Benedetto Menzini (b. at
Florence, 1646; d. at
Rome, 7 September 1704) was an Italian
Roman Catholic priest and poet. In his
satires he assails in acrid terms the hypocrisy prevailing in
Tuscany in the last years of the
Medici rule.
Life
His family being poor, he early became a teacher, becoming a professor of belles-lettres at Florence and
Prato
Prato ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city lies in the north east of Tuscany, at the foot of Monte Retaia, elevation , the last peak in the Calvana chain. With more than 200,000 i ...
. He was already in Holy Orders.
In 1681 he failed to obtain the chair of rhetoric in the
University of Pisa, partly because of the jealousy of other clerics and partly because of the acrimony constantly shown by him in his words and acts. In 1685 he went to Rome and enjoyed the favour of Queen
Christina of Sweden, until her death in 1689.
Pope Innocent XII then gave him a canonry, and appointed him to a chair of rhetoric in one of the institutions of the city of Rome
Works
Following the models provided by the poems of
Gabriello Chiabrera
Gabriello Chiabrera (; 18 June 155214 October 1638) was an Italian poet, sometimes called the Italian Pindar. Endnote: The best editions of Chiabrera are those of Rome (1718, 3 vols. 8vo); of Venice (1731, 4 vols. 8vo); of Leghorn (1781, 5 vols., ...
and
Fulvio Testi
Fulvio Testi (August 1593 in Ferrara – 28 August 1646 in Modena) was an Italian diplomat and poet who is recognised as one of the main exponents of 17th-century Italian Baroque literature. He worked in the service of the d'Este dukes in Modena, f ...
, Menzini wrote his
Pindaric "Canzoni eroiche e morali" (1674–80). These observe the Greek division - ''
strophe'', ''
antistrophe'', and deal with subjects that were also engaging the attention of the contemporary poet
Filicaja, e.g., the freeing of
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, the taking of
Budapest.
Some seventeen of his
elegies treat of matters of various interest. The poem "Il Paradiso terrestre" is almost continuation of the "Mondo creato" of
Tasso, Menzini's favourite poet. In the "Academia Turculana" in mingled prose and verse, he introduces leading spirits of the time, who discuss subjects of many sorts.
The
pastoral
A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...
note was struck by him in his "Sonetti pastorali"; and in his "Canzonette anacreontiche" he produced a number of graceful little
lyric
Lyric may refer to:
* Lyrics, the words, often in verse form, which are sung, usually to a melody, and constitute the semantic content of a song
* Lyric poetry is a form of poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view
* Lyric, from ...
s. As well as his satires, he lashes in his "Arte poetica" the artificiality and the uncouthness of the versifiers of his time.
References
;Attribution
* The entry cites:
**''Opere'' (4 vols., Florence, 1731);
**''Satire'' (Amsterdam, 1728) and Borghini, III (1876);
**Paolucci, ''Vita di Benedetto Menzini'' (FIorence, 1732);
**Magrini, ''Studio critico su Benedetto Menzini'' (Naples, 1885);
**Tonchini, ''Benedetto Menzini e le sue opere'' (Cairo, 1893).
**''Satire, rime e lettere scelte di Benedetto Menzini'' (Florence, 1874)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Menzini, Benedetto
1646 births
1704 deaths
17th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests
17th-century Italian writers
Italian poets
Italian male poets
Members of the Academy of Arcadians