Dante's Lyric Poetry

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Dante's Lyric Poetry Page 51

by Dante Alighieri


  Per una ghirlandetta and, 128–9

  in Purgatorio, 177

  and singularity of madonna, 247

  in Sonar bracchetti, 105

  in Tanto gentile, 4, 226, 227–8

  and unsublimated sexuality, 38

  Vede perfettamente and, 233

  in Vita Nuova, 4, 58

  Volgete gli occhi and, 111

  Storey, H. Wayne, 100

  stringere, 56

  Strocchia, Sharon, Death and Ritual in Renaissance Florence, 200n94

  Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare, 226–31

  Contini on, 229

  dating of, 232

  De Robertis and, 25, 226, 229

  Di donne io vidi compared to, 237

  gentile in, 227

  lady in, 129, 183, 227–9, 233, 297

  madonna in, 237

  manifestation in, 227, 228

  miracolo in, 191

  mirare in, 227–8

  mostrare in, 228, 229

  Negli occhi porta compared to, 191, 192, 193, 227–8

  Oltra la spera compared to, 297–8

  parere in, 193, 226, 229

  placement of, 232

  praise in, 226, 232

  sacramental art in, 227

  sigh as final imperative in, 230–1

  sospirare in, 229, 288

  stil novo and, 4, 226, 227–8

  sweetness in the heart in, 298

  theatricality of, 226–7, 230

  Vede perfettamente compared to, 232, 233

  versions of, 226

  in Vita Nuova, 25, 226, 232

  Tanturli, Giuliano, 11n16, 161n81

  Tasso, Gerusalemme liberata, 181

  “Tenzone con Forese Donati” (Barbi), 13

  “tenzone del duol d’amore,” 43–54, 60

  amico in, 48–51

  attribution and, 43–4

  Guittonian form of, 49–50

  order of, 43–4

  tenzoni: with Dante da Maiano, 4, 5, 7, 14, 43–54, 60, 64

  with Forese Donati, 4, 5

  Terino da Castelfiorentino, 37n2, 59–60

  Thebaid (Statius), 92

  theology / theologization: of courtly tradition, 206; in Donna pietosa, 206

  in Donne ch’avete, 178, 181, 215

  in Era venuta, 262–3

  in Guinizzelli’s Al cor gentil rimpaira sempre amore, 166

  in Lo doloroso amor vs. Donne ch’avete, 164

  visionary and, 206.

  See also biblical elements

  Thomas Aquinas, 115–16n52, 157

  time: in Commedia, 84

  and desire, 41

  as terza rima in La dispietata mente, 83

  Tolomei, Meuccio, of Siena, 94

  Tre donne intorno al cor mi son venute: amico in, 50, 114n48

  in canzoni distese, 12

  consolare in, 249n117

  exile in, 4, 65

  leggiadria in, 4

  self-consolation in, 252

  shame in, 287

  trembling: Cavalcantianism and, 135, 145

  in Ciò che m’incontra, 151–2

  in E’ m’incresce di me, 173–4

  madonna and, 153–4

  mystical / visionary material / experience and, 152

  in Spesse fiate, 153–4

  in Tutti li miei penser, 143, 145

  Tuiz mei cossir son d’amor et de chan (Vidal), 143

  Tutti li miei penser parlan d’Amore, 143–5

  Cavalcantianism of, 144–5

  conflicting thoughts in, 143, 145

  madonna and pity in, 146

  in Vita Nuova, 144

  umile, 128–9

  Un dì si venne a me Malinconia, 219–21

  Cavalcando l’altr’ier compared to, 220–1

  Contini on, 219

  Donna pietosa compared to, 219

  exclusion from Vita Nuova, 219

  lady not identified in, 219

  love in, 220, 222

  melancholy in, 219–21

  mourning in, 220; “nostra donna” in, 220

  personification of emotions in, 219

  Una giovane donna di Tolosa (Cavalcanti), 136

  Undivine Comedy, The (Barolini), 65n22, 115n52, 150n75, 209n96, 228n104, 292n143, 294n145

