Italy, too, in the thirteenth century had, through the 'Trovatori,' its
share in the poetry of the courts and of chivalry. To them is mainly
due the 'Canzone,' whose construction is as difficult and artificial as
that of the songs of any northern minstrel. Their subject and mode of
thought represents simply the conventional tone of the courts, be the
poet a burgher or a scholar.
But two new paths at length showed themselves, along which Italian
poetry could advance to another and a characteristic future. They are
not the less important for being concerned only with the formal and
external side of the art.
To the same Brunetto Latini--the teacher of Dante--who, in his
'Canzoni,' adopts the customary manner of the 'Trovatori,' we owe the
first-known 'versi sciolti,' or blank hendecasyllabic verses, and in
his apparent absence of form, a true and genuine passion suddenly
showed itself. The same voluntary renunciation of outward effect,
through confidence in the power of the inward conception, can be
observed some years later in fresco-painting, and later still in
painting of all kinds, which began to cease to rely on color for its
effect, using simply a lighter or darker shade. For an age which laid
so much stress on artificial form in poetry, these verses of Brunetto
mark the beginning of a new epoch.
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