DOCSLIB.ORG

Mario D'alessandro 352 MARK DAVIE HALF

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Mario D'alessandro 352 MARK DAVIE HALF Mario D'Alessandro 352 MARK DAVIE HALF-SERIOUS RHYMES. THE NARRATIVE POETRY OF LUIGI PULCI Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1998. 199 pp. uigi Pulci began composing his epic masterpiece the Morgante in 1461 at the request of Lucrezia Tornabuoni, wife of Piero de' LMedici and mother of Lorenzo, and an accomplished writer in her own right. It is likely, Mark Davie argues in this new study of Pulci's narrative poetry, that Lucrezia's "commission was part of a diplomatic initiative taken by Medicean Florence in 1461 to establish friendly relations with the newly crowned French king Louis XI," and that the "celebration of Charlemagne...was considered a suitable theme with which to cement the alliance" (14). The Morgantés ostensible intention, as declared in its opening stanza, is not only to make up for the deficiencies of earlier accounts of Charlemagne's achievements, but also to celebrate his life. Yet, as Davie points out, "no sooner does the narrative begin than ambivalence sets in" (14). The figure of Morgante is introduced after about twenty stanzas, and it thus becomes "increasingly difficult" to see the opening canto as a serious attempt by Pulci to fulfil the "declared intention of honouring Charlemagne's memory" (15). In Don Juan, Lord Byron calls Pulci the "sire of the half-serious rhyme," and Mark Davie uses this observation for the title of his new book. Davie understands this characterization of Pulci's verse as an expression of the ambivalent nature of the Morgante, of the discrepancy between the poet's intentions and the work that he eventually produced. A partial explanation for this discrepancy between intention and fact, between the claims of the Morgante's opening stanza and the story that it actually recounts, was provided in 1869 by Pio Rajna's discovery of a manuscript, known as the Orlando laurenziano, which appeared to be a direct and at times word-for-word source for the Morgante. An anonymous poem in ottave containing sixty cantari, the Orlando provided Pulci with the rambling series of episodes that make up much of the Morgante, and this appears to explain why he failed "to deliver what he appeared to promise in his opening stanzas" (16). Yet, if Rajna felt that Pulci's reliance on an inferior source made him simply the "rifacitore d'un poema composto da altri" rather than the "rinnovatore della [...] epopea cavalleresca" (18), then Davie sees the presence of this source in a highly positive light. For Davie, "it is hard to see now [...] why a work based on a creative dialogue with an earlier text should be considered any less The Narrative Poetry of Luigi Pulci 353 innovative [...] than one which has no such apparent source" (18). Indeed, his study is "based on the supposition that Pulci's distinctive style is the product of his rewriting of the Orlando, and of the process by which he gradually leaves the Orlando behind" (18-19). Another factor behind the ambivalent quality of Pulci's verse has to do with "the conflicting demands of [his] readers in the changing cultural climate of Medicean Florence" (8). These conflicting demands produced "tensions in his work which he never managed to resolve," and which left his poetry "poised between learned and popular culture." Pulci "bequeathed" this tension "to his successors in the genre" — Boiardo and Ariosto — and it "must be considered a significant factor in their success" (8). Indeed, the twenty years Pulci took to complete the Morgante led to the creation of a "new genre of narrative poetry, characterized by the presence in the text of a self- aware narrator able to exploit his relationship with his material and his audience, resulting in a high level of topicality, verbal humour and parody" (27). The first chapter of Half-serious Rhymes (entitled "Point of Departure: Orlando Rifatto" ) provides a careful analysis of Pulci's use of the Orlando as a source for the Morgante. A significant effect of one of his various strategies in re-working the Orlando is "to create a knowing relationship between author and reader, in which neither is wholly committed to the story being narrated, and both are well aware of the role they are playing" (51). The narrator, moreover, brings himself into prominence by "continually interposing himself between the reader and the story and drawing attention to his own activity, recounting, embellishing, digressing, abbreviating" (51). Chapter 2, "The Limits of Rewriting: The Margutte Episode," offers fascinating linguistic and source analysis of this famous part of the poem. Davie emphasizes Luca Pulci's Driadeo d'amore as a source for this episode, and concludes the chapter by claiming that in Margutte's death "Pulci confronts his own gift for verbal elaboration and expansion, indulges it without restraint, and so establishes the limits of what it can achieve" (91). Chapter 3, "Spectacle into Poetry: La Giostra di Lorenzo de'Medici" is dedicated to Pulci's La Giostra, a work celebrating the 1469 joust held in honour of the young heir of the leading family