Poesie di Guido Guinizzelli (Biblioteca Italiana Zanichelli) (Italian Edition)

La poesia italiana nell'età di Dante : la linea Bonagiunta-Guinizzelli

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Italian familiar names of men and Italian names of places rapidly appear; and, in a document of in the Archives of Montecassino, a whole sentence, four times repeated, is practically Italian: Sao ko kelle terre, per kelle fini que ki contene, trenta anni le possette parte sancti Benedicti I know that those lands, within these boundaries that are here contained, the party of St. Benedict has possessed them thirty years.

A confessio, or formula of confession, from an abbey near Norcia, probably of the end of the eleventh century, shows passages still nearer to the Italian of to-day. Fifty years later we meet literary composition in the vernacular. The inscription formerly on the cathedral of Ferrara, of , consists of two rhyming couplets of Italian verse.

Four lines, known as the "Cantilena Bellunese", also in rhymed couplets, inserted in a fragment of a chronicle, allude to the taking of Casteldardo by the people of Belluno in In a contrasto a dialogue in verse between lover and lady by Raimbaut de Vaqueiras c. The "Ritmo Laurenziano", a cantilena in praise of a bishop by a Tuscan, and the "Ritmo Cassinese", an obscure allegorical poem in the Apulian dialect, are both probably of the end of the twelfth century.

To the same epoch belongs a series of twenty-two sermons in a northern Italian dialect mixed with French, published by Wendelin Foerster, which are the earliest extant specimens of vernacular preaching in Italy. The Italians naturally regarded the language and traditions of Rome as their own, and still clung to the use of Latin while a vernacular literature was already flourishing in France and Provence.

Italian literature, strictly speaking, begins with the early years of the thirteenth century.

Among the influences at work in its formation must first be mentioned the religious revival wrought by St. Francis of Assisi and his followers bearing lyrical fruit in the Lauda, the popular sacred song, especially in Central Italy. Francis himself composed one of the earliest Italian poems, the famous "Cantica del Sole", or "Laudes Creaturarum" , a "sublime improvisation" as Paschal Robinson well calls it rather than a strictly literary production. The growing self-consciousness of the individual states and cities later gave rise to the chronicles and local histories.

Equally influential with the Franciscan movement, though in a totally different spirit, was the impulse given to letters by the highly cultured, but immoral and irreligious court of the Emperor Frederick II and his son Manfred, whose Kingdom of Sicily included not only that island, but also Naples and all the south of the peninsula. The writers of this Sicilian school were drawn from all parts of Italy. They did not normally use the Sicilian dialect, but wrote in a vernacular practically identical with what became the literary language of the whole nation.

Their productions are almost exclusively love poems derived from those of Provence.

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Frederick himself died and his chancellor, Pier delle Vigne died , wrote in this fashion. Many of these poets, like Ruggiero de Amicis died , Arrigo Testa died , and Percivalle Doria died , were of high social position, notable in the history of the epoch, dying on the scaffold or the battlefield; but their lyrics are lacking in individuality, conventional, and artificial in sentiment and treatment. Noteworthy poets of this school are Giacomo da Lentino, "Il Notaro", who was one of the emperor's notaries in ; Rinaldo d'Aquino, a kinsman of St. Thomas, whose lament of a girl whose lover had gone on the Crusade was probably written in ; Giacomo Pugliese da Morra, in whom we find a trace of popular realism; and Cielo dal Camo, or d'Alcamo, whose contrasto, "Rosa fresca aulentissima", now held to have heen written after , is strongly tinged with the local dialect of Sicily.

A more personal note is struck in the pathetic poem of King Enzo of Sardinia died , "S'eo trovasse", written from his prison at Bologna, which brings the Sicilian epoch to a dramatic close. The last poet of the Sicilian school is Guido delle Colonne died after , who also wrote the "Historia Trojana" in Latin prose, and is mentioned with praise by both Dante and Chaucer.

But from the outset the Tuscans did not restrict themselves to erotic poetry, but sang of religious, satirical, and political themes as well. He is also the author of a collection of letters, one of the earliest achievements of Italian prose. The overthrow of the Suabian monarchy in the South, by the victory of Charles of Anjou , shifted the centre of culture to Bologna and Florence. A number of disciples of Guittone now appear, of whom Chiaro Davanzati date uncertain , of Florence, and Bonaggiunta Urbicciani, of Lucca died after , are the most noticeable.

