As we have said in the first chapter, Latin, the official language of the Roman Empire, became a multitude of dialects called collectively Vulgar Latin which, in turn, became the Romance languages. Today we will look at how Vulgar Latin became the Romance languages with a concentration on Italian, the language which is probably closest to Latin lexically. To understand how Vulgar Latin became the different Romance languages we must first understand that each Romance language went through many different changes until it became the language spoken today and that each Romance language parted from Latin at a different time. By the eighth century the language spoken in France was already quite different than Classical Latin. In 813 the Council …show more content…
The first documents written in Italian are the legal documents, “Placiti Cassinessi”, which were written from 960-963. Since then the Italian language has changed little with the main changes in the orthography and there in no ‘Old Italian’ as there is Old French and Old Spanish. We have described in the first chapter some of the ways in which Classical Latin changed into Vulgar Latin. Sadly, to the best of my knowledge, there are none or very little resources on the ways Vulgar Latin changed into Italian or, indeed, any of the Romance languages besides Romanian which has had the most changes as it was one of the first Romance languages to break away from Latin and is also situated in the Balkan region, a fact that has inspired many lexical and phonological changes in the language. Instead we will concentrate on how Italian developed from it’s beginnings into the language spoken today both in Italy and the …show more content…
Even in the 15th century, though Latin was not the common spoken language, 70% of the books in published in Europe in the 15th century were written in Latin. 8% of the books published were written in Italian. Before this there was very little Italian literature. This changed because of Dante Alighieri. Dante Alighieri, often shortened to Dante, was born in 1265 and in 1308 began writing what would become one of the most famous literary works in the world-the Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy was written in the Tuscan dialect of Italy and almost immediately began to become famous. We see the fact of it’s good reception in the number of times it was printed between 1472 to 1555-a total of five time with 300 copies printed the first time. With the start of the Italian Renaissance in the 14th century the Tuscan dialect began to be the language used in the courts of every state. In the 16th century the rediscovery of Dante’s De vulgari eloquentia-an essay discussing the relationship between Latin and the vernacular languages-sparked a heated debate throughout Italy about the establishment of a governed
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno. Trans. Allen Mandelbaum. Notes Allen Mandelbaum and Gabriel Marruzzo. New York: Bantam Books, 1980
The Divine Comedy, written in the 14th century by Dante Alighieri, is a heroic epic. Throughout Dante’s literary work, he outlines his scientific understandings of the world, his political views and provides the reader with a moral compass and spiritual map of which to follow. This poem is written in three parts, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradisio, each of which is broken down into individual cantos. Inferno includes 34 cantos, whereas Purgatrio and Paradiso each contain 33 cantos, however, the first canto of Inferno is really an introduction to the poem.
Rudd, Jay. Critical Companion to Dante: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York. 2008. Print.
The idea of the Renaissance Gentleman. Just as it is false to see the Renaissance as a simple and sharp contrast with the Middle Ages, as did Michelet and Burckhardt, neither should it be seen as all of one piece. After the age of civic humanism came the dominance of the Medici in Florence, and in those contacts made with eastern scholars when the Council of Florence was attempting the reconciliation of the Eastern and Western Churches (a last effort to stave off the menace of the Turk) Cosimo de'Medici had been attracted to the figure of Plato. So there came his patronage of Marsilio Ficino and the birth of the Platonic Academy. Ficino became the disciple of Plato, and an advocate of neo-Platonism. Perhaps coincidentally, but as befits a court, the contemplative ideal began once more to gain over the active one. It was transmitted potently to Europe by a book that mirrored one of the noblest of Italian courts, that of Urbino. This was Baldassar Castiglione's Il cortegiano/The Book of the Courtier). Published in 1528 (that is, after the Sack of Rome, 1527) it has a nostalgic vision of the civilisation nurtured in Urbino from the time of Federigo da Montefeltro, in one of the most beautiful of princely palaces. Apart from offering in its close the neoplatonic idea to Europe, it recommended not so much the status of the courtier, as the ideal of the gentleman. There is no other comparable book that encapsulated the ideals of the Italian Renaissance, and its European success ensured the diffusion of the message. (Penguin Hutchinson Reference Library Copyright (c) 1996 Helicon Publishing and Penguin Books Ltd)
...mple of his drama is, The Comedy of Errors. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid offered Renaissance poets classical models of empire-building and myths of national origin structured around the heroic wanderings of a central protagonist. One of the most influential practitioners of the epic was Ludovico Ariosto, an ambassador to one of the greatest Italian dynasties of 15th century, Este Ferrara. Then, Matteo Bandello published his Novelle, short stories of contemporary urban life while Giambattista Giraldi or known as Cinthio, printed another collection of equally influential novellas in 1565. These works were so good as it is emphasize on the struggling of previous people.
