CANZONE

This article appears in Volume V05, Page 224 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: CAL-CAR

CANZONE , a form of verse which has reached us from Italian literature, where from the earliest times it has been assiduously cultivated. The word is derived from the Provencal cansd, a song, but it was in Italian first that the form became a literary one, and was dedicated to the highest uses of poetry. The canzone-strophe consists of two parts, the opening one being distinguished by

Dante

DANTE

as the fronte, the closing one as the sirma. These parts are connected by rhyme, it being usual to make the rhyme of the last line of the fronte identical with that of the first line of the sirma. In other respects the canzone has

great

GREAT

liberty, as regards number and length of lines, arrangement of rhymes and conduct of structure. An examination of the best Italian models, however, shows that the tendency of the canzone-strophe is to possess 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 or 16 verses, and that of these the strophe of 14 verses is so far the most frequent that it may almost be taken as the type. In this form it resembles an irregular

sonnet

SONNET (Ital. Sonetto, dim. of Suono, Fr. Sonnet)

. The Vita Nuova contains many examples of the canzone, and these are accompanied by so many explanations of their form as to lead us to believe that the canzone was originally invented or adopted by

Dante

DANTE

. The following is the proemio or fronte of one of the most celebrated canzoni in the Vita Nuova (which may be studied in

English

ENGLISH

in Dante Gabriel Rossetti's

translation

TRANSLATION

) :
" Donna pietosa e di novella etate,
Adorna assai di gentilezza umane,
Era la ov' io chiamava spesso Morte.
Veggendo gli oc hi miei pien di pietate,
Ed ascoltando le

parole

PAROLE (shortened from the Fr. parole d'honneur, word of honour)

vane

,
Si mosse con paura a pianger forte;
Ed altro donne, che si furo accorte
Di me per quella che meco piangfa,
Fecer lei partir via
Ed apprissarsi per farmi sentire.
Quel dicea: ' Non dormire ' ;
E qual dicea: Perche si to sconforte?'
Allor lasciai la nuova

fantasia

FANTASIA (Italian for " fantasy," a causing to be seen, from
Greek
- GREEK
- GREEK, ETRUSCAN AND
, 4aivew, to show)

,
Chiamando it nome della donna mia."
The Canzoniere of Petrarch is of

great

GREAT

authority as to the form of this species of verse. In England the canzone was introduced at the end of the sixteenth

century

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

by William Drummond of Hawthornden, who has left some very beautiful examples. In German poetry it was cultivated by A. W. von Schlegel and other poets of the Romantic period. It is doubtful, however, whether it is in agreement with the genius of any language but Italian, and whether the genuine " Canzone toscana " is a form which can be reproduced elsewhere than in Italy. (E. G.)

End of Article: CANZONE

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/CAL_CAR/CANZONE.html">
CANZONE
</a>

(Previous)
CANYON (Anglicized form of Span. canon, a tube,...

(Next)
CAP HAITIEN, CAPE HAYTIEN

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email