  Click here to download From the introduction: "Guido Guinizzelli di Magnano was born about 1230 in Bologna and died in
Monselice in 1276. His importance in Italian literature is that his
small body of poems (only about twenty) represents the link between two
styles: that of the so-called “Sicilian School,” which represents the
official origin of Italian literature ... and that of the Dolce Stil Nuovo (the “Sweet New Style”), which gave
Italy its first truly elevated poetry. Actually, among his twenty poems
only a few award him his singular position: they caught the eye of
Dante, the movement’s most distinguished representative, who was
inspired by Guinizzelli’s exulted use of the common tongue (the
vernacular or Il volgare) in service of an advanced spiritualization of
Love -- and his application a kind of scientific rationale to the workings
of it all. As Guinizzelli was born in the town of Europe’s oldest
university, and was a jurist by profession, his tendencies toward
logical and intellectual thought were surely present in his life. Thus,
he is still considered the father of the Dolce Stil Nuovo and therefore
the herald of better things to come."
This 90-page essay attempts to straddle the line between scholarship and popular reading. Those interested in medieval love poetry may find this essay an interesting introduction to the field, as the creative stance of Guinizzelli's work is planted in what came before and what was yet to be. So far as I can determine, this essay contains the only complete translation of his poems. My translations are an unusual experiment in that they they are "hyper-literal" -- they take into account every word and actually retain the sentence structure of each poetric verse. A knowledge of Italian or other romance language is helpful but not absolutely necessary. |