Book contents
- History of Poetry in Italy
- A History of Poetry in Italy
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Letter to the Reader
- Chapter 1 Positioning Poetry
- Part I 1200–1450
- Chapter 2 The Sonnet and the Sonnet Sequence
- Chapter 3 Gender and the Voicing of Sexuality
- Chapter 4 Versified Hagiography and Praise of Women
- Chapter 5 Adventures in Narrative
- Chapter 6 Boccaccio’s Experiments in Form
- Chapter 7 Commentary and Canonisation
- Chapter 8 Editing and Visualising Poetry from the 1300s to the Present
- Part II 1450–1600
- Glossary
- General Index
- References
Chapter 2 - The Sonnet and the Sonnet Sequence
from Part I - 1200–1450
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 December 2025
Book contents
- History of Poetry in Italy
- A History of Poetry in Italy
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Letter to the Reader
- Chapter 1 Positioning Poetry
- Part I 1200–1450
- Chapter 2 The Sonnet and the Sonnet Sequence
- Chapter 3 Gender and the Voicing of Sexuality
- Chapter 4 Versified Hagiography and Praise of Women
- Chapter 5 Adventures in Narrative
- Chapter 6 Boccaccio’s Experiments in Form
- Chapter 7 Commentary and Canonisation
- Chapter 8 Editing and Visualising Poetry from the 1300s to the Present
- Part II 1450–1600
- Glossary
- General Index
- References
Summary
This chapter explores the origins and early development of the sonnet, from its invention in Sicily at the court of Frederick II and across its evolution among the Tuscan poets up to the late-Duecento stilnovo. Far from being ‘closed’ or monadic, sonnets often appeared in dialogic exchanges (tenzoni) between multiple authors. Focusing on the theme of love, the chapter explores how sonnets were used between the 1220s and 1290s to explore philosophical, moralistic and affective aspects of a dominant medieval literary theme, in poems by Giacomo da Lentini, Guittone d’Arezzo, Guido Cavalcanti and Dante Alighieri, and their various poetic correspondents. Close readings demonstrate how sonnets could be used to showcase rhetorical ability across a range of styles and registers, asserting authorial individuality via formal as well as thematic means, and generating either closed or dialogic meanings in different material and textual contexts.
Keywords
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- Information
- A History of Poetry in Italy1200–1600, pp. 77 - 96Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
References
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Manuscripts
Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS Laurenziano Rediano 9
Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, MS Banco Rari 217 (formerly Palatino 418)
Madrid, Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de El Escorial, MS e-III-23
Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vaticano Latino 3793
Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vaticano Barberiniano Latino 3953
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