Medieval Academy of America

Dante and Arnaut Daniel Author(s): Maurice Bowra Reviewed work(s): Source: Speculum, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Oct., 1952), pp. 459-474 Published by: Medieval Academy of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2850475 . Accessed: 20/12/2012 07:34
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A JOURNAL OF MEDIAEVAL STUDIES

VOL.XXV1I OCTOBER 1952 No. 4

PEC ULUM
DANTE AND ARNAUT DANIEL
BY SIR MAURICE BOWRA

is Comedy a salutary lesson on the fluctuations literarytaste. He seems to of nieglect unduly those whom we most admire and to select for special honor otherswho make liltle appeal to us. Neitherin the Divine Comedy elsewhere nor does he mentionBernart de Ventadouror JaufreRudel or Marcabru, though Bernartmightwell have appealed to him by the pure qualityof his love-poetry,' Rudel by Iiis cult of an ideal lady, and Marcabru by his pungentrealism.The and impressive Bertrande Born is indeed praised at De Vulgari Elopowerful quentia, 2, as a preeminent II, poet of war,and at Convito, 11, forhis courtesy iv, but and liberality, in theDivine Comedy is placed amongthe sowersofdiscord, he because he set the Young King against his father, Henry 11,2 and his poetryis It not mentioned. is also true that Sordello,whose lamentforBlacatz is a nioble of rmonumnentProvengal art, is praised at De Vulgari Eloquentia,I, 15, as an of eminentpractitioner words,and plays a considerable part in the Purgatorio, Dante clearlyknowsand admireshis poetry,he seems to value him but though more for his connectionwith Mantua and Virgil and for his robust political is and opinions.Of coursethe Divine Comedy not a workof literary criticisms, we in cannot expectDante to set forth it all his likes and dislikesill poetry,but in it he pays much attentionto poetryand to some poets whom he admires.He realizedhis own debt -to troubadours the and appreciatedtheirachievement, fully but he displayedhis respectin a tributenot to one of the more familiarand but attractive and forbidding ArnautDaniel, of Riberac figures to the enigmatic in the Dordogne,who was a friend Richard Coeur de Lion in the last decade of of the twelfth century. On the Mount of Purgatory,where the sexual sinnersare purged in flame, Dante meets the Bolognese poet, Guido Guinizelli,and sees in him his master,
whose work will live:
1 HI. J. Chaytor,From Scriptto Print (Cambridge,1945), p. 78, points out the close resemblance betweenDante's conceptionof poetryat Purg. xxiv, 592-54 and that of Bernartin Poem XV, ed. Appel. 2 Inf. XXviii, 184 ff.

TIIE treatmentwhich Dante gives to Provengal troubadoursin the Divine

459

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'Li dolcidetti vostri, Che,quantodurer'a l'usomoderno, Faranno cariancorai loroinchostri.'(Purg.xxvi,112-4) 'Yourownsweet ditties, which, So longas modern is notlet die, use The inkthatthey were written shallenrich.' (Binyon) in

Such praise is not unexpected,since Dante praises Guinizelli in De Vulgari Eloquentia, 9, forhis skillful of the vernacular i, use and in Convito, 20, forhis iv, rightunderstanding love in his poem 'Al cor gentil ripara sempre amore.' of Guinizelliwas near to Dante's heart,the beloved masterwho knewwhat poetry ought to be. So, when through Dante's verse Guinizellispeaks on literary matters, he must be heard with respectfulattention.After listeningto Dante's praise of him,Guinizellipointsto anotherfigure: 'O frate,' disse,'questich'ioti cerno Col dito,'ed addit6un spirto innanzi, 'Fu miglior fabbro parlar del materno. e Versi d'amore prose romanzi di e Soverchi6 tutti, lasciadirglistolti Che quel di Lernosi credon ch'avanzi.'(Purg.xxvi,115-19O) said 'O brother,' he,'he whois singled by in My finger,' pointed a spirit front) (he to 'Wrought better themother-tongue I. in than in of Whether verse loveor prose romaunt He surpassed and letthefools all; contend WhomakehimofLimoges more of account.'(Binyon) This personis ArnautDaniel, and therecan be no doubt about the main import of the words. Guinizellisays that Arnaut is a betterworkmanin his mothertongue of Provengalthan he, Guinizelli,is in Italian, that Arnaut surpassesall otherpoets in verses of love and tales of romance,and is superiorto 'him of Limoges,'that is, to Guiraut de Borneil,whompublic opinion,holdingmoreby rumorthan by truth,prefers. Afterthis tribute,Dante speaks to Arnaut,who repliesin eightlinesof resplendent poetryin the Provengaltongue. Arnaut is praised alike forhis 'versid'amore' and his 'prose di romanzi.'The two kinds of work are clearlyseparate and even contrasted.Very little indeed is knownof the 'prose di romanzi.' On the whole it is probable that theywere storiesin prose, since,althoughprosa can be used forwork in verse,as by the Spanish poet, Gonzalo de Berceo,3this is not how Dante's teacher,Brunetto Latini, uses it, when he distinguishes betweenwriting prose' and 'en risme,'4 'en or Dante himself, when he distinguishes what is written'prosaice' fromwhat is writtein 'metrice.'5 Arnaut,we may conclude,wroteproseromances.About them we have only a few hints.In his Discor8isul Poema Eroico 46 Torquato Tasso
3

4 71 r, III, 10. rcs 4 De Vulg.El., II, 1.

