, and incredibly interesting. Also, her outfits are amazing. In short, take her classes!
It's hard to quantify. The class provides a very specific yet somehow vitally important and universally applicable (at least in Western culture) body of knowledge. Practically speaking, I learned how to translate Medieval latin more fluidly. In a more abstract sense, I gained a greater understanding of various movements and developments in both religious and secular medieval poetry,
Read Ovid and Pliny. Very good stories and poems/letters that we read. Increased translation skills. Get course material
This course taught me the basics of Latin grammar, and also a great deal about English grammar that goes unnoticed until you contrast it with other languages.
Very, very manageable. We were asked to prepare a translation to go over in class the next day. It was never longer than 20 or 30 lines of poetry or a paragraph of prose. Weekly quizzes and a midterm and a final, which was only on texts covered in the second half of the semester.
biblical exegesis in medieval Latin. More poetry
how to translate Latin prose and poetry. As well as a review of Latin grammar
Basics grammar, syntax, vocabulary of the Latin Language.
An unbelievable amount of knowledge regarding early Christian and Medieval poetry. Dr. Franklin is a never ending fountain of information from which I was happy to fill buckets!