  valore, 45, 111, 140, 214n99

  vanità, 278–9, 286

  Vanna. See Giovanna / Vanna vano, 286

  Vede perfettamente ogne salute, 232–5

  Barbi-Maggini on, 233–4

  companion ladies to madonna in, 232–4

  Contini on, 232, 233

  dating of, 232

  De Robertis and, 25, 232

  female brigata in, 7, 234

  Foster-Boyde on, 233; “perfettamente” in, 232–3

  placement of, 232

  as praise sonnet, 232

  social interactions among women in, 233–4; “sospira” in, 233

  sospirare in, 229

  Tanto gentile compared to, 232, 233

  in Vita Nuova, 25, 232

  vedere: in Di donne io vidi, 237

  and vision literature, 209

  Vedeste, al mio parere, onne valore (Cavalcanti), 46, 59, 214n99

  Vedete, donne, bella creatura (Cino da Pistoia), 75

  Veggio negli occhi de la donna mia (Cavalcanti), 139, 241

  Venite a ’ntender li sospiri miei, 254–5

  dating of, 254

  De Robertis and, 25

  Li occhi dolenti compared to, 254, 255

  mourning in, 254; “nostra donna” in, 254

  piangere in, 254

  Quantunque volte compared to, 257

  in Vita Nuova, 25, 254

  “verga,” 307

  Vergil: Beatrice as sending to Dante, 269

  in Purgatorio, 91–2, 115, 292

  and Statius, 91, 118

  vergognare/vergogna, 286–7.

  See also shame Vidal, Peire, Tuiz mei cossir son d’amor et de chan, 143

  Videro gli occhi miei quanta pietate, 265–70

  Barbi-Maggini on, 266n127; Color d’amore compared to, 271

  comfort / consolation in, 268–9

  dating of, 266n127

  De Robertis and, 25

  donna gentile in, 265–9

  fidelity to dead beloved and, 275

  grief of lover vs. pity of others in, 278

  mourning leading to resignation / acceptance in, 269

  new love in, 288, 304

  oscura in, 269

  in Vita Nuova, 25, 265

  “vidi,” 237

  vincastri, 97

  Violetta, 163

  Barbi on, 87

  in Deh, Vïoletta, 131

  Fioretta and, 128

  Madonna, quel signor and, 87

  visionary material / experience.

  See mystical / visionary material / experience

  Vita Nuova: amico in, 114n48

  Aristotle in, 296–7

  Augustine regarding death in, 219–20

  autobiographical manipulation in, 60

  ballate in, 138

  Barbi and, 13, 16, 22, 23

  Barolini on, 22–6

  Beatrice in, 59, 66, 163, 174, 182n90, 191, 207

  biblical elements in, 72–3, 147, 158–9

  Cavalcantianism in, 134–5, 138, 144–5, 147, 162

  “colori rettorici” in, 65

  contemporaneity of inspiration of poem / prose, 206–7

  Contini and poems in, 14, 23

  control of interpretation in, 261, 262

  in Convivio, 61, 281–2

  courtly values / love in, 136, 154

  Dante’s choice of canzoni in, 10, 177–8

  Dante’s poetic journey in, 188

  De Robertis and, 15, 16, 22, 23, 24–5, 61n17

  death in, 243

  divergence between poem and prose in, 58, 61, 145, 147, 178, 223

  exclusions/estravaganti omitted from, 22–3, 158, 168n84, 202, 219

  farnetico / farneticare in, 208

  Foster-Boyde
and, 14, 22, 23

  Giovanna / Vanna in, 127, 223–4

  Giuntina and, 17, 22, 23

  Guido in, 224

  Guittonianism in, 58, 63– 4

  inanimate in, 75–6

  lyrics in, 12–13

  manifestation in, 227

  miracolo / mirabile in, 191

  mystical / visionary material / experience in, 48, 58, 150, 208–9, 211

  name of Beatrice in, 207, 210

  Occitan genres in, 138

  ordering of canzoni in, 18, 21, 22, 161

  and poems written for occasions described in prose, 24, 61, 210–11

  poetic journey and, 144

  poetry set within prose in, 18, 24

  praise in, 129

  praise vs. lamentation in, 75

  prose as illuminating aspects of poetry, 144

  prose vs. lyrics in, 18

  as prosimetrum, 206

  reclassification by Dante of stages of earlier poetic life in, 64

  reflexiveness in, 58–9, 265

  shame in, 286–7

  social / quotidian life in, 195, 209

  sonetti rinterzati in, 63, 64

  stil novo in, 4, 58

  temporality of poem vs. prose composition, 24–5, 61, 224

  variant redactions of lyrics in, 24–5.