of Florence. Although it is eclipsed by Poliziano's Stanze celebrating the 1475 joust honouring Giuliano de' Medici, its originality should not be obscured (94). Relying, as in the Morgante, on a previous text (in this case a prose ricordo of the joust), Pulci displays even here his ability to transform brilliantly the "most unpromising material" into great poetry (96). Mario D'Alessandro 354 If Chapter 4, "False Starts: The New Morgante and the Ciriffo Calvaneo," discusses Pulci's anxiety in trying to bring the Morgante under control, then Chapter 5, "History or Romance? Ronceveaux and Charlemagne," treats Pulci's attempt to continue the Morgante "in his own way," maintaining all along "the element of variety" which he saw "as one of [his] poem's strengths" (147). This variety, concludes Davie, is a significant indication of the state of chivalric poetry at the time of the Morgante's completion. The success of the poem appears to lie in the fact that it had one foot in historical, learned traditions and another in popular, romantic ones, and that the poet's inability to choose between the two reflected the public's uncertainty "about the kind of poetry they expected or wanted to read" (163). It was this very ambiguity, finally, which continued to fascinate readers, "down to the generation of Ariosto and beyond" (163). Half-serious Rhymes also contains an appendix with selections from two of Pulci's source texts, the Orlando and the Driadeo d'Amore. Students of Italian epic poetry will surely find this detailed and readable study a highly useful and welcome addition to Pulci studies. MARIO D'ALESSANDRO University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci: Beauty. Politics, Literature and Art in Early Renaissance Florence
    ! ! ! ! ! ! ! SIMONETTA CATTANEO VESPUCCI: BEAUTY, POLITICS, LITERATURE AND ART IN EARLY RENAISSANCE FLORENCE ! by ! JUDITH RACHEL ALLAN ! ! ! ! ! ! ! A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Department of Modern Languages School of Languages, Cultures, Art History and Music College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham September 2014 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT ! My thesis offers the first full exploration of the literature and art associated with the Genoese noblewoman Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci (1453-1476). Simonetta has gone down in legend as a model of Sandro Botticelli, and most scholarly discussions of her significance are principally concerned with either proving or disproving this theory. My point of departure, rather, is the series of vernacular poems that were written about Simonetta just before and shortly after her early death. I use them to tell a new story, that of the transformation of the historical monna Simonetta into a cultural icon, a literary and visual construct who served the political, aesthetic and pecuniary agendas of her poets and artists.
    [Show full text]
  • Cahiers De Recherches Médiévales Et Humanistes, 12 | 2005 the Epic Tradition of Charlemagne in Italy 2
    Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes Journal of medieval and humanistic studies 12 | 2005 La tradition épique, du Moyen Âge au XIXe siècle The epic tradition of Charlemagne in Italy Jane E. Everson Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/crm/2192 DOI: 10.4000/crm.2192 ISSN: 2273-0893 Publisher Classiques Garnier Printed version Date of publication: 30 December 2005 Number of pages: 45-81 ISSN: 2115-6360 Electronic reference Jane E. Everson, « The epic tradition of Charlemagne in Italy », Cahiers de recherches médiévales [Online], 12 | 2005, Online since 30 December 2008, connection on 13 October 2020. URL : http:// journals.openedition.org/crm/2192 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/crm.2192 This text was automatically generated on 13 October 2020. © Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes The epic tradition of Charlemagne in Italy 1 The epic tradition of Charlemagne in Italy Jane E. Everson Introduction 1 From the late thirteenth century to the end of the Renaissance, Carolingian narratives centred on the deeds of Charlemagne, Roland and the peers of France enjoyed immense popularity in Italy at all levels of society. Some of the greatest writers of this period were attracted to the genre and produced in it their masterpieces. And if, for the early period, the most important compositions are often anonymous, for the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the names of Andrea da Barberino, Pulci, Boiardo, Ariosto and Tasso, to name only the best known and most influential, serve to underline the status of Carolingian narrative literature as the pre-eminent literary genre in the vernacular. As I have pointed out elsewhere, the sheer length of time during which the Carolingian narrative tradition flourished in Italy, the large number of writers involved with the genre, the wealth of material both in content and style, the range of developments and modifications, all pose major problems for the scholar aiming to produce a comprehensive historical and thematic survey of the genre.1 2 The magnitude of the task had already taxed E.