Dante, an Italian poet during the late middle ages, successfully parallels courtly love with Platonic love in both the La Vita Nuova and the Divine Comedy. Though following the common characteristics of a courtly love, Dante attempts to promote love by elevating it through the lenses of difference levels. Through his love affair with Beatrice, although Beatrice has died, he remains his love and prompts a state of godly love in Paradiso. Dante, aiming to promote the most ideal type of love, criticizes common lust while praises the godly love by comparing his state of mind before and after Beatrice’s death. PJ Klemp essay “Layers of love in Dante’s Vita Nuova” explains the origins of Dante’s love in Plato and Aristotle themes that designate
In this brief monograph, we shall be hunting down and examining various creatures from the bestiary of Medieval/Renaissance thought. Among these are the fierce lion of imperious, egotistical power, a pair of fantastic peacocks, one of vanity, one of preening social status, and the docile lamb of humility. The lion and the peacocks are of the species known as pride, while the lamb is of an entirely different, in fact antithetical race, that of humility and forgiveness. The textual regions we shall be exploring include the diverse expanses, from palace to heath, of William Shakespeare, the dark, sinister Italy of John Webster, and the perfumed lady's chambers of Ben Jonson and Robert Herrick.
“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.” This maxim applies to the poet Dante Alighieri, writer of The Inferno in the 1300s, because it asserts the need to establish oneself as a contributor to society. Indeed, Dante’s work contributes much to Renaissance Italy as his work is the first of its scope and size to be written in the vernacular. Due to its readability and availability, The Inferno is a nationalistic symbol. With this widespread availability also comes a certain social responsibility; even though Dante’s audience would have been familiar with the religious dogma, he assumes the didactic role of illustrating his own version of Christian justice and emphasizes the need for a personal understanding of divine wisdom and contrapasso, the idea of the perfect punishment for the crime. Dante acts as both author and narrator, completing a physical and spiritual journey into the underworld with Virgil as his guide and mentor. The journey from darkness into light is an allegory full of symbolism, much like that of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which shows a philosopher’s journey towards truth. Therefore, Dante would also agree with the maxim, “Wise men learn by others’ harms; fools scarcely by their own,” because on the road to gaining knowledge and spiritual enlightenment, characters who learn valuable lessons from the misfortunes of others strengthen their own paradigms. Nonetheless, the only true way to gain knowledge is to experience it first hand. Dante’s character finds truth by way of his own personal quest.
Alghieri, Dante. "The Divine Comedy: Inferno." The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces: Expanded Edition In One Volume. Gen. Ed. Maynard Mack. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997. 1032-1036.
Lawall, Sarah N. "Dante Alighieri." The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 1458. Print.
Harr, James. Essays on Italian Poetry and Music in the Renassisance: 1350-1600. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.
The Divine Comedy, written by Dante over the span of twelve years in the 14th century, is considered the most prominent work in Italian literature, and certainly one of the best works ever written across the globe. While the story superficially is a poem about a man’s surreal journey, it represents every man’s journey toward the savior, which is influenced by the medieval worldview developed in the 14th century western world. In the Eighth sphere in Dante’s Paradiso resides the souls that possess all three of what Dante calls the theological virtues, faith, hope, and love. Dante describes any human that has developed the theological virtues achieved total perfection in humanity. Of these three virtues, however, Dante values love the most, as
Dante Alighieri was an Italian philosopher and poet born in 1265. He married Gemma Donati, but was in love with another woman, Beatrice Portinari, who eventually became the backbone and inspiration for his Divine Comedy. Dante was an important political figure holding many posts among which one of the six priors that governed the city of Florence. Some argue that Dante was a power-thirsty politician who banished rivals for political gain, but in 1302, he too fell out of favor and was exiled forever. Dante’s exile had profound implications for the poet. His deep regret and anger at the injustice to which he felt he had been subjected translated into the most creative time of his life, the writing of the three part Divine Comedy. What is noteworthy is that throughout the epic many of Dante’s “rivals” appear as seducers, greedy, lustful, and overall completely immoral people.
Dante, Alighieri. The Divine Comedy. Trans. Robin Kirkpatrick. New York, USA: Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, 2012. Print.
Alighieri, Dante. "The Inferno." The Divine Comedy. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: First New American Library Printing, 2003.