  See also related subheadings under individual incipits

  Voi che ’ntendendo il terzo ciel movete, 251n119

  in canzoni distese, 11, 21

  conflict in, 307

  in Convivio, 19, 20, 21, 26, 178

  and Gentil pensero, 26, 280

  other-world journey in, 295n147

  in Paradiso, 20, 21

  pensero in, 295n147

  in Purgatorio, 178

  Voi che per li occhi (Cavalcanti), 139

  Voi che portate la sembianza umile, 194–7

  anthropology and, 7n5

  Beatrice’s father’s death in, 194–5

  botta e risposta structure with Se’ tu colui, 198, 203

  boundary crossing in, 208; “colore” in, 185

  Deh pellegrini compared to, 290–1

  funeral rites / social activities in, 220

  gender behaviour differences in, 109

  gender separation in, 204

  mourning in, 7, 194–7, 201, 209–10, 234, 243

  “nostra donna” in, 220

  Onde venite compared to, 201–2

  quotidian life in, 195

  social norms in, 119, 196, 204

  in Vita Nuova, 194, 195, 197

  Voi donne compared to, 204

  women and community suffering in, 195–6, 201, 234

  Voi che savete ragionar d’amore, 251n119

  Voi donne, che pietoso atto mostrate, 203–5

  chronology of, 203–4

  funeral rites / social activities associated with death in, 220

  lover in space of grieving beloved in, 203

  madonna in, 204–5

  as mourning sonnet, 201, 243; “nostra donna” in, 220

  Onde venite compared to, 203

  question / response sequence in, 203

  representation in, 204–5

  Se’ tu colui compared to, 204

  Voi che portate compared to, 204

  volge, 68

  Volgete gli occhi a veder chi mi tira, 110–12

  brigata in, 7, 110, 124, 234, 256

  Cavalcantianism of, 110, 111, 127

  friendship in, 6, 108, 113

  friendship vs. love in, 108, 110–11

  lady painted in lover’s heart in, 111

  madonna in, 108, 111

  Sicilian conventions and, 110, 111

  Sonar bracchetti compared to, 110

  weeping: and gender boundary crossing, 199

  in Li occhi dolenti, 254

  and moral danger of forgetfulness, 278

  pilgrims and, 290, 292

  in Venite a ’ntender, 254.

  See also mourning

  will: Aristotle and, 55

  intellect and, 8–9, 185; love vs., 55

  reason and, 303

  volatility of, 134, 138, 271, 275, 284

  1 See Teodolinda Barolini, “Aristotle’s Mezzo, Courtly Misura, and Dante’s Canzone Le dolci rime: Humanism, Ethics, and Social Anxiety,” in Dante and the Greeks, ed. Jan M. Ziolkowski (Washington: Dumbarton Oaks, 2014), pp. 163–79.

  2 Dante’s Lyric Poetry, ed. Kenelm Foster and Patrick Boyde (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967), 2:323 (hereafter cited as Foster-Boyde).

  3 On Doglia mi reca, see Barolini, “Guittone’s Ora parrà, Dante’s Doglia mi reca, and the Commedia’s Anatomy of Desire,” 1997, now in Barolini, Dante and the Origins of Italian Literary Culture (New York: Fordham University Press, 2006), pp. 47–69; and Barolini, “Sotto benda: Gender in the Lyrics of Dante and Guittone d’Arezzo,” in Dante and the Origins of Italian Literary Culture, pp. 333–59.

  4 See Barolini, “Sociology of the Brigata: Gendered Groups in Dante, Forese, Folgore, Boccaccio – From Guido, i’ vorrei to Griselda,” Italian Studies 67, no. 1 (2012): 4–22.

  5 As I noted in Dante and the Origins of Italian Literary Culture, p. 17, the anthropological material that can be extrapolated even from two unheralded sonnets like Voi che portrate and Se’ tu colui suggests the massive work of historical contextualization that awaits us. See too my “‘Only Historicize’: History, Material Culture (Food, Clothes, Books), and the Future of Dante Studies,” Dante Studies 127 (2009): 37–54.

  6 For the tower in No me poriano see H. Wayne Storey, Transcription and Visual Poetics in the Early Italian Lyric (New York: Garland, 1993), pp. 143–55; and for the towers as signs of internal factions see Edward Coleman, “Cities and Communes,” in Italy in the Central Middle Ages, ed. David Abulafia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 48.

  7 On the co-penetration of codes – the theologizing of courtoisie and “courtoisification” of theology – see Teodolinda Barolini, “Toward a Dantean Theology of Eros: From Dante’s Lyrics to the Paradiso,” in Discourse Boundary Creation, ed. Peter Carravetta (New York: Bordighera, 2013), pp. 1–18.

  8 Rime, ed. Michele Barbi, in Le opere di Dante, critical text by Società Dantesca Italiana (Florence: Bemporad, 1921).

  9 Rime della “Vita Nuova” e della giovinezza, ed. Michele Barbi and Francesco Maggini (Florence: Le Monnier, 1956) (hereafter cited as Barbi-Maggini); Rime della maturità e dell’esilio, ed. Michele Barbi and Vincenzo Pernicone (Florence: Le Monnier, 1969) (hereafter cited as Barbi-Pernicone).

