Education of court poets o exposed to more knowledge

Education of court poets
o Exposed to more knowledge than most courts at time
 Central figure of poets:
o Frederick II, Stupor Mundi
o Rights a little poetry
 Arab Poets
 Ibn Hamdis c. 1056-1133 (Siqilliyyat)
o Normans conquer homeland of Sicily
o Left Sicily after Norman takeover
 "Driven out of paradise"
o youthful spirit under Arab rule, remembering homeland
o He is sad that Sicily is no longer an Arab nation
o Beauty and strength
o Normans are the enemy
o Arabs used to be powerful like lions, but jackals (Normans) takeover
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 Khamriyya - wine song
 Ghazal - love poetry
o Terminal disease
Arab Worksheet questions: (refer to worksheet for questions)
 Abu Musa, Al-Buthayri, Abu Hafs, Al-Idrisi, and Ibn Bashrun
o References Norman conquest
o Abu Hafs wrote favorable poems to get out of jail
o Generally, to ensure favorability and relevance
o Praise Roger the 2 nd
 Enjoys Arabic culture, gardens, fountains
o Al-Idrisi – silver sphere
 La Scuola Siciliana "The Sicilian School"
o Magna Curia of Frederick II
o Mid 13th century
o First national literary movement in Italy
 First vernacular Italian poetry
o Vernacular - language spoken by people, not the language of official documents (Latin) and the
basis for modern Italian language
o Most intense period of production was 1230-1240
 Troubadoric tradition
o Troubadours - French courtly entertainers, singers of Provençal love poetry, primarily oral
tradition
o Provencal
 11th-12th century
 Derives metrics, rhetoric, imagery from Latin sources
 Derives notions of service & secret love from Arabic sources
 Derives spiritualization of passion from both cultures
 Love - humble and unrewarded service to a lady worshipped from afar
 Earthly love has higher, spiritual purpose
 Relationship of lover to beloved = analogous to feudal relationship of oath and
obligation Aka courtly love
 Fin amor;
o Woman seen as feudal lord
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o Poet / lover seen as vassal / subject
o Disproportion of affection and desire
o Poet is elevated in spirit by the beloved, but never at the same level as the beloved
 Verse forms
o Canso - later canzone; love song
o Tenso - later tenzone; poetic discussion
 Poets employed in Frederick II's court
o Open education based society
o Modern / secular court
 Frederick II founds University of Naples 1224
o Secular & classical teaching producing lawyers and administrators for the king's court
o 14 th century
 Sicilian love poetry
o Maintains tropes and metaphors of courtly love poetry but abstracts relationship (philosophy)
and its players
o Focus on natural phenomenon of love - "Science of love"
o Many poems about nature of love, its physical effects and processes
o Love becomes focus rather than the beloved
 Aristotle's de generatione et corruzione
o Direct contrast to Catholic church
o Concepts that govern relationship of poet to beloved
o Man = materia & governed by the laws of matter and subjects to the forces of celestial bodies;
man does not act on free will, but is acted upon
o