The shadow of Dante in Maurice Sceve's "Delie"
Item
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Title
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The shadow of Dante in Maurice Sceve's "Delie"
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Identifier
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AAI3187415
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identifier
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3187415
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Creator
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Lovell, Alison Baird.
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Contributor
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Advisers: Mary Ann Caws | Michel Beaujour
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Date
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2005
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, Romance | Literature, Medieval | Literature, Comparative
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Abstract
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Scholars generally consider the dizain sequence of the Lyonnais poet Maurice Sceve, Delie, object de plus haulte vertu (1544), to be an early example of a French Renaissance imitation of Petrarch's lyric poetry. This thesis adopts the perspective that while Petrarch's Canzoniere is an important source for Sceve, it belongs to a longer poetic lineage which includes Occitan troubadours, Guido Cavalcanti and Dante Alighieri. The thesis presents an original and paradoxical reading of Delie in light of the Vita Nuova and Commedia of Dante, whose subtle influence on Sceve has been marginalized by the more obvious intertext of Petrarch's Canzoniere. Chapter 1 introduces the topic, including a brief overview of Sceve's life and cultural milieu in Lyon, along with a summary of relevant scholarship. In 1547, the Lyonnais printer Jean de Tournes dedicated his edition of Dante's Commedia to Sceve, praising him in the preface. Chapter 2 discusses union between the poet and his beloved in fin'amor, the troubadours whom Dante admired, the treatise De arte honeste amandi (Art of Courtly Love) of Andreas Capellanus, and the Roman de la rose. The troubadour rhetorical style trobar clus corresponds to Sceve's penchant for composing "obscure" poetry; also, the Delie exhibits certain conventions of courtly love. Chapter 3 examines the impact of Cavalcanti, Dante's friend and rival, on Ficino's treatise De amore, the commentary on Plato's Symposium whose Neoplatonist ideas influenced Sceve and others in France. Having established the literary background, I undertake the comparative reading of Sceve's Delie with Dante's Rime petrose, Vita Nuova, and parts of the Commedia. I argue that the Delie shares common ground with Dante's poetry concerning conceptions of love and themes such as death, virtue and literary purification by fire. Chapter 5 analyzes the poetic relationship between Sceve and Petrarch through textual evidence and critical assessments. I argue that Sceve's dizain sequence is not as Petrarchan as many have assumed, and differences between the Delie and the Canzoniere are significant, especially regarding poetic style and morality. Affinities between Sceve and Dante do not necessarily accord with Petrarch, and therefore I posit a direct connection between them.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