Of a far higher order is the poet who inaugurated the dolce stil nuovo, the "sweet new style", of which Dante speaks - Guido Guinizelli of Bologna died Guido wrote of the noblest love in a spirit that anticipates the "Vita Nuova", and thereby founded a school to which the poets of the last decade of the century belonged, even as their predecessors had adhered to that of Guittone.

The chief of these is Guido Cavalcanti died , the chosen friend of Dante. He composed an elaborate canzone on the philosophy of love, in which poetry is smothered by metaphysics; but m his minor lyrics, original in motive and personal in sentiment, he brought the ballata and the sonnet to a degree of perfection previously unattained. With him and Dante is associated another Florentine poet, Lapo Gianni died , whose work belongs to this epoch although he outlived it.

In another vein, we have the humorous and satirical pieces of Rustico di Filippo died circa and the "Tesoretto" of Brunetto Latini died , an allegorical didactic poem which influenced the external form of the "Divina Commedia". The religious poetry of Umbria, developing under Franciscan influence, culminates in the mystical laudi of Jacopone da Todi died , one of the most truly inspired sacred poets that the world has seen.

In comparison with the poetry, the Italian prose literature of this century is insignificant. Many of the literary productions formerly assigned to this are now known to belong to a later epoch, and it is impossible to say with certainty whether those that are authentic should be placed at the end of the thirteenth or at the beginning of the fourteenth century.

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Among these are the "Cento Novelle Antiche", a collection of short stories drawn from various sources, and the "Tavola Ritonda", an Italian version of the romance of Tristram. Fra Ristoro of Arezzo, in , completed an elaborate treatise on cosmography, "Della Composizione del Mondo". Most of the prose of this epoch is simply translated from the Latin or French. Through the triumph of the Guelphs, the chief place in Italian culture is now held by Florence instead of Sicily.

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The philosophical glory of St. Thomas causes even belles lettres to be deeply tinged with scholasticism; while the growing antagonism to the political actions of the popes, particularly during the Babylonian Captivity of Avignon, gives an anti-clerical tone to much of the poetry and prose of the century. At the close of the epoch the revival of classical studies begins to make itself felt. In the hands of three great Tuscan writers - Dante Alighieri , Francesco Petrarca , and Giovanni Boccaccio - the national literature and the national language appear in full maturity and artistic perfection.

In his "Vita Nuova" c. His "Rime", more particularly his canzoni, develop the lyrical forms of his predecessors, while investing them with fresh passion and with philosophical authority.

Guido Guinizzelli

With his "Convivio" circa - unfinished, but the earliest monumental work of Italian prose he intended to bring down the scholastic learning of his age to the understanding of the general reader. The "Divina Commedia" , the noblest expression of the Italian spirit in poetry and a landmark in the history of man, sums up the intellectual gain and the spiritual progress of the nine centuries since the fall of the Roman Empire, while faithfully depicting the highest aspirations and whole moral atmosphere of the poet's own epoch.

In spiritual insight, dramatic intensity, sureness of touch, and terseness of expression, it has never been surpassed. In it modern Europe first produced a masterpiece to rival those of the classical world. Petrarca brings the canzone and the sonnet to their ultimate technical perfection in his lyrical poems, the "Canzoniere" or "Rime", a series of miniature paintings of all the varying moods of the soul passing through earthly love and patriotic enthusiasm to find its rest in religion.

His "Trionfi", a poem in terza rima, in ten cantos, deal with the same matter in allegorical fashion, giving a symbolical representation of his own life. In his voluminous Latin writings - letters, treatises, and poems - he appears as the first of the Humanists, the precursor of the Renaissance. The worshipper of Dante and intimate friend of Petrarca, Boccaccio, in his "Filostrato" and "Teseide", established ottava rima previously only used in popular verse as the normal measure for Italian narrative poetry.

In his "Ameto" he introduced the prose pastoral and the vernacular eclogue. His grossly immoral "Fiammetta" may be said to inaugurate the modern psychological novel. In the hundred stories of the "Decameron", he gave perfect artistic form to the novella, or short story, imbuing it with modern life. Written in an ornate and poetical prose, lacking in simplicity and directness, the "Decameron" gives an unsurpassable picture of certain aspects of fourteenth century society, but is disfigured by obscenity, and permeated by a superficial and sensual ideal of life.

