—opens the canzone on the spiritual nature of true gentilezza (inspired in part by Guinizelli), which is expounded in the fourth treatise of the Convivio, and, although somewhat unequal, contains one ineffable stanza upon the noble soul in life’s four stages. A companion poem:
Poscia ch’Amor del tutto m’ ha lasciato,
“Since love has left me utterly,” deals with leggiadria, the outward expression of a chivalrous soul, and shows the influence of the Tesoretto of Brunetto Latini. These two canzoni, which contain transcripts from the Aristotelian Ethics, only here and there become poetry. In the larger proportion of short lines in the stanza, Dante seems feeling his way to a more popular metrical form and a freer treatment, as well as a wider range of subject. The second has satirical sketches of vicious or offensive types of men, with whom he will deal more severely in the Commedia.
(e) There are certain lyrics of Dante’s which can hardly admit of an allegorical interpretation, but are almost certainly the expression of passionate love for real women. Most notable among these are a group of four canzoni, known as the rime per la donna pietra, which are characterised by a peculiar incessant playing upon the word pietra, or “stone,” which has led to the hypothesis that they were inspired by a lady named Pietra, or at least by one who had been as cold and rigid as Beatrice had been the giver of blessing. The canzone of the aspro parlare:
Così nel mio parlar voglio esser aspro,
“So in my speech would I be harsh, as this fair stone is in her acts,” shows that Dante could be as terrible in his love as in his hate, and has a suggestion of sensuality which we hardly find elsewhere in his poetry. It is indirectly referred to in the Convivio, and quoted by Petrarch. The other three canzoni of this “stony” group show very strongly the influence of the Provençal Arnaut Daniel in their form, and all their imagery is drawn from nature in winter. The sestina:
Al poco giorno e al gran cerchio d’ombra,
“To the short day and the large circle of shade have I come,” is the first Italian example of that peculiar variety of the canzone which was invented by Arnaut (V. E., ii. 10, 13). It gives a most wonderful picture of this strange green-robed girl, her golden hair crowned with grass like Botticelli’s Libyan Sibyl, in the meadow “girdled about with very lofty hills.” Less beautiful and more artificial, the canzone:
Amor, tu vedi ben che questa donna,
“Love, thou seest well that this lady cares not for thy power,” is likewise quoted with complacency, for its novelty and metrical peculiarity, in the De Vulgari Eloquentia (ii. 13). And the passion of the whole group is summed up in the poem on Love and Winter: