What they chiefly aimed at seems to have been
that their poems, when recited, should produce the most harmonious and
exhilarating effect. These works indeed gain immensely when they are
repeated, not as a whole, but piecemeal, and with a slight touch of
comedy in voice and gesture. A deeper and more detailed portrayal of
character would do little to enhance this effect; though the reader may
desire it, the hearer, who sees the rhapsodist standing before him, and
who hears only one piece at a time, does not think about it at all.
With respect to the figures, which the poet found ready made for him,
his feeling was of a double kind; his humanistic culture protested
against their mediaeval character, and their combats as counterparts of
the battles and tournaments of the poet's own age exercised all his
knowledge and artistic power, while at the same time they called forth
all the highest qualities in the reciter. Even in Pulci, accordingly,
we find no parody, strictly speaking, of chivalry, nearly humour of his
paladins at times approaches it. By their side stands the ideal of
pugnacity--the droll and jovial Morgante--who masters whole armies with
his bellclapper, and who is himself thrown into relief by contrast with
the grotesque and most interesting monster Margutte. Yet Pulci lays no
special stress on these two rough and vigorous characters, and his
story, long after they had disappeared from it, maintains its singular
course.
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