Vida de Sancto Domingo,5: 'Quiero faruna prosa en romanpaladino.'

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says that Arnaut Daniel wrote of Lancelot, and though Tasso is not a final on authority the authorship a workof the twelfth of century, at least shows he that in his time a Lancillotto was attributedto Arnaut.A Arnaut may also have writtena Rinaldo, since Luigi Pulci refersto such a work three times in his MorganteMaggioreand attributesit to Arnaldo.7Of course this may not be Arnaut Daniel, but it is at least possible that it is. There the scanty evidence forArnaut's romancesends. They are lost, and we can judge Dante's opinion ofhis workonlyby the extant'versid'amnore.' Eighteencompletepoemis survive,8 and since the shortest 35 linesand the has longest 109, we can see what kind of love-poetry Arnaut wrote,And here a problemarises.lEventhosewho have a taste forProvengalverseare not usually attractedby Arnaut.W. P. Ker's paper on 'Dante, Guido Guinizelliand Arnaut Daniel'9 shows the difficulties whicha sensitivescholarmay findwhen he tries to see Arnaut throughDante's eyes. Ile is perplexedby two problems.First, he feelsthat 'Arnauthas nothingof that idealismwhichwas the essence of the new stylein Italy,' and secondlyhe is unable to understand Dante's admiration forArnaut'sstyle.Assumingthat in the De VulgariEloquentiaDante demands a special kind of verbal euphony,Ker findsnothingof the sort in Arnautand complainsthat his wordsare harshand ugly and that he has 'a curiousviolent emphasis,'whichcomes out 'in his harsh use of monosyllables, his likingfor in images of winter,in the strength his protestations.' of iKer is in fact disturbed thatDante shouldchooseforadmiring attention poet who has neither grace a the of Bernart de Ventadournor the livelinessof Guillaume of Aquitaine. To his questions Ker findsno answer,but concludes by hintingthat afterall Dante must have admiredArnautforhis romances,as if it were impossibleto adinire him forhis love-poems. is a confession defeatand despairand at variance It of with what Dante says both in the Purgatorio and elsewhere.Dante certainly thinksthat Arnaut's verses are at least as eminentas his romances,and the comparison betweenGuido or Guirautand Arnautis on the comparative merits of theirpoetry.Whatever his reasons may have been, Dante clearly admired Arnautas a poet. Ker claims that Arnaut has no idealism in love and assumes that this lack should disqualifyhim for Dante's admiration.But much depends on what we mean by idealism. It is, of course, true that Arnaut has not Dante's mature conceptionof a man's love fora woman as a celestialpower whichbringshim nearerto God. HIe has not even such a notionof honorableand chaste devotion as we findin Sordello. But we may doubt whethersuch notionswere possible in the twelfth whenArnautwrote;theyare the productof a longprocess century of development whichculminatedonly in Dante's time.Yet Arnauthas his own
6 Perhaps Dante drawson the Lancillotto Inf. v, 127 ff., at and Par. xvi, 13 ff. 7 xxv, 115, and 168-169; xxvii,79-80. 8 The poems have been well edited by U. A. Canello (HTalle, 1883) and by R. Lavaud (Toulouse, 1910); I am greatlyindebtedto both. 9 Farm and Stylein Poetry(London, 1929), pp. 319-828. Though I disagreewithKer's treatment of Arnaut,he deservesgratitudeand respectfor raisingimportant questions and settingthem in theirhistoricalcontext.