This century in Italy, as elsewhere, is the golden age of vernacular ascetical and mystical literature, producing a rich harvest of translations from the Scriptures and the Fathers, of spiritual letters, sermons, and religious treatises no less remarkable for their fervour and unction than for their linguistic value.

From the earliest years of the Trecento have come down the sermons of the Dominican, B. Giordano da Rivalto died The exquisite "Fioretti di San Francesco", now known to be a translation from the Latin, date from about Prominent among the spiritual writers, who thus set themselves to open the Church's treasury to the unlearned, are the Augustinians, B. Simone Fidati da Cascia died and Giovanni da Salerno died , whose works have been edited by P. Nicola Mattioli; and the Dominicans, Domenico Cavalca, a copious translator, and Jacopo Passavanti died , whose "Specchio della Vera Penitenza" is a model of style and language.

The admirable letters of B. Giovanni Colombini died and the mystical lyrics of his follower, Bianco dall' Anciolina El Bianco da Siena , have the glowing fervour, the Divine madness, of the first Franciscans. In a less exalted vein, the epistles of the monk of Vallombrosa, B. Giovanni dalle Celle died , extend from the forties to the nineties of the century. Supreme above them all, a figure worthy, from the mere literary point of view, to stand by Dante and Petrarca, is St. Catherine of Siena , whose "Dialogo" is the greatest mystical work in prose in the Italian language, and whose "Letters" have hardly been surpassed in the annals of Christianity.

Minor poets are numerous. Ceceo Angiolieri of Siena died circa , the Italian Villon, wrote humorous and satirical sonnets of amazing vigour and originality on subjects mainly drawn from low life. Folgore da San Gimignano died after pictured the fashionable existence of the young nobles of Siena with the touch of a painter. Guittoncino de' Sinibuldi, known as Cino da Pistoia died , also won renown as a jurist; the friend of Dante, whose "Rime" he imitated, his best amatory and political lyrics are hardly unworthy of his master.

A higher note is struck by the Florentine exile, Fazio degli Uberti died after , whose "Dittamondo", a long poem in terza rima, "was intended as an earthly parallel to Dante's Sacred Poem, doing for this world what he did for the other" Rossetti ; he surpassed himself in splendid patriotic lyrics, which give spirited expression to the new national Ghibellinism of Italy. Antonio Pucci of Florence died is the chief literary representative of the popular poetry of the age.

With the early years of the century begins the series of chronicles and diaries in the vernacular.

The Oxford book of Italian verse/Notes

Dino Compagni died , to whom is also ascribed the "Intelligenza", an allegorical poem in nona rima, describes the factions of the Bianchi and Neri in Florence with patriotic indignation and impartiality. Giovanni Villani died and his brother Matteo died wrote the whole history of Florence from the legendary origins down to the year of the latter's death; their work, in addition to its supreme historical value, is a monument of the purest Tuscan prose.

In fiction, the "Reali di Francia" of Andrea da Barberino, written at the end of the century, renders the chivalrous tales of Charlemagne and his Paladins from the French; the "Pecorone" of Ser Giovanni Fiorentino c. Franco Sacchetti , less artificial than Boccaccio, adapted the novella to a moral purpose; he also wrote evangelical sermons, and poems, both playful and serious, frequently of real lyrical beauty, in which the literature of the Florentine Trecento comes to a pleasant close.

There are two distinct epochs in the history of the Italian Renaissance: Allowing for some necessary overlapping, the literature of the epoch falls into two corresponding periods. The Quattrocento is an intermediate period between the mainly Tuscan movement of the fourteenth, and the general Italian literature of the sixteenth, century.

It developed under the auspices of the princes who were forming hereditary states on the ruins of the communes, and is at first marked by the continuance of the work inaugurated by Petrarch of recovering classical writers and copying manuscripts, while the vernacular was despised, and authors attempted to write Latin verse and prose in the manner of the ancients. Greek scholars flocked to Italy, and the influence of Plato, translated into Latin by Leonardo Bruni died and Marsilio Ficino died , became paramount.