    [Show full text]
  • Pulci's Transgressive Poetry and Two Sixteenth-Century Comedies April
    Pulci’s Transgressive Poetry and Two Sixteenth-Century Comedies April D. Weintritt “A dissertation [or thesis] submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures (Italian).” Chapel Hill 2012 Approved by: Dr. Ennio Rao Dr. Dino Cervigni Dr. Federico Luisetti ©2012 April Danielle Weintritt ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT APRIL D. WEINTRITT: Pulci’s Transgressive Poetry and Two Sixteenth-Century Comedies (Under the direction of Professor Ennio Rao) The Morgante attained immediate success around the Italian peninsula and in Europe, sparking the imitation of the two Pulcian paradigms Morgante and Margutte. The attempt to satirize and lampoon contemporary society inspires Pulci’s attitude towards his contemporaries in his literary production, and demonstrates key points of similarity among Pulci, Ariosto, and Aretino. In Il negromante, Ariosto adheres to Pulcian features through an analogous character, common themes, and linguistic repetition. In La cortigiana, Aretino illustrates the false pretenses of gentlemen and the wretched conditions of servants by bringing Pulci’s characters, themes, and language to light. The aspects of the Morgante that tend towards a comic, realistic language and style natural to comedy create a bond between Pulci and playwrights. These similarities bear witness to the ways in which Pulci and his work flourished in the early Renaissance and how his material, tone, and style were easily adapted in theater. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….. 1 Origins and Fame of the Morgante in Contemporary Culture and the Author’s Intent……………………………………………………………..
    [Show full text]
  • Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects
    Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects Giorgio Vasari Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects Table of Contents Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects.......................................................................1 Giorgio Vasari..........................................................................................................................................2 LIFE OF FILIPPO LIPPI, CALLED FILIPPINO...................................................................................9 BERNARDINO PINTURICCHIO........................................................................................................13 LIFE OF BERNARDINO PINTURICCHIO.........................................................................................14 FRANCESCO FRANCIA.....................................................................................................................17 LIFE OF FRANCESCO FRANCIA......................................................................................................18 PIETRO PERUGINO............................................................................................................................22 LIFE OF PIETRO PERUGINO.............................................................................................................23 VITTORE SCARPACCIA (CARPACCIO), AND OTHER VENETIAN AND LOMBARD PAINTERS...........................................................................................................................................31
    [Show full text]
  • The New World Mythology in Italian Epic Poetry: 1492-1650
    THE NEW WORLD MYTHOLOGY IN ITALIAN EPIC POETRY: 1492-1650 by CARLA ALOÈ A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Italian Studies School of Languages, Cultures, Art History and Music College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham September 2015 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT My thesis explores the construction of the New World mythology as it appears in early modern Italian epic poems. It focuses on how Italian writers engage with and contribute to this process of myth-creation; how the newly created mythology relates to the political, social and cultural context of the time; and investigates extent to which it was affected by the personal agendas of the poets. By analysing three New World myths (Brazilian Amazons, Patagonian giants and Canadian pygmies), it provides insights into the perception that Italians had of the newly discovered lands in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, as well as providing a greater understanding of the role that early modern Italy had in the ‘invention’ of the Americas.
    [Show full text]
  • Chivalry and Performance in Medicean Jousts of the 15Th Century
    CHIVALRY AND PERFORMANCE IN MEDICEAN JOUSTS OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY Emma Iadanza Vassar College ABSTRACT Jousts and other tournaments have existed in Europe since the early 1000s, but they began to take a different form during the Italian Renaissance, particularly in Florence during the fifteenth century. Rather than serving as demonstrations of military prowess, they became performative events that exhibited the patrons’ and competitors’ wealth as well as their devotion to the city. Descriptions of these tournaments tended to focus on the spectacular processions and visuals that were put on display during these occasions, rather than on the competitive portion of the event itself. The joust of Giuliano de’ Medici in 1475 embodies these characteristics to the fullest, as reflected in the wealth of descriptions in chronicles, letters, and poems that it inspired. Overall, the florid nature of these accounts evince the joust’s importance as a spectacle more than a military event, and the attitude to tournaments in Medicean Florence as a whole. By the fifteenth century, the tournament had played a part in chivalric culture for more than four hundred years, and was moving away from its origins as a military exercise and towards a more performative display. Jousts, especially in Italy, tended not to focus on a knight’s ability to fight, but instead on his courtly manners and the spectacular performance that he sought to create. Indeed, luxury was the focus of these events to such an extent that writers of the time paid little attention to the events or outcome of the jousts, and focused instead on their grandeur.
