The specimens we possess of primitive Italian folksong, some of which goes back to at least the thirteenth century, do not differ materially from the same class of poems elsewhere. Take, for example, what are perhaps the most characteristic of any, the Bologna ballades. In one of these a mother wrangles with her daughter, who has a mind to wed. Another is a dialogue between two sisters-in-law, who have been false to their respective spouses. The third" shows up the ill-breeding of a couple of gossips. The verses are of the unbidden anonymous sort which, like fungi, spring up everywhere. In other words, they are typical folk-songs. A century passes, and we meet with a self-conscious poetry produced, as the earlier was, in the bosom of the city-republics, and reflecting the life and conversation of the citizens. In the interim much has happened. A classic Italian literature has blossomed, and has struck its roots deep and wide among the Italian people; and, of course, this circumstance does not count for nothing. The precursors of the later town - verse were Cecco Angiolieri, Folgore di San Gemignano, and still more, Pieraccio Tedaldi and Pietro Faitinelli. These writers, who flourished during the first half of the fourteenth century, have been happily described in the words "poeti volgari famigliari, o giocosi, o umoristi, o borghesi, come si debbano chiamare" (Morpurgo). Concerning them more will be said in the following chapter. The wit and play of fancy which characterised this older school are not altogether wanting in their suc of Florence. cessors. But in Italy, as in Germany, the distinctively middle-class lyric exhibits a strong moralising tendency. Its principal exponents are Antonio Beccari of Ferrara, and Antonio Pucci of Florence. Beccari, a physician and friend of Petrarch, was prolific enough; but he is too formal, too didactic, and too faulty a versifier to rank as an artistic poet, which was apparently his ambition. Far more richly endowed The Trumpeter was the Florentine trumpeter, Pucci,1 who, though he also teaches and preaches, preaches and teaches in a simpler, more natural style. Not improbably, the rhymes he composed on the leading events of the day were sung by himself in the piazze. Pucci's great achievement is to have turned Villani's chronicle into terza rima. This work he christened Centiloquio, which, it would seem, expressed his intention on commencing, for it is arithmetically a misnomer. These things rhyme and title show that Pucci, in a very humble way, followed in the footsteps of his great fellow-citizen, in the study of whose writings lay the best and chiefest part of his education. Accordingly, special interest attaches to that portion of his poem relating to Dante, for whom he displays boundless reverence and enthusiasm. It commences as follows: “The mind that heretofore right bravely wrought At present standeth utterly distraught. 1 See Morpurgo, Antonio Pucci e Vito Biagi, banditori fiorentini del secolo, xiv. Rome, 1881. Coy are the rhymes become, and maiden-shy, That hitherward are wont to come with ease; Now hardly do they come, with shamefast eye. For knowing how their coarseness will displease, They have not heart to show themselves without On matter so sublime as Fate decrees. Emperors and Popes I have discoursed about, Nought caring for my rude coarse intellect, And commonwealths and despots pictur'd out; But, above all, he's worthy, I suspect, Of being mention'd in a goodly style, And among speakers tho' I be more vile Than e'en among the dates would be the thorn, I'll speak just as I can, no trick nor guile." G 98 CHAPTER III. RISE OF A NEW LYRIC. ITALY AND PROVENCE-ITALIAN VERSE-FORMS-CHILDHOOD OF ITALIAN POETRY-PARTY SPIRIT-GUITTONE OF AREZZO-EARLY FLORENTINE POETS-BRUNETTO LATINI-THE SWEET NEW STYLE GUIDO CAVALCANTI-CINO DA PISTOIA-MODISH AND REALISTIC POETRY-THE 'VITA NUOVA' -PROBLEMS-DANTE'S DREAM-PETRARCH-CHARACTER OF HIS PASSION-HIS STYLE AND INFLUENCE-WELSH VERSE -NEW FRENCH SCHOOL-MACHAULT-DESCHAMPS-FROISSARTCHRISTINE DE PISAN-THE LIVRE DES CENT BALLADES.' Italy and 6 THAT Italian literature stands in some kind of filial relation to that of Provence, is a fact accepted on all hands as absolutely certain. When, howProvence. ever, we come to define the exact nature and degree of this relationship-daughter, stepdaughter, or merely god-daughter-the task is by no means simple. Dante's testimony is conclusive that, in his day, Provençal writers were read and admired to the detriment of native poets. He speaks in one place of the "sorry people of Italy," who praise the vernacular of others and disparage their own. "These,” he adds, "vilify the Italian speech and cherish that of Provence." On the other hand, he himself is far from undervaluing Provençal literature. He introduces the Provençal language into his great poem, and in it institutes a comparison between two Provençal poets, Giraut de Bornelh and Arnaut Daniel, the latter of whom, in the opinion of most judges, he, as well as Petrarch, unduly exalts. I shall be well within the mark in saying that Troubadour verse served the early Italian poets as a great inspiration. It may be, as Gaspary observes, that, in their case, imitation seldom extends to plagiarism, though certain parallels adduced by Diez seem to prove that even plagiarism was not unknown. Let the following suffice: AIMERIC DE PEGULHAN. "Si cum l'albres, que per sobrecargar AMOROZZO. "Com' albore, ch' è troppo caricato, Che frange e perde sene e lo suo frutto." FOLQUET DE MARSEILLE. "Co l' parpaillos, qu' a tan folla natura JACOPO DA LENTINO. "Si como 'l parpaglion, ch' ha tal natura, Here the verbal coincidences seem too close to permit of any other explanation than direct borrowing. |