The latter, who was bent on harmonizing Plato with Christianity, and who also translated Plotinus, was instrumental in founding the Florentine neo-Platonic Academy. Some of these Humanists were purely pagan in spirit, like Poggio Bracciolini died , Antonio Beccadelli, called Panormita died , and Francesco Filelfo died But there were others, such as the Camaldolese monk, Ambrogio Traversari died , Palla Strozzi died , Giannozzo Manetti died , Guarino Veronese died , Vittorino da Feltre died , and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola , who could reconcile their worship of antiquity with their living faith in the Catholic Church.

A vivid picture of the literary life of the age is given in the "Vite d'uomini illustri" of the Florentine bookseller, Vespasiano da Bisticci In the earlier part of the century, vernacular literature is of minor importance. Leonardo Giustiniani of Venice wrote popular love poetry and religious laudi, some of which have been attributed to Jacopone da Todi. The Florentine architect, Leon Battista Alberti , is the author of artistic treatises and moral dialogues, especially the four books of "Della Famiglia", in a Tuscan tinged with Latinisms.

Feo Belcari wrote mystery plays and religious poems, and also lives of B. Giovanni Colombini and his followers, with the devout simplicity of an earlier age. Also in religious literature we have the ascetical letters of B. Giovanni Dominici died , a strenuous opponent of the pagan tendencies of the classical revival, and the vernacular sermons of St. In the latter part of the century, mainly through the influence of Lorenzo de' Medici and the dukes of Ferrara, Italian again triumphed over Latin.

Three poets appear, almost of the first class: Of extraordinary versatility as a poet, Lorenzo left the imprint of his striking personality upon all he wrote and, especially in his subjects drawn from country life, shows a keen feeling for nature. The ballate and canzonette of Poliziano have the true lyrical note, while his "Stanze per la Giostra" are impregnated with the spirit of Florentine painting, and his "Orfeo" handles a mythological subject in the style of a religious mystery play.

Bolardo's "Canzoniere", somewhat Petrarchan in tone, but largely original in form, is the finest collection of love poems of the century; his unfinished " Orlando Innamorato ", a poetic romance in ottava rima, gives fresh life to the Carlovingian legends by informing them with the spirit of the Arthurian Cycle.

Among lesser poets of the Medicean circle, Luigi Pulci , in his "Morgante ", treated the adventures of Orlando with a fantastic mingling of seriousness and japery; Girolamo Benivieni , a noble mystical and patriotic spirit who outlived his age, sang of celestial love "according to the mind and opinion of the Platonists" , and became the lyrical interpreter of the aspirations of Savonarola, At the northern courts, the blind poet Francesco Bello followed in Boiardo's footsteps with his "Mambriano" ; the Ferrarese courtier Antonio Tebaldeo , whose poetry all belongs to the fifteenth century, exaggerated the defects of Petrarch and versified the politics of his patrons; Antonio Cammelu, called "Il Pistoia" , produced an extraordinarily vivid series of satirical sonnets which are historical documents of high importance.

In the South, the two chief literary figures are the Neapolitans, Giovanni Pontormo and Jacopo Sannazaro Guinizzelli's poetry does in fact contain both these elements. His "new manner" is characterized by musical equilibrium and acute psychological analysis that is often expressed in terms of vivid concrete imagery drawn from the natural world. In the similes and comparisons that he invents, Guinizzelli's creativity is particularly evident.

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His poetry of praise translates the woman's beauty into images of light and splendor. Guinizzelli's intellectual bent is prominent in his most famous canzone, Al cor gentil rempaira sempre amore. This theoretical poem equates love with virtue in the noble heart. Nobility is defined as a natural, not a hereditary, disposition toward virtue. The woman's beauty brings the potential for virtue into actuality. Finally, there is a daring theological comparison derived from Thomistic philosophy: There is an apparent reconciliation between earthly and divine love, but the final stanza constitutes a lighthearted, epigrammatic recantation.

This road from an earthly to a divine love would not be traveled again in literature until Dante wrote his Divine Comedy. Questo volume raccoglie le Canzoni scritte da Guido Guinizzelli. This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Guido Guinizzelli was born in Bologna, Italy between and , probably toward the end of the decade; the son of Guinizzello da Magnano and Guglielmina di Ugolini Ghisilieri. Guido Guinizzelli was originator of the so-called dolce stil novo, or sweet new style.

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