  10 Rime, ed. Gianfranco Contini (Turin: Einaudi, 1946 [rpt. 1965]) (hereafter cited as Contini). For the history of the edition, see “Postilla del curatore,” p. xxv.

  11 Dante’s Lyric Poetry; see note 2.

  12 Dante Alighieri: Rime, in Le Opere di Dante Alighieri, Edizione Nazionale of the Società Dantesca Italiana, ed. Domenico De Robertis (Florence: Le Lettere, 2002), 5 vols. (hereafter cited as DR, critical ed.). The numbering of the pages of the five volumes (more precisely, five tomi constituting three volumi) is not consecutive from one to the other. A first unit is composed by the two tomes that comprise volume 1, I documenti; a second unit is composed by the two tomes that comprise volume 2, Introduzione; the third and final unit is composed of a single tome that corresponds to volume 3, Testi. Three years later, Rime was issued, De Robertis’ edition with commentary (Florence: Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2005) (hereafter cited as DR, comm. ed.).

  13 “The tradition is represented by over five hundred manuscripts” (De Robertis, I documenti, tome 1, xviii).

  14 For an analysis of these mechanisms of compensation, see Barolini, “Editing Dante’s Rime and Italian Cultural History,” Lettere Italiane 56 (2004): 509–42; rpt. in Dante and the Origins of Italian Literary Culture, pp. 245–78.

  15 In my “Editing Dante’s Rime” I show how critics implicitly fault Dante’s uncollected lyrics for being “dispersed,” considering them in some way deficient because of exclusion from an “organic” and “unified” macr
otext: the very label devised for these poems by philologists – “estravaganti,” which literally means “wandering outside ones” – declares their insufficiency. At the same time De Robertis also exaggerates their dispersedness, refusing to implement a chronological order because he wanted to protect them from any contamination with the Petrarchan model of unified canzoniere.

  16 Giuliano Tanturli proposes that the anthology of fifteen canzoni existed before Boccaccio in “L’edizione critica delle Rime e il libro delle canzoni di Dante,” Studi Danteschi 68 (2003): 250–66. Tanturli recognizes, however, that his hypothesis is based exclusively on philological reconstruction and not on material evidence – that is, we do not actually possess a codex earlier than Boccaccio that contains the sequence of canzoni distese. It is dismaying, given the lack of material evidence, that in following Tanturli others have gone so far as to claim that the author of the canzoni distese is Dante himself. On the logical fallacies of this line of argument, see my “From Boccaccio’s canzoni distese to Dante’s libro delle canzoni: Convivio, Rime, and the Practice of Critical Philology,” forthcoming.

  17 See Sonetti e canzoni di diversi antichi autori toscani, introduced and edited by Domenico De Robertis (Florence: Le Lettere, 1977), 2 vols. (hereafter cited as Giuntina). The first printed edition of any of Dante’s lyrics is the first edition of the Convivio: Convivio di Dante Alighieri fiorentino (Florence: Bonaccorsi, 1490).

  18 De Robertis, Rime, Introduzione, 2:1141.

  19 Book 2 is less cohesive: its thirty compositions mainly consist of sonnets and ballate no longer attributed to Dante (for example, Fresca rosa novella), with only two canzoni, one of which has been removed from Dante’s oeuvre, while the other is the trilingual descort that De Robertis has recently restored to Dante’s canon. In book 11 of the Giuntina the poetic exchange between Dante Alighieri and Dante da Maiano makes its first appearance in history, under the heading “Sonetti dei sopradetti autori mandati l’uno a l’altro [Sonnets by the above-mentioned authors sent to each other].”

  20 For the question of attribution, see the introductory essay to the “tenzone del duol d’amore” (which includes, by Dante Alighieri, the sonnets Qual che voi siate, amico, vostro manto and Non canoscendo, amico, vostro nomo).

  21 It seems possible that the “secret hope” expressed by the master has nourished the impetuosity with which his disciples have turned the abstract hypothesis, without material evidence, that the canzoni distese existed before Boccaccio into the claim that the author of the canzoni distese is Dante himself. See note 16 above.

  22 The poems numbered 1–18 in De Robertis’ index of poems (“Indice delle rime del volume III”) are therefore all canzoni (the fifteen canzoni distese copied by Boccaccio and three others). But the total of eighteen is misleading, given that De Robertis’ number seventeen, Trag[g]emi de la mente, does not exist, and that the five canzoni of the Vita Nuova are not included.

 

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