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of conception love, whichis, withinits own limitsand in its own way, idealistic. knows the ideas of Provengal courtlylove, elaborates them,and puts his He own impresson them.His typicalapproachmay be seen fromPoem XV, which of is, indeed,so representative his art that it may be quoted in full: quem sortz Solssui qui sai lo sobrafan sofren sobramar, per Al cor,d'amor et es Car mosvolers tantferms entiers ni de C'anc no s'esduis celliei s'estors al vezere puois; Cui encubic prim motz, Qu'adesses lieisdic a liciscochos Pois quan la vei nonsai,- tantl'ai,- que dire. D'autrasvezersui secse d'auzirsortz, Qu'ensola lieisveiet aug et esgar; E jes d'aissono-ill falsplazentiers sui Que maisla volnonditzla bocal cors; vauz ni plansni puois Qu'euno vau tantchams, Qu'enun sol corstrobaissibos aips totz; et Qu'enlieislos volcDieus triar assire. bonascortz Ben ai estata maintas Mas sai ab lieistrobpromaisque lauzar: e bos Niesura senet autres mestiers, Beutat, joven,bos faitze belsdemors. e Gen1'ensignet Cortesia la duois; rotz desplazens Tant a de si totzfaitz De lieisno crerensde bensia a dire. nom fora ni breus cortz Nuilsjauzimens devinar, De lieis,cui precqu'o vuoilla Que ja perminono sabraestiers de Sil cors, digz,no s presenta fors; ses per Que jes Rozers, aiga que l'engrois, Non a tal briuc'al corpluslargadotz No-mfassaestanc d'amor, quandla remire. Joise solatzd'autrampar false bortz, ab C'una de pretz lieisnois pot egar, sobriers. Quel sieussolatzes delsdes autres Ai! si no l'ai, las! tantmalm'a comors! ris Perol'afanm'esdeportz, e jois, sui Car en pensan de lieislecse glotz: Ai Dieus,si ja'n seraiestiers jauzire! ni pliu,nom plac tanttreps bortz, Ancmais,so-us Ni resal cortantde joi nom poc dar Cumfetz lausengiers aquel,donanc feinz No s'esbrugic, misol so's tresors. qu'a' Dic trop?Eu non,sol lieisnonsia enois. e Bella,perDieu, lo parlar la votz enansque digarenqueus tire. Vuoillperdre Ma chansos precque nous sia enois, lo Car si voletz grazir sonel-smotz Pauc prezaArnautz que plassao que tire. cui
* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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I only,who endureexcess of pain, Know of a heartthat too much love subdues. My love forher,unshakenand complete, Has neverturnedaside nor looked elsewhere my sightof her inflamed mind. Since the first When I am farfromher,my speech upsprings; thoughtdenies it. When she is near,my rushing I'm blind to others,deaf to theirrefrain; For her alone I listen,look, and muse. falsepraises I repeat; No flattering, wants her morethan my wordsdeclare. My hleart On nelds,dales, plains and hills I shall not find United in one beingall such things. it. Her worth'sfromGod, who guides and glorifies Althoughto many a goodlycourtI've been, In her I findto sing morepraises,whose Nature has measure,wit,and giftsto mate, Beauty and grace,highactions and proud air. By Courtesyshe's fashionedand designed; All moods ungraciousfarfromher she flings. Nothingcan disguiseit. Her virtue'sperfect. The joys she gives to me fail not nor wane. Let her,I pray,unravelmy hid clues; For nothingwill she learn in words' debate Unless my silentheartreveal its care. Though the Rhone floodwithwatersunconfined, springs to Yet stronger my heartthe brimming it. fromher glancesto surprise Come hurtling Joyfromanotherbastard is and vain. Above all others'meritsare her dues; No otherwoman's charmswithhersI rate. Ah, if I have her not! 'Tis my despair! joy Yet in my torment and bliss are twiined. to a My thought, daintygluttonl, this clings. God, if I get no more! Nothingoutvies it! In dance and joust I'll not delightagain, For nothingcan my heart withjoy suffuse Compared withher. No one in gossipprate Shall noise abroad what secretwealthwe share. Is that too much? My faith,no! - she's too kind. But if,my lady, this my utterancestings, Out withthe tongueand voice that would devise it! I pray you may not thinkmy song unkind, But if my music yourapproval brings, Arnautcares not who praise or who despise it!

463

This is a fair sample of what Arnaut means by love, and shows that his outlook is in some ways like Dante's, if not in the Divine Comedy, at least in the Vita Nuova. Both record the same stunning effect of love at first sight, the same pride in the unique qualities of the beloved, the same attribution to her of all virtues. Arnaut praises the courtesy which formed his lady; Dante refersto

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Beatrice's 'unspeakablecourtesy'when she salutes him (3). Arnautclaims that he will keep his love secret;Dante prideshimself doingso (4). Arnautdefies on who the scandal-mongers gossipabout him; Dante recordsan occasionwhenhe whichreachedBeatrice about him (10). Arnautsays suffered fromevil rumors that in his lady's presencehe becomesspeechless,Dante tells how in love his body 'many timesfell like a heavy lifelessthing' (11). In many ways the cult characteristics. oflove as Arnautand Dante observeit has common he than this wheen tells how love for a beautiful Arnaut goes even further womanbreedsvirtuesin men:
Amores de pretzla claus, E de proesa us estancs, Don naissontuichli bon fruich, S'es qui leialmenlos cuoilla; Qu'un non delis gel ni niula Mentreques noirisel bel tronc; ni Mas si l romptrefans culvertz Peris troleials lo sagre. Love's the key to all trueworth And a shootof excellence, grows, Whereoneverygood fruit If one pick themfaithfully. themnot, Frost and fogdestroy Whilstthe good trunknurtures them; them, Tricksand falsehood wither Till truelovertendthemwell. Or again: D'amor mi prenpenssanlo fuocs El1 desiriers doutz e coraus; E1 mal es saborosqu'ieu sint Eil flamasoaus on plus m'art: C'amors enquierlos sieus d'aital semblan, parcedors, fis, Verais,francs, merceians, e Car a sa cortnotz orguoills val blandres.
I muse,and love's fire seizes me,

(XI, 9-16)

