“Since love has left me utterly,” deals with _leggiadria_, the
outward expression of a chivalrous soul, and shows the influence of
the _Tesoretto_ of Brunetto Latini. These two canzoni, which contain
transcripts from the Aristotelian _Ethics_, only here and there
become poetry. In the larger proportion of short lines in the stanza,
Dante seems feeling his way to a more popular metrical form and a
freer treatment, as well as a wider range of subject. The second has
satirical sketches of vicious or offensive types of men, with whom he
will deal more severely in the _Commedia_.
(_e_) There are certain lyrics of Dante’s which can hardly admit of an
allegorical interpretation, but are almost certainly the expression of
passionate love for real women. Most notable among these are a group
of four canzoni, known as the _rime per la donna pietra_, which are
characterised by a peculiar incessant playing upon the word _pietra_,
or “stone,” which has led to the hypothesis that they were inspired by
a lady named Pietra, or at least by one who had been as cold and rigid
as Beatrice had been the giver of blessing. The canzone of the _aspro
parlare_:
Così nel mio parlar voglio esser aspro,
“So in my speech would I be harsh, as this fair stone is in her acts,”
shows that Dante could be as terrible in his love as in his hate, and
has a suggestion of sensuality which we hardly find elsewhere in his
poetry. It is indirectly referred to in the _Convivio_, and quoted
by Petrarch. The other three canzoni of this “stony” group show very
strongly the influence of the Provençal Arnaut Daniel in their form,
and all their imagery is drawn from nature in winter. The sestina:
Al poco giorno e al gran cerchio d’ombra,
“To the short day and the large circle of shade have I come,” is the
first Italian example of that peculiar variety of the canzone which was
invented by Arnaut (_V. E._, ii. 10, 13). It gives a most wonderful
picture of this strange green-robed girl, her golden hair crowned with
grass like Botticelli’s Libyan Sibyl, in the meadow “girdled about with
very lofty hills.” Less beautiful and more artificial, the canzone:
Amor, tu vedi ben che questa donna,
“Love, thou seest well that this lady cares not for thy power,”
is likewise quoted with complacency, for its novelty and metrical
peculiarity, in the _De Vulgari Eloquentia_ (ii. 13). And the passion
of the whole group is summed up in the poem on Love and Winter:
Io son venuto al punto de la rota,