Literature

Italian. In Italy during the first part of the Middle Ages various dialects were spoken, but Latin was still the literary language, and the influence of Roman culture and Roman love of freedom was active in the minds of Italians. When other European nations were interested in the romances of chivalry the Italians were studying Roman law and history and Greek philosophy. Toward the close of the thirteenth century the Tuscan dialect having become well established, the Tuscan school of lyric poetry arose,-the true beginning of Italian literature. Dante is the most noted poet of this school, to which he belongs as author of the Vita Nuova; although not lyric, but epic, was the form of Dante's greatest work. Petrarch, famous for his sonnets, is the second great poet of this period. Prose is exemplified by Boccaccio in the Decameron. All three of these great writers were Florentines; for the Arno and Florence hold much the same relation to Italian literature as the Thames and London hold to English literature. Petrarch and Boccaccio were ardent students of the ancients, and Petrarch believed his works in Latin to be far superior to his sonnets. The attention paid to the dead languages was a serious hindrance to the development of literature at this time, and was perhaps responsible for the fact that, during the latter part of the fourteenth and nearly the whole of the fifteenth century, literature was at a standstill.

The next step in the development of Italian literature was made by Lorenzo de Medici (1448-1492), who, himself a poet, gathered a brilliant circle about him and opened a new era in Italian poetry. Perhaps the most gifted individual of Lorenzo's circle was Poliziano, who not only wrote lyrics, but revived on the stage the tragedies of the ancients and composed and presented Orpheus, the first Italian dramatic production. The next name of importance is Ariosto, author of Orlando Furioso, a metrical romance in forty cantos. Tasso's epic poem, Jerusalem Delivered, another great work, celebrates the events of the First Crusade.

Pastoral dramas, didactic poetry, satires, novels, tales, histories, and philosophy all appeared during the sixteenth century. Machiavelli was one of the first novelists. He wrote also histories and discourses on various subjects. The seventeenth century marks a second period of decline in Italian literature. Many dramatic authors appeared, though few of them equaled those of the preceding age. Histories, too, are plentiful, but do not possess any noticeable degree of merit. In the eighteenth century again followed a revival and evidence of an improved literary taste, the first result of which was seen in the theater. The Italian opera or melodrama met with great success. In comedy, Goldoni wrought almost a revolution. Tragedy, too, reached a high standard under the hand of Alfieri, who revived the national character of dramatic productions. Saul is his masterpiece. The novel developed slowly. Not until the nineteenth century was any fiction of merit produced. Little advance has been made in literature since the middle of the nineteenth century. The present tendency in poetry is toward realism. Drama and fiction, history and travel, have all received attention, but few names appear which are of importance.

See Comedy; Plautus; Dante; Tasso; Boccaccio; Petrarch