432 NATIONAL POETRY. 



thirteenth century there was scarcely such a thing as Italian prose- writing. 

 Several poems had, however, been written in the Sicilian dialect, amongst the 

 first composers being the Emperor Frederick II. ; his chancellor, Pierre de la 

 Vigne, to whom has been erroneously attributed the invention of the sonnet ; 

 and his sons Enzo, King of Sardinia, and Manfred, King of Naples. It was 

 not till nearly a century later that the poets of the Italian peninsula intro- 

 duced into their native language the various forms of Romanic versification, 

 and the characteristics of Provencal poetry, in the shape of odes (canzone), of 

 poetical dialogues (tenuous), of ballads, of ni.rfiin-s, of lays, and of tales. These 

 poets imitated not only the rhyme and rhythm of the troubadours, but some 

 of their literary qualities, though they were more successful in copying their 

 defects. It is easy to see that they did not derive their inspiration from the 

 living fountains of antiquity, though the names of Guido Ghisleri and Guido 

 Guinicelli, of Bologna, and of the two Florentines, Guido Cavalcanti and 

 Guitone of Arezzo,.have come down to our own day. 



Dante, the true creator of Italian poetry, was also a native of Florence, 

 and he was born there of patrician parents in 1265. Nature had intended 

 him for a poet, though at first he devoted himself to the study of various 

 sciences. Love of the highest and most elevated kind inspired him with his 

 first verses. He was not yet ten years of age when he met Beatrix Portinari, 

 who was the same age as himself, and to whom he addressed many tender and 

 pensive pieces, which he afterwards incorporated in his " Vita Nuova." When 

 she died in her twenty-fifth year he dedicated to her memory his immortal 

 "Divine Comedy," a poem at once religious and philosophical, and divided 

 into three parts : Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. This vast trilogy, the first 

 part of which is in every way the best, is written in tiercets, or rhymed 

 triplets ; it embraces every branch of human knowledge, and presents in 

 allegorical shape a striking picture of the history of the age, and especially 

 of the poet's contemporaries. Above all stands the pure and radiant image 

 of Beatrix. It is in this incomparable poem that Dante, by a judicious 

 selection of Italian dialects, and by transforming them into a unique and 

 regular type, succeeded in establishing upon fixed principles the literary 

 language of his country, which, though simple, clear, and powerful, had 

 hitherto been somewhat rough and inchoate. Dante remains, after the lapse 

 of six centuries, the great poet of Italy. 



None of the other nations of Europe produced any poet to equal him. In 



