Benedetto Fioretti, also known under his academic name, Udeno Nisiely (1579—1642) was an Italian

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

literary theorist Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, mo ...

and

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or research ...

Biography

Benedetto Fioretti was born at Mercatale in the diocese of

Pistoia Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a t ...

, October 18, 1579. His first attempts at poetry meeting with no success, he devoted himself to compiling a great work about

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

. The result is almost indescribable. Fioretti brings together not only all that prolonged study could discover on the subject of poetry and the various branches of poetry, but also a great part of what has been said on particular poets and on their poems. His lists of authorities are imposing, and the minutiae with which he is mainly concerned give his pages a forbidding aspect. There is almost no attempt at arrangement. The book is called ''Proginnasmi Poetici'', and was published in five volumes in Florence, 1620–1639. This encyclopedia was successful throughout the seventeenth century and was reprinted after the author's death. Fioretti's ''Proginnasmi'' are considered a forerunner of

Francesco Saverio Quadrio Francesco Saverio Quadrio (1 December 1695 – 21 November 1756)Waller & Eadie 1863vol. 3, p. 619 was an Italian scholar, historian, and writer. His most famous work is ''Della storia e della ragione di ogni poesia'', a voluminous history of poetr ...

's famous work ''Della storia e della ragione di ogni poesia''. Fioretti belonged to the Florentine

Accademia degli Apatisti The Accademia degli Apatisti was a scholarly society founded in Florence in 1632 and associated with the Studio Fiorentino. Together with the Accademia degli Umidi and the Accademia della Crusca it was one of Florence’s dominant literary acad ...

and, after the founder

Agostino Coltellini Agostino Coltellini was an Italian writer and intellectual, known as a scholar of Dante and the Tuscan language. Coltellini was the founder of the Accademia degli Apatisti and one of the men Milton names in the ''Defensio Secunda''. Biography ...

, was its most enthusiastic promoter. His fellow academicians included

Carlo Roberto Dati Carlo Roberto Dati (2 October 1619 – 1676) was a Florentine nobleman, philologist and scientist, a disciple of Galileo (1564-1642) and, in his youth, an acquaintance of Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647). Biography Dati was born in Florence. ...

and Benedetto Buommattei. He was an acquaintance of Milton during the latter's stay in Italy. Towards the end of his life he turned to religious and ethical themes. His ''Esercizi Morali'' began to appear in 1633; his ''Osservazioni di Creanze'' only came out in 1675. Fioretti died in Florence on June 30, 1642.

Works

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Notes

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fioretti, Benedetto Writers from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany Italian literary critics Italian classical scholars 1579 births 1642 deaths 17th-century Italian male writers