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Torquato Tasso and the Problem of Vernacular Epic in 16Th-Century Italy

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Torquato Tasso and the Problem of Vernacular Epic in 16Th-Century Italy THE TRUMPET AND THE LYRE: TORQUATO TASSO AND THE PROBLEM OF VERNACULAR EPIC IN 16TH-CENTURY ITALY by Christopher Geekie A dissertation submitted to Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Baltimore, Maryland July 19th, 2017 © Christopher Geekie 2017 All rights reserved ABSTRACT In this dissertation, I analyze conceptions of epic poetry in sixteenth century Italy, specif- ically the debates surrounding vernacular poetic language, which ultimately produce the first successful Italian epic, Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata. While scholars have mainly focused on early interpretations of Aristotle’s Poetics and questions of narrative structure, I argue for a shift towards analyzing discourses of language and style, which provide a more concrete framework for understanding Tasso’s poetic innovation. Examin- ing linguistic and literary texts from the 1530s to 1560s, I focus on issues of establishing a stable vernacular poetic language capable of equalling classical forms, specifically that of epic, at a time when the epic genre is defined by an exacting set of aesthetic expec- tations seemingly at odds with a predominantly lyric tradition grounded in Petrarchan love poetry. I argue that an unstable critical moment emerges by the mid sixteenth cen- tury concerning the ability of poets to translate the ideal form of classical epic into the mellifluous Italian language. This tension leads to experimentation with various formal elements that concern sound, notably meter and rhyme. I conclude that Tasso addresses this issue of sound with a radical theory of epic style based on the unconventional aes- thetic qualities of harshness, dissonance, and sonority. My research therefore constructs an alternative history of early modern conceptions of epic form by emphasizing evolving descriptions of aesthetic experience, particularly of sound, which ultimately proves to be fundamental for the development of a new poetic language. ii Ma quando, il crin di tre corone cinto, v’avrem l’empia eresia domar già visto, e spinger, pria da santo amor sospinto, contra l’Egitto i principi di Cristo, onde il fiero Ottomano oppresso e vinto vi ceda a forza il suo mal fatto acquisto, cangiar la lira in tromba e ’n maggior carme dir tentarò le vostre imprese e l’arme. — Torquato Tasso, Rinaldo (1562), 1.5 Vero che noi moderni sentiamo troppo le virtuosità del Tasso, specie in quei giochi di scuola che sono spesso le armonie imitative: noi preferiamo quell’ar- monia rappresentativa. [...] Vero che la musicalità del Tasso si rivela troppo spesso come sonorità; come concomitanza della declamazione. Noi siamo scal- triti nei versi delle armonie recondite e squisite. Ma la poesia del Tasso è quello che è: piena di grandezza e di baldanza. Quei versi sono squilli di tromba. — Eugenio Donadoni, Torquato Tasso (1920), vol. 1, pg. 222 iii [Intended to be blank.] iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank Professor Walter Stephens for his long-lasting support and guidance with my work over the course of my studies. I am especially grateful to him for encouraging me, early in my graduate career, to reconsider–at least temporarily–my enthusiasm for detective fiction. Renaissance epic was unmistakably the better option. Professors Christopher Celenza and Eugenio Refini offered valuable feed- back during the early stages of my project, which helped me immensely to refine both my thinking and my writing. I would like to thank Professor Refini in particular for his helpful advice that sometimes it is best to avoid being overly scrupoloso if one wishes to actually finish something on time. I am further grateful to Professors Shane Butler, John C. McLucas, and Riccardo Bruscagli for their insightful comments during and after my dissertation defense. Various departmental administrators also provided invaluable assis- tance during my time at Hopkins, and to Kathy Loemher I owe a debt a gratitude for her tireless efforts to keep me, and many others, afloat in a sea of bureaucracy. Iwant to thank my mother, who has been a diligent reader of my work throughout my life, and who continues to remind me that clarity should be the ideal for any form of writ- ing. Most importantly, I’d like to thank Priscilla for all her love and support: eddaje che je l’avemo fatta! v [Intended to be blank.] vi CONTENTS 1introduction 1 2thequestionofmeter 23 2.1 Bernardino Daniello and “terza rima” . 23 2.1.1 In the Shadow of Bembo . 25 2.1.2 Possibility of the Vernacular Epic . 28 2.1.3 The Necessity of Rhyme . 30 2.2 Trissino, Alamanni, and “verso sciolto” . 35 2.2.1 Against Rhyme . 36 2.2.2 Alamanni’s Classicism . 39 2.2.3 Trissino’s Epic Ambitions . 