(xiii, 8-14)

sweetdesire. A penetrating, I feela mostdeliciouspain, Sweeterthe flame, moreit burns. the Love makeshis own in thissimilitude, humble, loyal,merciful; Frank,truthful, wins. For at his courtpridefailsand kindness

he Dante, who makes WhenArnautsays that love induceshumility, anticipates to and more than once refers it in the effects it the basis of love's ennobling Vita Nuova: E qual soifrisse starla vedere di a Diverria cosa,o si morria: nobil
E quando trova alcun che degnosia Di vederlel, quei prova sua virtute; Chb gli addivien,ci6 che gli da salute, oblia. E si l'umilia,che ognioffesa

(19)

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While any who enduresto gaze on her Must eitherbe ennobled,or else die. When one deserving be raised so high to Is found,'tis then her powerattains its proof, Making his heartstrongforhis soul's behoof With the fullstrength meek humility. (D. G. Rossetti) of Or Ogni dolcezza, ogni pensieroumile Nasce nel core a chi parlar la sente; Ond'e laudato chi prima la vide.

(921)

Humblenessand the hope that hopethwell, By speech of hersinto the mind are brought And who beholds is bless'edoftentimes. (D. G. Rossetti) Or La vista sua face ogni cosa umile, E no fa sola s6 parerpiacente, Ma ciascuna per lei riceveonore.

(27)

Merely the sightof her makes all thingsbow: Not she herself alone is holier Than all; but hers,through her,are raised above. (D. G. Rossetti) Dante's view of love's ennobling and inspiring influence, as put forward in the Vita Nuova, is not far renmoved from what Arnaut says in some of his poems. Arnaut however is not always so idealistic and high-minded as this, but seems at times to oscillate between protestations of purity and something more dubious, nor do his learned parallels always make his position clearer. Thus, though he may claim that his love for his lady is like that of Meleager for Atalanta (XI, 32), a famous case of pure devotion derived from Book X of Ovid's Metamorphoses,we are not so comfortable when he draws a comparison with Paris and Ihelen, who were for the Middle Ages, as for classical antiquity, a type of guilty passion: Ges non es croia Cella cui soi amis; De sai Savoia Plus bella nos noiris; Tals m'abelis Don ieu plus ai de joia Non ac Paris

D'Elena, cel de Troia.

She'll not annoy Her friend who worships her; This side Savoy No one is lovelier; Her I prefer To all. No greaterjoy Did Paris stir, Who loved Helen of Troy.

(III,

42-8)

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We mightargue that Arnaut regardshimselfas superiorto Paris because his love is pure, but the comparisonis piquant, if not ambiguous,and after it we are not surewherehe reallystands.Nor, in fact,is Arnautalways high-minded. outspokento leave no doubt about the natureof his At timeshe is sufficiently stanza suggeststhat he wishes for the physical desires.In Poern XV the fifth of consummation hlis passion, even thoughhe hardly dares to think of it. In Poem XII he hintsthat he has enjoyedit in the past and hopes to enjoy it again in the future: Dieus lo chausitz, assoutas Per cui foron lo Las faillidas retzLongis cecs, que jassam Voilla,s1Iplatz,qu'ieue midonz on En la chambra amduinosmandem don Uns ricsconvens tan granjoi atendi, descobra Que-lseu bel corsbaisanrizen lum E quel remir contralI de la lampa. (xii, 33-40) Mostgracious God, grant Whodidstforgiveness To blindLonginus histrespasses, for Grant, it pleaseThee,thatmyladyand I if we Lie in thechamber where heldourfirst For Richdalliance. thisgreat I wait, joy I Whensmiling, kissing shallsee herform light. Andcontemplate bythelantern's her an Arnaut,it seems clear,was not so consistent idealistin love as Dante might demand,anidthat is no doubt why Dante put him among the carnal sinnersin since Guinizelli So he Purgatory. faras poets are concerned, is in good companiy, is also there.As a moralist Dante was implacable,but as a loverof poetryhe was did not always more charitable.He must have seen that Arnaut's love-poetry and satisfythe highest standards of morality,but he liked it nevertheless, about love Arnautwas the greatest; thoughtthat of the poets who had written anidafterall therewas enoughin commonbetweentheirtwo outlooksto justify such a conclusion. Dante's views on Arnaut may be gatheredin greaterdetail fromthe De Vzulgari Eloquentia. At ii, 2, when he classifiesthe subjects treated by eminent his poets in theirown vernaculars, Proven?alexamplesforarms,love, and rightBertrande Born, ArnautDaniel, and mindedness rectitudo are respectively Guiraut de Borneil,and the piece of Arnaut's which he selects formentionis Poem IX, 'L'aura amara.' Nor is it impossibleto surmisewhy he made this choice. In 'L'aura amara' Arnautbeginswith a description of springbut of not or winter, and this image of his lady's coldnessevokes not complaints recriminations but protestations fidelity of and a confident assertionthat nothingcan shake him since he gloriesaniddelightsin the pains of such a love. A similar imageryand a not very dissimilarspiritmay be found in Dante's sestina,'Al the poco giorno,'of whichthe openingstanza sets the tone and introduces mainl themes:

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Al pocogiorno al grancerchio ed d'ombra Son giunto, lasso!ed al bianchir colli, de' Quandosi perde color lo nell'erba. E '1miodisiopertnoncangiail verde, Si 6 barbato nelladurapietra, Che parlae sente comefosse donne.

