Cavalcanti, Guido

Cavalcanti, Guido
born с 1255, Florence
died Aug. 27/28, 1300, Florence

Italian poet.

Born into an influential Florentine family, he studied with the philosopher and scholar Brunetto Latini, who had earlier taught Dante, Cavalcanti's close friend. After Dante, he is considered the greatest Italian poet and personality in 13th-century Italian literature. He left about 50 poems, many addressed to two women and on the theme of love. His language demonstrates the grace and directness of the dolce stil nuovo ("sweet new style"). Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ezra Pound translated his poems.

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▪ Italian poet
born c. 1255, , Florence [Italy]
died Aug. 27/28, 1300, Florence

      Italian poet, a major figure among the Florentine poets who wrote in the dolce stil nuovo (“sweet new style”) and who is considered, next to Dante, the most striking poet and personality in 13th-century Italian literature.

      Born into an influential Florentine family of the Guelf (papal) party, Cavalcanti studied under the philosopher and scholar Brunetto Latini (Latini, Brunetto), who earlier had been the teacher of Dante. Cavalcanti married the daughter of the rival Ghibelline (imperial) party leader Farinata degli Uberti but joined the White Guelf faction when, in 1300, that party split into Blacks and Whites. That same year, Dante, who had dedicated several poems to Cavalcanti and called him his “first friend,” apparently was involved in banishing Cavalcanti from Florence. In exile in Sarzana, Cavalcanti contracted malaria and was permitted to return to Florence, where he died.

      Cavalcanti's strong, temperamental, and brilliant personality and the poems that mirror it were admired by many contemporary poets and such important later ones as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Rossetti, Dante Gabriel) and Ezra Pound (Pound, Ezra). He left about 50 poems, many addressed to two women: Mandetta, whom he met in Toulouse in 1292, and Giovanna, whom he calls Primavera (“Springtime”). Cavalcanti's poems glow with the brilliance, grace, and directness of diction characteristic of the style at its best. Love is the poet's dominant theme, generally love that causes deep suffering.

      Two of Cavalcanti's poems are canzoni, a type of lyric derived from Provençal poetry, of which the most famous is “Donna mi prega” (“A Lady Asks Me”), a beautiful and complex philosophical analysis of love, the subject of many later commentaries. Others are sonnets and ballate (ballads), the latter type usually considered his best. One of his best-known ballate was also one of his last, written when he went into exile: “Perch'io non spero di tornar giamai” (“Because I hope not ever to return”), a line that some hear echoed in T.S. Eliot's refrain from “Ash Wednesday,” “Because I do not hope to turn again.”

      Cavalcanti's poetry was first collected in 1527 and later in Le rime de Guido Cavalcanti (1902). Many poems were translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in The Early Italian Poets (1861; later retitled Dante and His Circle) and by Ezra Pound in The Sonnets and Ballate of Guido Cavalcanti (1912).

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  • Cavalcanti, Guido — (ca. 1259–1300)    The true founder of the DOLCE STIL NOVO (“sweet new style”) school of poetry and DANTE’s closest friend, the poet Guido Cavalcanti was, more than anyone else, the person responsible for the “sweet new style” that Dante followed …   Encyclopedia of medieval literature

  • Cavalcanti, Guido — ► (1260 1300) Poeta y filósofo italiano encuadrado en el dolce stil nuovo. Es famosa su canción Donna me prega …   Enciclopedia Universal

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  • Guido Cavalcanti — (Florencia, ca. 1250 – ibídem, 29 de agosto de 1300), poeta italiano, fue uno de los creadores del Dolce stil novo, junto con su amigo y admirador Dante Alighieri. Fue uno de los dirigentes del partido güelfo, enfrentado al de los gibelinos, y… …   Wikipedia Español

  • CAVALCANTI (G.) — CAVALCANTI GUIDO (1255 env. 1300) Poète du dolce stil novo appelé par Dante «le premier de mes amis», Cavalcanti naît à Florence d’une noble famille guelfe. Il se mêle aux luttes politiques qui divisent alors la ville, prenant le parti des… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Guido — guido, da. adj. germ. Bueno en su género. * * * Guido, Alfredo Guido, José M.ª ► (m. 894) Emperador de Occidente en 891 894 y rey de Italia en 889 894. Venció a los musulmanes en Garigliano (885). * * * (as used in …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Cavalcánti — Cavalcánti, Guido, ital. Philosoph und Dichter, aus Florenz, gest. das. 1300, Freund Dantes, Guelfe; schrieb Kanzonen (»Donna mi prega«, neu hg. 1890), Balladen u.a., »Rime« (1881). – Vgl. Salvadori (1895) …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Cavalcanti — Cavalcanti, Guido, gest. um 1300 zu Florenz, lyrischer Dichter, Freund Dantes u. wie dieser Ghibelline. Seine Gedichte »Rime« wurden zuletzt 1813 zu Florenz herausgegeben. – C. Giovanni, Verfasser »der Florentinischen Geschichten von 1420–52«… …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • Guido Calvalcanti — Cavalcanti, Guido. Poeta italiano (Florencia, 1250 1300). Uno de los creadores del dolce stil nuovo , junto con su amigo y admirador, Dante Alighieri. Fue uno de los dirigentes del partido güelfo, enfrentado al de los gibelinos, y autor de poemas …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Guido Cavalcanti — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Cavalcanti. Guido Cavalcanti (Florence, v. 1250 Florence, 1300) était un poète florentin du XIIIe siècle. Biographie Dante mentionne souvent Guido Cavalcanti comme « le premier de ses amis ». Tous… …   Wikipédia en Français

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