Charles Fantazzi, “The Style of Quattrocento Latin Love Poetry,” IJCT 3 (1996-1997), pp. 127-146.

There was a great output of Latin love poetry by the Italian poets of the Quattrocentro who also wrote vernacular love poems. In this production the interplay and even symbiosis of the two poetic languages is of great philological and esthetic interest. To illustrate this form of poetry I have chosen two early Latin lyrics of Poliziano, one more definitely within the Roman tradition and the other with more obvious affinities to vernacular love poetry, as examples of the fusion of styles and vocabulary characteristic of the genre. In so doing, the skillful adaptation of poetic currency from various periods of Latin and Italian literature will become apparent, from the classical love poets to the dolce stil novo, Petrarch, and Poliziano’s own Italian poetry. In particular, these two Latin lyrics will be compared to vernacular lyrics of Lorenzo de’ Medici on the same themes.