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To thedimlight large and circle shade of I haveclomb, to thewhitening thehills, and of Therewhere see no colour thegrass. we in Natheless longing my losesnotitsgreen, It has so takenrootin thehardstone Which talksand hearsas though werea lady. it (D. G. Rossetti) Dante is not so confident Arnaut,noris his imagery straightforward, his as so but themeof a wintry love and his sense that he cannot get away fromit, no less thanhis unusuallyastringent temper, suggest that he has learnedsomething from Arnautand especiallyfromthe bold masculinity 'L'aura amara.' Perhaps he of feltthat this was the kind of poem whicha man shouldwritewhen,thoughhis devotionis unrequited, still continuesto love a lady at a respectful he distance. The second passage on Arnaut is more technical.At ii, 5-6, Dante discusses constructio chooses Arnaut's kind as being 'sapidus et venustus etiam et and excelsus' ('savoury and charmingand even lofty'). The example taken to illustratethese qualities is Poem XV, 'Sols sui qui sai lo sobrafanque-m sortz,' which we have quoted in full. The word constructio, derived ultimatelyfrom Latin grammarians like Priscian,10 was used by technicalwriters the twelfth of with reference the construction sentencesand versesaccordingto century to of acceptedrulesand may almostbe translated'style'in the sense of the choiceand of arrangement words.The adjectives sapidus, venustus, and excelsuscome from similar ancientsourcesby muchthe same route.Nor is theremuch doubt oftheir meaning.Sapida, accordingto Geoffroi Vinsaufin his Documentum Arte de de Versificatoria, 16, is used of words when they are 'placentia' or pleasing." ii, Whateverothersmay have thoughtof Arnaut'sstyle,Dante foundit agreeable. Venustusseems to have been applied especially to the order and structure of wordsin a periodand was traditionally connectedwithdignitas, in Ad Herenas nium, ix, 13, 18. Finally, Arnaut is "excelsus," a quality which Geoffroi associateswith the amplification and elaborationof them by metaphorsand perIf sonifications.'2 we apply these adjectives to Arnaut's Poem XV, we can see theirrelevance.It has undoubtedly vivid choice ofwordsarrangedin firm a and it is diversified with originaland impressive expressivesentences; images and is to therefore worthy be called lofty. The othertwo references Arnautin the De VulgariEloquentiaare less imto to At portant,thoughtheyadd something our information. ii, 10, Dante treats
10 Inst. Gr. viii, 'constructio est dictionumcongruain '1

orationeordinatio.' dui E. Faral, L Artspoe'tiques XIIe et du XIIIe siee (Pans, 19-3), p. 288. e2Ibid., pp. 204 ff.

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of of and says that of the construction a stropheand the disposition its rhymes, that Arnaut uses this in one kind is 'continua usque ad ultimnum progressive,' uses it in 'Al poco giorno.'He refers nearlyall his poems, and that he himself to the kind of stanza which does not have its own separate, self-contained its but is connectedthrough rhymes withall the otherstanzas systemof rhymes formsof poem. The first of a poem. In this he classes together two different is since the same set of words the sestina,whichhas, strictly speaking,no rhymes, but is used at the ends of lines throughout, Dante seems to go out of his way to mentionit because Arnaut's Poem XVIII, 'Lo fermvoler qu'el cor m'intra' was surelythe model forhis own 'Al poco giorno.'It was almost inevitablethat should admirethe sestina,since,whateverits Dante, withhis love of formality, in limitations may be, it has a logical and mathematical completeness, that the first of versefixestheshape and lengthofthewholepoem. The secondform poem is, as Dante says, commonin Arnaut'sworks.In it, even thoughtheremay be internal rhymes withina stanza,each stanza as a wholerhymes witheveryother, and in each, as Dante observesat ii, 13, 'nulla rithimorum habitudoattenditur.' For this he quotes Arnaut'sPoem IX, 'Si'm forsAmorsde joi donat tan larga.' to Since twelveof Arnaut'spoems conform this scheme,it is clear that he had a for predilection it. It too has the advantage that it binds the separate stanzas in and makes themall contribute a united to together a progressive continuity effect. Dante, it is true,does not explicitly praise eitherthe sestinaor this other kind of verse,but we can hardlydoubt that he approved of both. He used the not sestina,whichmay well be Arnaut'sinvention, onlyfor'Al poco giorno'but of for 'Amor,tu vedi ben,' and his carefuldescription the second kind of poem and completeness. suggeststhat it appealed to his sense of structure Since Dante's remarkson Arnaut'spoetryprove that he studied it withconwe siderablecare and that his highopinionof it was no merepassingfancy, may of Arnaut's alleged faults,such as the vocabularywhich ask what he thought W. P. Ker foundso ugly. In his discussionof the rightwordsforpoetryDante to attaches importance 'grandiosavocabula' and divides them into two classes, he calls respectively which 'pexa' ('combed') and 'hirsuta' ('shaggy'). The metaof phor in both cases comes fromhair,whether a garmentor the head, and was in the twelftth when Geoffroi Vinsaufand to literary de familiar theory century, use it to describeclasses of words.So Geoffroi Matthieu de Vendomne says that call adjectives 'perpexa' since 'per pexionenidesignamusornatum, sicut cum we If dicitur"Verba habes perpexa,"id est "ornata".'13 the image can be applied to certainwords,it can also be applied to an apt use of metaphor, when we may be At said 'polire,pectere,comerein verbo."l4 the end of his PoetriaNova he sums up the help whichlie has givento intending poetsby comparing to the use ofa it comb: Ecce dedipecten, si sintpexarelucent quo tam Carmina prosaequammetra.15
'3 Faral, op. cit.,p. 286.
'4

