Social differences, which played such a prominent
part in the North, are here ignored. The impecunious poet no longer
extols the princess, the wife of his lord and master. There is no
question of such a relationship; the poet is a free citizen of the town,
subject only to the emotion of the heart, and his song carries its own
reward. It has ceased to be the married woman's privilege to be lauded
and extolled; the maiden of unaristocratic origin, who to the poets
represents more strongly the ideas of purity and perfection, has usurped
her place. We know that Lapo Gianni, Dino Frescobaldi, Guinicelli and
Dante worshipped a maiden untouched by as much as a sensuous thought,
and Frescobaldi decided the question whether it were better to love a
married woman or a maiden, in favour of the latter. The feeling of those
lovers was pure and lofty, and they had the power of giving it perfect
expression.
In a canzone, the authorship of which is ascribed to both Cavalcanti and
Cino da Pistoia, it is said of the beloved dead that God needed her
presence to perfect Heaven, and that all the saints now worship her.
Pages:
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277