    [Show full text]
  • Singing the Vernacular in Piazza San Martino
    Dickinson College Dickinson Scholar Faculty and Staff Publications By Year Faculty and Staff Publications 2013 Dominion of the Ear: Singing the Vernacular in Piazza San Martino Blake McDowell Wilson Dickinson College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.dickinson.edu/faculty_publications Part of the Medieval History Commons, Musicology Commons, and the Music Performance Commons Recommended Citation Wilson, Blake McDowell, "Dominion of the Ear: Singing the Vernacular in Piazza San Martino" (2013). Dickinson College Faculty Publications. Paper 88. https://scholar.dickinson.edu/faculty_publications/88 This article is brought to you for free and open access by Dickinson Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LATIN AND VERNACULAR IN QUATTROCENTO FLORENCE AND BEYOND Dominion of the Ear: Singing the Vernacular in Piazza San Martino Blake Wilson, Dickinson College IT IS PROBABLY SAFE to say that most Florentines of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries learned what they knew of the world by hearing about it. Out- side of a small group of well-educated readers, most learned about history, the- ology, science, geography, mythology, literature, and even the breaking news of the hour by hearing it from preachers, orators, heralds, and the ceaseless chatter and storytelling that coursed through home, workshop, and public space. Even much of the material that found its way into the city’s countless literary scrap- books (zibaldoni) bears the stamp of orality, having been either transcribed from live performance or intended for storage in memory as fodder for future oral de- livery. It was a loquacious and sonorous world that increasingly demanded var- ious kinds of rhetorical skill on both sides of the oral discourse, and this torrent of talk was born along by a Tuscan vernacular that was quickly coming of age as a vehicle of eloquence.
    [Show full text]
  • Luigi Pulci and Laurentian Florence: “Contra Hypocritas Tantum, Pater, Dissi” Michael J. Maher a Dissertation Submitted To
    Luigi Pulci and Laurentian Florence: “Contra hypocritas tantum, pater, dissi” Michael J. Maher A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Romance Languages (Italian). Chapel Hill 2013 Approved by: Ennio I. Rao Melissa M. Bullard Dino S. Cervigni Amy Chambless Federico Luisetti Abstract MICHAEL J. MAHER: Luigi Pulci and Laurentian Florence: “Contra hypocritas tantum, pater, dissi” (Under the direction of Dr. Ennio I. Rao) Luigi Pulci was a fifteenth-century Florentine poet and frequenter of the illustrious Medici family. Pulci is well-known for his chivalric epic poem the Morgante and the label of heretic assigned to him by contemporaries and literary critics alike. The polemic that occurred between Pulci and Marsilio Ficino, one of the most respected intellectuals of the time, is the impetus for this study. This study examines Pulci's controversial writings within the unique historical context of Renaissance Florence. A specific focus is dedicated to Pulci’s sonnets of religious parody and those written in derision of Marsilio Ficino’s Neoplatonic philosophy. A representation of Ficino is examined in the devil-theologian Astarotte in Canto XXV of Pulci’s Morgante , while a representation of Pulci himself is identified in the literary character of Malagigi, also found in the Morgante . Ultimately, it is the contest between Neoplatonic and popular-vernacular cultural programs that generated the Pulci-Ficino polemic, resulting in Pulci’s undeserved reputation as a non-believer. ii Table of Contents Introduction ……………………………………………............................................................vi Chapter I.
    [Show full text]
  • Saints' Lives and Bible Stories for the Stage
    Saints’ Lives and Bible Stories for the Stage ANTONIA PULCI • Edited by ELISSA B. WEAVER Translated by JAMES WYATT COOK Iter Inc. Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies Toronto 2010 Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance Tel: 416/978–7074 Fax: 416/978–1668 Email: [email protected] Web: www.itergateway.org CRRS Publications, Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies Victoria University in the University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario M5S 1K7 Canada Tel: 416/585–4465 Fax: 416/585–4430 Email: [email protected] Web: www.crrs.ca © 2010 Iter Inc. & the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies All Rights Reserved Printed in Canada We thank the Gladys Kriebel Delmas Foundation for a generous grant of start-up funds for The Other Voice, Toronto Series, a portion of which supports the publication of this volume. Iter and the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies gratefully acknowledge the generous sup- port of James E. Rabil, in memory of Scottie W. Rabil, toward the publication of this book. “The Play of Saint Francis,” “The Play of Saint Domitilla,” “The Play of Saint Guglielma,” and “The Play of the Prodigal Son” used with permission from Cook, James Wyatt, and Barbara Collier Cook, eds. Floren- tine Drama for Convent and Festival: Seven Sacred Plays. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe. © 1996 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Pulci, Antonia, 1452–1501 Saints’ lives and Bible stories for the stage / Antonia Pulci ; edited by Elissa B.