16 Ibid., p.

Ibid., p. 289. 9257.

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kindofpolish some to of use theorists pexaas a word praise denote If theliterary senseforwhat shouldbe in theyuse hirsuta an condemnatory or elegance, not thatwordsshould be lays de expressly dowln avoided.Matthieu Vend6me hirsuta shouldtake care 'ne ex penuriaornatus and that the writer 'hirsuta' of in poverty ornamendicare' ('lestfrom videatur verborum aggregatio metro beggarliness'), in seemto indicate of accumulation words metre the ment shaggy This goat'swool.16 was a garment from that on theprinciple no onemakes festal that it and view, Dante revolutionizesby claiming both'combed' thetraditional to in equally an contribute are since they words needed a fullstyle, and 'shaggy' in In grandeur.17 thishe may well have had Arinaut mindand have ultimate and, as as him.Dante classesmonosyllables 'shaggy' from something learned Dante saw balps, and mutz. usessuchwords letz, as becs, Ker complains, Arnaut both he and thatto createa reallyexpressive 'tragic'language mustemploy and elements breakthe softness ease intowhichItalian to and smooth rough words to he rough chooses Just in hisownpoetry often as falls. too verse readily worth in of he their so effects, in thepoetry Arnaut recognizes suithis rougher theright place. which the from words of maybe gauged style Dante's appreciation Arnaut's himspeakin theDivineComedy: he makes
deman, cortes 'Tan m'abellis vostre voilla voscobrire. ni-me Qu'ieuno-me puesc, leu sui Arnaut, plore vau cantan; que vei Consiros la passadafolor, denan. E veijauzenlo jorn,qu'esper, Aravosprec, aquellavalor per Que vosguidaal somde l'escalina, de Sovenha a temps ma dolor.' vos 'Yourcourteous pleasesmeso, request or I haveno power willfrom to hide. you and I am Arnald, I weepand singing go. and on I think mypastfolly see thestain, Andviewwith theday I hopeto know. joy dothdeign which I prayyoubytheGoodness of To guideyouto thesummit thisstair (Binyon) Bethink in due seasonofmypain.' you (Purg.xxvi,140-7)

to are to testimony Dante'sadmirawords given Arnaut another The Provengal In for and theradiant of speaks itself. these poetry tionand understandinghim, but manner assimilated his characteristic fully eightlinesnotonlyis Arnaut's he Words which has used to purpose. are up phrases picked and turned a special he which uses in a lovesreceive newsignificancePurgatory. 'Valor,' ofhisearthly Dante which guides power ofhislady'sworth 33), is nowusedofthedivine (v, she from is on hisjourney; 'jauzern' transferred thejoy which giveshim(xv, 22)
16 Ibid., 154. p. 17 De

El., Vulg. ii, 7, 6.

