''Dolce Stil Novo'' (), Italian for "sweet new style," is the name given to a

literary movement Literary movements are a way to divide literature into categories of similar philosophical, topical, or aesthetic features, as opposed to divisions by genre or period. Like other categorizations, literary movements provide language for comparing ...

in 13th and 14th century

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Influenced by the

Sicilian School The Sicilian School was a small community of Sicilian and mainland Italian poets gathered around Frederick II, most of them belonging to his imperial court. Headed by Giacomo da Lentini, they produced more than 300 poems of courtly love betwe ...

and Tuscan poetry, its main theme is Divine Love. The name ''Dolce Stil Novo'' was used for the first time by

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

in ''

Purgatorio ''Purgatorio'' (; Italian for "Purgatory") is the second part of Dante's ''Divine Comedy'', following the '' Inferno'' and preceding the '' Paradiso''. The poem was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegory telling of the climb of D ...

'', the second canticle of the '' Divina Commedia''. In the ''Divina Commedia''

Purgatory Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...

he meets

Bonagiunta Orbicciani Bonagiunta Orbicciani, also called Bonaggiunta and Urbicciani (ca. 1220 in Lucca – 1290), was an Italian poet of the Tuscan School, which drew on the work of the Sicilian School.Peter Brand and Lino Pertile, The Cambridge History of Italian Li ...

, a 13th-century

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, who tells Dante that Dante himself,

Guido Guinizelli Guido Guinizelli (ca. 1225–1276) was an esteemed Italian love poet and is considered the "father" of the Dolce Stil Novo. He was the first to write in this new style of poetry writing, and thus is held to be the '' ipso facto'' founder. He was bo ...

, and Guido Cavalcanti had been able to create a new genre: a ''stil novo''. Poetry from this school is marked by adoration of the human form, incorporating vivid descriptions of female beauty and frequently comparing the desired woman to a creature from paradise. The woman is described as an "angel" or as "a bridge to God." Rather than being material in nature, the Love of the ''Dolce Stil Novo'' is a sort of Divine Love. Poetry of this movement also often includes profound

introspection Introspection is the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies on the observation of one's mental state, while in a spiritual context it may refer to the examination of one's sou ...

. Many literary critics have argued that introspection in Italian literary works was first introduced by the ''Stil Novo'' poets, and later developed by

Francesco Petrarca Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...

.The two main concepts (introspection and love) are thus brought together as the poet enters his interior world to express his most inner feelings, which are caused by an excessively divine female beauty. The first expression of this style of writing is credited to Guido Guinizelli and his poem "''Al cor gentil rempaira sempre amore."'' Precursors to the ''dolce stil novo'' are found in the Provençal works of the

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...

s, such as the Genoese Lanfranc Cigala. The artists of the stil novo are called ''stilnovisti''.'''' The importance of the ''Dolce Stil Novo'' lies in the fact that apart from being the manifestation of the first true literary tradition in Italy, it ennobled the Tuscan

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

, which was destined to become the Italian

national language A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...

In Dante's ''Purgatorio''

's ''

'' XXIV, on the sixth terrace of

, the poet and glutton

, after confirming that Dante is the poet who wrote "Ladies that have intelligence of love," a poem from '' Vita Nuova'', uses the phrase ''dolce stil novo'' ("sweet new style," mentioned for the first time in the Italian vernacular) to describe Dante's style as a poet, and how it marked a shift from the styles of poets that came before him like of

Giacomo da Lentini Giacomo da Lentini, also known as Jacopo da Lentini or with the appellative Il Notaro, was an Italian poet of the 13th century. He was a senior poet of the Sicilian School and was a notary at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Gi ...

and

Guittone d'Arezzo Guittone d'Arezzo (Arezzo, 1235 – 1294) was a Tuscan poet and the founder of the Tuscan School. He was an acclaimed secular love poet before his conversion in the 1260s, when he became a religious poet joining the Order of the Blessed Virgi ...

. Dante scholars have tried to define this "sweet new style," and it remains a source of much contention. Dante, the character, claims "I am one who, when Love inspires me, takes note, and, as he dictates within me, so I set it forth" (''Purg.'' XXIV, 52-54)''.'' What "Love" means in this tercet has divided many Dante scholars, who question whether it is ''Amore'', the god of Love, or whether it is another name for the Christian God. Robert Hollander hypothesizes that the phrase can be understood in theological terms. By using Bonagiunta to describe his style as ''dolce stil novo'', Dante is presenting himself as more than just a usual love poet because of the theological significance of Beatrice. Beatrice embodies God's love for him, and she, who also acts as his guide, can lead to God. Hollander and Furio Brugnolo also argue that Cino da Pistoia, whom Dante believed was the only one who understood this significance of Beatrice, also falls in this "school" of poetry. Dante scholar Zygmunt G. Barański states that the definition of the phrase shouldn't be searched for externally as it can be found in the text of the poem itself: it is a style where form and content are in harmony, and this harmony is what makes the style "sweet." Another word for ''dulcis'' is clarity, and Dante himself believed that for poetry to be sweet, it should be as intelligible as possible. In the nineteenth century, scholars began considering and studying ''dolce stil novo'' as a "school" of poetry. Scholars, to differentiate Dante's use of the term to ''Purgatorio'' to the literary movement, called the movement ''stil nuovo''.

References

External links

{{Schools of poetry Italian poetry Literary movements Italian literary movements Medieval literature

In Dante's ''Purgatorio''

See also

References

External links