    [Show full text]
  • Les Prolongements Romanesques De La Matière Épique
    Les prolongements romanesques de la matière épique Jane E. Everson Royal Holloway University of London The theme of the prolongation of the epic and of the precise nature, definition and form of the vernacular epic in its prolongation over time is one to which the Société Rencesvals has returned repeatedly in its conference debates. In this plenary lecture, I concentrate on the prolongation of the vernacular epic in Italy. After addressing more general issues, such as the extent of creative originality as opposed to mere retelling in the so-called late epics, the varying chronological limits that can be set for the period of prolongation of the genre, and indeed what is meant by, what is included within, the Carolingian epic genre, I proceed to examine in detail how the Carolingian epic developed and changed in Italy from the late thirteenth century to the sixteenth century. The discussion focuses on changes in the characterisation and exploits of Roland and the mysterious case of the disappearance of William of Orange. Let me, a little surprisingly perhaps, given the title of this lecture, begin with a work produced here in the United States at the beginning of this millenium. In 2000 I received, as a gift from an American author, Ron Miller, who had sought my advice, a work entitled Bradamant. The Iron Tempest (Miller). This is in English, in prose, and described and marketed, by author and by publisher, as a novel, though its illustrations owe much to the Italian fotoromanzi tradition. But the content is entirely, and closely, derived from the Orlando Furioso of Ariosto; indeed it is in effect nothing other than a retelling of large sections of the Furioso from the perspective of the female warrior, Bradamante, rather than from that of one of the male knights of Charlemagne.
    [Show full text]
  • Satire of Philosophy and Philosophers in Fifteenth Century Florence
    Federica Signoriello Satire of Philosophy and Philosophers in Fifteenth Century Florence Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD 2013 Department of Italian School of European Languages, Culture and Society University College London University of London 1 I, Federica Signoriello, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Abstract After centuries when those who were engaged with the preservation and the transmission of knowledge were only partially devoted to intellectual activities, fifteenth-century Italy saw the rebirth of the philosopher. This thesis traces the changes that shaped the role of the philosopher during the fifteenth-century in Florence, a city whose arts, literature and philosophical heritage have been the focus of scholarly attention for many years. A feature of Quattrocento Florence that has been neglected, however, is comic literature. This thesis discusses a distinctive aspect of this literature: fifteenth century satirical comic literature progressively assumed the form of a tradition the aim of which was to mock intellectual aspirations. Through the evolution of this tradition we can follow the development of the intellectual Florentine milieu. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first deals with the development of the satire of philosophy and is made up of five Chapters, each dedicated to one or more poets who represent a different stage. In his poem Lo Studio d’Atene Stefano Finiguerri mocked the scholars of the Florentine University. Finiguerri was followed by Burchiello and his imitators, who developed a more refined style of comic poetry.
    [Show full text]
  • Luigi Pulci: Morgante Maggiore Canto I Translated by Byron Edited by Peter Cochran See Appendix for a Comparison Between Byron’S Translation and That of J.H.Merivale
    1 Luigi Pulci: Morgante Maggiore Canto I translated by Byron Edited by Peter Cochran See Appendix for a comparison between Byron’s translation and that of J.H.Merivale. Luigi Pulci (1432-84) was court poet to Lorenzo de Medici, whom he also served as a diplomat. He was a polemical antagonist of the philosopher Marsilio Ficino. The burlesque epic Morgante is his most important artistic work, though he also wrote prose, sonnets (some of them anti-religious, denying miracles, and the immortality of the soul), lyrics, and verse in terza rima. The Morgante, however, stands with Boccaccio’s poems at the head of the massive Italian ottava rima serio-comic tradition, whose later practitioners include Berni, Boiardo, Casti, and greatest of them all, Ariosto. The solemn Tasso also employed ottava rima: but no-one has ever accused Tasso of religious levity, a charge often, and with justice, levelled at Pulci (as Byron knew, though he never mentions it). When Pulci died his body was denied burial in consecrated ground. The twenty-eight canto Morgante Maggiore (1483) is so called to distinguish it from an earlier twenty-canto version (1478), called the Morgante, no copies of which are known to survive. On the last day of the Florentine carnival in 1497 it was burned in the Bonfire of the Vanities organised by Savonarola (treatment it shared with works by Petrarch and Boccaccio).1 Byron admired it greatly, and translated its first Canto, at roughly the same time (late 1819-early 1820) that he wrote Canto III of Don Juan. Based loosely on the Chanson de Roland and other earlier epics, the poem catalogues many knightly deeds of the Carolingian epoch, whose chief common factor is their improbability.
    [Show full text]