41 2.3 Claudio Tolomei and “metrica barbara” . 47 2.3.1 The Language Question . 48 2.3.2 The Search for Classical Sound . 50 2.3.3 Poetry vs. Prose . 54 2.4 Bernardo Tasso and New Rhyme Schemes . 58 2.4.1 Ancients vs. Moderns . 60 2.4.2 The Dream of Hexameter . 67 2.4.3 Epic Ambitions . 70 3thequestionofgravitas 77 3.1 Between the academy and the court . 77 3.1.1 Sperone Speroni’s Vernacular Project . 80 3.1.2 The New Alchemists . 83 3.1.3 Reframing the Question of Imitation . 86 3.2 The Canace Debate: Giraldi . 88 3.2.1 Giraldi vs. Speroni . 89 3.2.2 Giraldi vs. Padua . 95 3.2.3 Natural vs. Artificial Language . 98 3.3 The Canace Debate: Speroni . 102 3.3.1 Reproducing Classical Meters . 103 3.3.2 The Use of Rhyme . 105 vii contents 3.3.3 Metaphors and Languages in Dante . 108 4 the question of modern taste 117 4.1 From “libri di battaglia” to canonization . 119 4.1.1 Simone Fornari’s Spositione ........................ 123 4.1.2 The Elevation of the Popular . 126 4.1.3 Lodovico Ariosto: First Epic Poet? . 130 4.2 Bernardo Tasso Against Modern Taste . 133 4.2.1 Failure at Court . 134 4.2.2 Dissatisfaction Among Intellectuals . 137 4.2.3 The Search for a Third Way . 140 4.3 Remains of the Metrical Question . 144 4.3.1 Girolamo Muzio – verso sciolto ...................... 146 4.3.2 Matteo San Martino – terza rima ..................... 150 4.3.3 Francesco Patrizi – nuovo verso heroico .................. 153 5 the question of romance 159 5.1 Giraldi and Narrative typology . 159 5.1.1 The Genre of Heroic Poetry . 160 5.1.2 Praise of ottava rima ............................ 162 5.1.3 The Ideal of facilitas ............................. 165 5.1.4 The Sandals of Venus . 169 5.2 Pigna and the Priority of Sound . 172 5.2.1 The Need for Repose . 173 5.2.2 The Importance of Rhyme . 176 5.2.3 Practical examples from Ariosto . 178 5.2.4 The Ears of Heroes . 181 6 the question of epic 189 6.1 Francesco Bolognetti: New Epic Horizons . 189 6.1.1 A New Hope . 190 6.1.2 The Network of Discontent . 192 6.1.3 Against the People . 197 6.1.4 The Ghost of verso sciolto .......................... 202 6.2 Controversies over Bolognetti’s Epic . 206 6.2.1 Speroni and the Art of Pedantry . 206 6.2.2 Tritonio’s Defense of the Costante ..................... 209 viii contents 6.2.3 The Audience for Epic . 215 7 thequestionofaestheticexperience 225 7.1 Torquato Tasso’s new approach to epic . 225 7.1.1 The Literary-intellectual Milieu . 225 7.1.2 A New Approach to Poetry . 228 7.1.3 Reframing the Debate . 233 7.1.4 Variety in Unity . 236 7.2 Languages and Styles . 238 7.2.1 Love and War . 239 7.2.2 Tasso’s Theory of Style . 241 7.2.3 Demetrius of Phalereus . 243 7.3 “L’uccello, il quale ove men teme, ivi più spesso è colto” . 245 7.3.1 The Average Reader . 248 7.3.2 The Effect of Wonder . 250 7.4 “Colui il qual camina per le solitudini” . 252 7.4.1 Reader as Traveler . 253 7.4.2 Enjambment . 254 7.5 “Colui ch’intoppa e camina per vie aspre” . 256 7.5.1 Clashing Vowels . 257 7.5.2 Harshness . 263 conclusion 267 appendix i: thesublimestyleinthegerusalemmeliberata 271 appendix ii: metaphorsofpoeticformintorquatotasso 279 bibliography 301 curriculum vitae 311 ix INTRODUCTION 1 Nell’epica [Tasso] compose la Gerusalemme, nella quale ne diede la forma del poema eroico non prima conosciuta, o almeno non ricevuta nella nostra lingua, la quale sviata dietro alle favole de’ romanzi non pareva che fosse atta a ridursi all’osservanza delle regole, all’unità dell’invenzione, all’ordine della disposizione, alla gravità della sentenza, al numero della locuzione e nè meno alla grandezza del verso alla epopea richieste: le quali cose tutte furono con maraviglia del mondo da Torquato in questo suo poema perfettamente adempiute. —Giambattista Manso, Vita di Torquato Tasso1 In 1584 a short anthology of lyric poetry appeared in Florence with works from three rel- atively unknown Neapolitan poets, Benedetto Dell’Uva, Camillo Pellegrino, and Giovan- battista Attendolo.2 Seemingly inscribed within a larger cultural movement to promote Neapolitan literature abroad, the volume was ultimately printed only once and seems to have enjoyed little success among the Florentines.3 Appended to the anthology, however, was a work of much more historical significance, a prose dialogue entitled Il Carrafa o vero della epica poesia.4 This short text, primarily concerned with defining proper epic poetry, would become the catalyst for one of the largest polemics in Italian literary history. The querelle, lasting into the early 1590s, consisted in two factions of intellectuals debating the literary value and supremacy of one of two sixteenth-century poems, Torquato Tasso’s Gerusaleme liberata (1581) or Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso (1532).5 The Carrafa, writ- ten by one of the three Neapolitan poets, Pellegrino, set off this discussion by elevating 1 Giovan Battista Manso (1634).
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