Chapter V: Popular Religious Poetry

The Thirteenth Century--Outburst of Flagellant Fanaticism--The _Battuti_, _Bianchi_, _Disciplinati_--Acquire the name of _Laudesi_--Jacopone da Todi--His Life--His Hymns--The _Corrotto_--Franciscan Poetry--Tresatti's Collection--Grades of Spiritual Ecstasy--Lauds of the Confraternities--Benivieni--Feo Belcari and the Florentine Hymn-writers--Relation to Secular Dance-songs--Origins of the Theater--Italy had hardly any true Miracle Plays--Umbrian _Divozioni_--The Laud becomes Dramatic--Passion Plays--Medieval Properties--The Stage in Church or in the Oratory--The _Sacra Rappresentazione_--A Florentine Species--Fraternities for Boys--Names of the _Festa_--Theory of its Origin--Shows in Medieval Italy--Pageants of S. John's Day at Florence--Their Machinery--Florentine _Ingegnieri_--Forty-three Plays in D'Ancona's Collection--Their Authors--The Prodigal Son--Elements of Farce--Interludes and Music--Three Classes of _Sacre Rappresentazioni_--Biblical Subjects--Legends of Saints--Popular _Novelle_--Conversion of the Magdalen--Analysis of Plays 279

CHAPTER VI.

LORENZO DE' MEDICI AND POLIZIANO.

Period from 1470 to 1530--Methods of treating it--By Chronology--By Places--By Subjects--Renascence of Italian--At Florence, Ferrara, Naples--The New Italy--Forty Years of Peace--Lorenzo de' Medici--His Admiration for and Judgment of Italian Poetry--His Privileges as a Patron--His _Rime_--The Death of Simonetta--Lucrezia Donati--Lorenzo's Descriptive Power--The _Selve_--The _Ambra_--_La Nencia_--_I Beoni_--His Sacred Poems--Carnival and Dance Songs--Carri and Trionfi--Savonarola--The Mask of Penitence--Leo X. in Florence, 1513--Pageant of the Golden Age--Angelo Poliziano--His Place in Italian Literature--_Le Stanze_--Treatment of the Octave Stanza--Court Poetry--Mechanism and Adornment--The _Orfeo_--Orpheus, the Ideal of the Cinque Cento--Its Dramatic Qualities--Chorus of Maenads--Poliziano's Love Poems--_Rispetti_--Florentine Love--La Bella Simonetta--Study and Country Life 359