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to his joy in the hope of salvation; 'folor,'of whichhe once accused those who think love painful (vii, 34), is now applied to his own faults in his previous So existence. too whenhe says 'Jeusui Arnaut,que plore vau cantan,' one ofhis of is mannerisms given a new point. In fourteen his eighteensurviving favorite to by poems Arnaut refers himself name in the thirdperson and at one place him speaks muchas Dante nmakes speak here: qu'amasI'aura Ieu sui Arnaut, E chatzla lebreab lo bou (x, 43-5) E nadicontra suberna. who I am Arnaut, reapthewind with ox the Andchasetheleveret the Andswim against current. for of boast nowbecomesa proclamation repentance a What was before conceited sins and of gratitudefordivine mercy.So too when Arnautgoes back into the flamewhichis his punishment: 148) (Purg.xxvi, Poi s'ascosenelfocoche1iaffina fire. backin therefining Thenhe shrank (Binyon) we cannot but connectthe presentoccasion with those passages (vi, 49; VIII, 21; xiii, 8; xv, 33) in whichArnautdeclareswhat pleasurehe findsin the fires of love. When Dante turnsArnaut'sphrases and ideas against his earlier outlook,he showshow well he knowsand appreciateshim. In the De Vulgari EloquentiaDante seems to class Arnaut and Guiraut de Borneil as equally eminentand to contradictwhat he says in the Purgatorio, for where the popular preference Guiraut is condemned.When he wrote the well have changed his ideas about Guiraut,and his latterpassage, Dante nmay his which for may reflect distasteforan enthusiasm contempt Guiraut'sadmirers more comhe had once shared but now abandoned. But the matteris slightly plicated than that. In the De VulgariEloquentiaDante claims not that Guiraut as is comparableas a poet to Arnautbut thathe is preeminent a poet ofrectitudo. surviveand in of In this he no doubt refers Guiraut'ssirventes, whichfifteen to a whichGuirautshowshimself seriouscriticofmoraland politicalissues.But we as Dante would regardthe poetryof rectitudo equal to may well doubt whether class. For him the the poetryof love or a poet who excelledin it as of the highest to poetryof love is superior any otherkind,since he ascribesto love the motive powerofhis own creativeness: Io misonun,chequando Amnor spira, mi ed noto, a quelmodo vo Ch'e' dittadentro significando. 52-4) (Purg.xxiv, I am onewhohearkens when into Love prompteth, I putthought word and he within. (Biniyon) After modewhich dictates the because love is a more Dante places the poet of love above the poet of rectitudo subject. It is true that Guirautis a notable poet of love and that his important

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relicsof Provengal and most charming is alba or dawn-song one of the freshest seem to have touchedDante as poetry.But neitherit nor his many love-songs Arnaut's did, perhaps because on the whole they lack Arnaut's boundingconand inventive artistry. fidence by of Dante's preference Arnautto Guirautmay have been strengthened other views The two men held different character. of considerations a moretheoretical of poetry,and Dante would have knownof them. The Provengalpoets of the disputedoftenand eagerlyabout the comparativemeritsof the century twelfth as be leu clus, whichmay roughly distinguished clear and trobar and the trobar on clus pridedthemselves beinghard obscurepoetry.The advocates of the trobar to understandand liked to dress theirthoughtsin ambiguityand esotericalas pass it offhumorously, when Peire d'Auvergnesays of lusions. They nmight himself: es Per o majestres de totz sos Ab qu'unpauc esclarzis motz, om Qu'a penasnulhs los enten. (xii, 82-4 Zenker) He's thebestpoetanywhere, more his clear, If he butmakes words understand. few For very them Or theymighttake a pride in theirabilityto puzzle theirreaders,as Marcabru does: De pluzors sens Sui plese prens chauzir; per De centcolors meills sai Fog porti Et aigualai, escantir. (xvi,49-54Dejeanne) Ab que sai la flam' I My meanings So richly ply of strike aim; my That hundreds them I Hereflame bear, Andwater there, Withwhich myself outtheflame. put If thereis an elementof vanityand display in these claims,thereis also someclus saw that plain statementmay thingmore serious.The exponentsof trobar Theirclaims not alwaysbe enoughand that a new depthis gainedby complexity. whichbegan in poets, and the controversy, were denied by some distinguished lasted almost intoDante's time. the twelfth century, clus,he changedhis views Though Guirautbegan as an advocate of the trobar and his allegiance. A poem in alternate verses between him and Raimbaut d'Orangearguesthe case forand againstclear poetry.Guirautdefendsit on the groundthat thepoet's onlyrewardis to reacha largepublicand thisis impossible what he says. Though Raimbaut's answeris not a defence ifnobodyunderstands it an ofthetrobar clus,ofwhichhe was not an adherent, is certainly attack on the leu: trobar

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Giraut,sol que l melhsaparelh E di'ades e trai'enan, Me no chal si tan no s'espan; C'anc gransviltatz No fo denhtatz; Per so prez'ommais aur que sal

E de chanes totatretal.

(LVIII,

28-35Kolsen)

Guiraut,if I give of my best And set my thoughts out worthily, Praise fromthe crowdis naughtto me. No vulgarfare Are daintiesrare; As salt is less esteemedthan gold, Of poetrythe same I hold. While Guiraut seeks popularity, Raimbaut believes in art for art's sake and the primary claims of quality. A similar controversy took place a little later in Italy, when Bonagiunta of Lucca accused Guido Guinizelli of being unnecessarily obscure and wrote a sonnet attacking him for abandoning the pleasing manner of love-poetry. He compares his work to a light in dark corners when it ought to be like the sun, and ascribes his practice to vanity. In particular he tells him that he has become so subtle as to be unintelligible: Ma si passate ogn'om di sottiglianza Che non si trova gia chi ben vi spognia, Cotant' 6 scura vostraparladura. In subtletyyou so surpassall men That none is foundwho can interpret you; Your way of speech has such obscurity. Guinizelli replies with another sonnet in which, after asserting that a man must have regard for his condition and nature and that only a fool believes himself to be the sole repository of truth, he argues that, as there are many kinds of birds, so are there also of poets: Dio in ciascun grado sua natura mise, E' fe' disparisennie movimenti: E pert cio, ch'uom pensa, no dee dire. God set its natureupon each degree of And made disparity wits and sense; let So, what a man thinks, him speak it not. CGuinizelli's reply to Bonagiunta is in effectno more than an appeal for freedom and tolerance and a polite way of saying that he has no intention of modifying his practice. Of this controversyDante was probably aware, and he certainly had his own view of the comparative merits of the two poets. In De Vulgari Eloquentia, i, 13, he says that Bonagiunta's style is 'not curial but merely municipal.' This criticism he elaborates and explains in the Purgatorio when he discusses poetry with Bonagiunta, and makes him admit that his manner has been misguided:

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'lo veggioben come le vostrepenne Di retroal dittatorsen vanno strette, Che delle nostrecertonon avvenne; a oltresi mette E qual piCu riguardare Non vede piC dall'uno all' altrostilo.' (Purg. xxiv,58-692) 'For now I see well how the pen withyou Follows him who dictatethclose behind, Which our pens trulywerenot wontto do; And he who seeks to look beyondcan find No difference 'twixtone and the otherstyle.' else (Binyon)

473

Dante's criticism of Bonagiunta is that he did not speak from the heart but in a conventional manner. If we relate this to the controversy between him and Guinizelli, we see what Dante's position was. He regards undue simplicity as false simplification and takes his stand against it. We may conclude that he would be equally against the trobarleu as Guiraut de Borneil advocated it. It is however characteristic of Dante's independence that, though he disapproves of undue simplification,he says nothing in favor of the trobarclus and its adherents but gives his support to a middle position between the two extremes. He resembles Raimbaut d'Orange, who rejected the trobarleu as commonplace and the trobar clus as unintelligible and placed his hopes on a third kind, the trobarric, which sought to secure a grand style without being too esoteric. Just as Raimbaut claims that he makes every word significant: Cars, brunse teinz motz entrebesc (xxii, 9-20 Appel) Pensius-pensanz....

I words wind Rare,darkand coloured . Il thoughtful thought . . so Dante inisists that,ifa poet is to singof the highestsubjects,he mustuse the agrees withthe excellence 'tragicstyle,'in whichthe elevationof the constructio of the words.For him this is the only style forsuch themesas salvation,love When he praises Arnaut forhis use of words and says that he is and virtue.18 'excelsus,'he showswhat he thinksof his styleand wherehe places him in the about clear and obscurepoetry.For Dante, Arnaut belongsto the controversy middle party and is on the rightlines because he aims at majesty of language to withoutbeingtoo obscure.Nor is this contrary the facts.Arnaut,like Raimric,19and this accounts forthe discrepancy baut, was an exponentof the trobar If and betweenwhat othersthoughtof hinm what be says of himself. the Monk on Montaudan says of him: A sa vidabe nonchantet, Mas us falsmotzc'omnonenten, (i, 44-5 Klein)
8 De Vuly.El., II, 4, 7. 19A. Jeainrov, La Po6sie lyrique des troubadiours (Paris, 1934), II, 47-51.

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but In life sangnotwell, made he no Mad verses manunderstands,

consciousof such chargesand takes pains to answerthemby sayArnautis fully ing that his wordsare 'simpleand fine' (ii, 1) and his song 'lightand easy' (vii, to 36) or 'graciousand gay' (ix, 1). We may findthis difficult accept, but it is comes more fromhis vocabularyand his allusions true that Arnaut's obscurity of than fromhis thoughtsand his presentation them. As an exponentof the withappropriate and strength in ric trobar he triesto state emotions theirfullness or them throughsimplication concealing dignityand withouteitherfalsifying Of themin ambiguousmystery. this middleway Dante approved.He was with and ArnautagainstBonagiuntaand Guiraut,and his own consummate Guinizelli which men like Arnaut had made in tryingto are owed much to experiments styleforpoetry. create a morepungentand more impressive This does notmean thatArnautis a poet whomwe can read easilyforpleasure, about his ownart,he saw thatcertain but it does mean that,whenDante thought him had been faced and to some degreesolved whichtroubled poeticalproblems Great poets are not necessarily by Arnaut.For thishe could not but be grateful. is concerni with theirown poetryand the problems since theirfirst good critics, may blind themto the meritsof whichit raisesforthem,and thisprepossession ends. This is trueenoughof giftsand pursuedifferent otherswho have different Dante, who, with his strongpersonal tastes and highlyoriginalconceptionof poetry,was likely to be less than generousto men fromwhose themes and Here was a Arnaut it was different. techniquehe had nothingto learn. XYith poet whose chiefsubject was love and who sought to presentit in a suitably to richand loftystyle.For us it is difficult see Arnaut as Dante saw him. His brusque Provengal has not the fluentgrace of Italian; his complex emotions belong to a world of romanticchivalrywhich is far indeed frommodernexthan attractive.But perience;his boldnessand his violenceare moredisturbing he and that,withall his idiosyncrasies, he wishedto be not sweetbut powerful, is. undoubtedly That is whyDante, who saw that the softItalian tonguemight liked and admired corrective, easily become too sweetand need some astringent him.
WADHAM COLLEGE, OXFORD

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