HUM 201 MAJOR WORKS OF LITERATURE

Humanism

N. Zeynep Yelçe, November 1, 2022

 POETRY EPIC DRAMA

2100 1800 1200 800 0 300

POETRY PROSE
DRAMA
NOVELLA STORY

300 0 1300

Polytheism

Monotheism

Scholasticism

Humanism
 The Liberal Arts

grammar
rhetoric
the trivium
logic

arithmetic
geometry
music the quadrivium

astronomy

Septem artes liberales from "Hortus deliciarum" by

Herrad von Landsberg (about 1180)
 The Liberal Arts Studias Humanitatis
“studies of humanity”
grammar
rhetoric the trivium grammar
logic
rhetoric
poetry
arithmetic
history
geometry
the quadrivium moral philosophy
music
ancient Greek and Latin studies
astronomy

The Renaissance
Early Modern Era
 A basic timeline of Middle Ages (AD)

University of Naples The Plague

University of Bologna (1269) (Black Death)
(1088) Law
Law

Introduction of
Aristotle’s texts

800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400

Urban Dante (d. 1321)

Development Boccaccio (d. 1375 )

Charlemagne University of Paris Petrarch (d. 1374)

crowned Emperor (1150)
Liberal Arts &
Theology
 The Worldly
and
The Heavenly

Santa Maria Novella, Florence Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres

1279-1360, Italy 1194-1220, France

 HUMANISM

Dante Aleghieri
c. 1265 – 1321
The Divine Comedy: Inferno

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)

1304 – 1374
Canzoniere

“my famous teacher… to whom I owe all

that I am worth” (letter dated 1372)

Giovanni Boccaccio
1313 – 1375
The Decameron

Hieronymus Cock, 1548-1570

 HUMANISM

Classicism
recovering the classics
admiration of Antiquity

Aristotle, Cicero, Virgil, Livy, Horace…

Human reason (Antiquity)

to be reconciled with
Divine Revelation (Scripture)

Hieronymus Cock, 1548-1570

 Admiration of and Longing for the Antiquity

“As we all read and know, there was a time, there was an age, that was happier
for poets,

an age when they were held in the highest honor,

first in Greece and then in Italy,

and especially when Caesar Augustus held imperial sway,

under whom there flourished excellent poets, Virgil, Varus, Ovid, Horace, and
many others.”

from Petrarch’s Coronation Oration, 1341

Parnassus, Raphael, Stanza della Segnatura,
1510-1511 Vatican, Rome

Petrarca Homer Dante Virgil Boccaccio Ovid

 HUMANISM

the emergence of the individual

endorsement of individual genius

self-knowledge
moral autonomy
critical inquiry

“the combination of Classical learning with

apt expression in the vernacular”
(Brunetto Latino)

Hieronymus Cock, 1548-1570

 “illustrious vernacular” (volgare illustre)

as opposed to Latin (language of the Church)

“This will be new light, a new sun, which will rise where the old one sets and will
give light to those who are in darkness and in shadow because of the worn out
sun that does not shine for them.”

Dante, Convivio I, xiii

Civic liberty and Dante Alighieri

c. 1313 De monarchia (On Monarchy)

a tract of medieval political philosophy,
first step to “doctrine of the separation of church and state”

c. 1304–07 De vulgari eloquentia (On Vernacular Eloquence)

a landmark in the development of modern languages

c. 1304–07 Convivio (The Banquet)

“As the Philosopher says at the beginning of the First Philosophy,
all men by nature desire to know.”
 Dante Alighieri
The Divine Comedy (Divina commedia)

c. 1450, British Library

illuminated manuscript
produced for Alfonso V,
king of Aragon, Naples and Sicily

composed between 1308-1320

first published in 1472

an allegory:
an extended metaphor in which everything
in the poem is equated with something
outside it
Grant L. Voth, The History of World Literature , 2007
La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy), 1308-1320
Dante Aleghieri (c. 1265 – 1321)

Yaş otuz beş! Yolun yarısı eder.

Dante gibi ortasındayız ömrün.
Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı, "Otuz Beş Yaş", 1946

1300 imaginary date of the poem

Jubilee Year (proclaimed by Pope Boniface VIII)
1265 Dante’s birth

Midway along the journey of our life

I woke to find myself in a dark wood,
for I had wandered off from the straight path.
Inferno, I:1-3
 midway along the journey of our life

human life = a “new and never before traveled path” (Convivio 4.12.15)

regulation of desire by reason = the mean = mezzo

“in medio stat virtus” = virtue stands in the middle

the Aristotelian idea of virtue as the mean

Nicomachean Ethics
the story of a journey through the Christian “after-life”

Dante-protagonist (Pilgrim)
Dante-poet

“The protagonist is the voyaging-self within the fiction, as described by

the writing poet.” (T. Barolini)

Reason Virgil

Divine Love
Divine Light Beatrice
Salvation
 Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), 1304– 1374

Giorgio Vasari, 1544 Hieronymus Cock, 1548-1570

Minneapolis Institute of Art British Museum

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), 1304– 1374

the “barbaric” influence of medieval

tradition
 Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), 1304– 1374
Canzoniere

366 poems
a poem for each day of the year + a final prayer

mostly sonnets = fourteen-line poems of iambic pentameter

abbaabba cdecde or cdcdcd rhyme scheme

influence of Laura on Petrarch

 Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), 1304– 1374
Canzoniere

Laura, famous for her own virtues, and so long celebrated in my verses, was first seen
by me in my early youth, in the year of our Lord 1327, on the sixth of April, in the
Church of Saint Clare at Avignon, in the morning hour: and that light was taken from
daylight in the same city, in the same month, on the same sixth day, in the same first
morning hour, but in the year 1348, when I chanced to be in Verona, sadly unaware of
my fate.

Added by Petrarch to his copy of Virgil

Laura died in 1348 due to the plague (Black Death)

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375)
Il Decamerone
1349-1352

entertainment

morals

criticizing clergy
HUMANISM

“Umana cosa è...” (“It is a human thing…”)

To take pity on people in distress is a

human quality which every man and
woman should possess, but it is especially
requisite in those who have once needed
comfort, and found it in others.

Boccaccio’s opening lines to the

Decameron
Comincia il libro chiamato Decameron Cogniominato Principe Galeotto nelquale si contengono cento
nouelle in diecj di dette da sette done e da tre giounj huomini. Proemio.

Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron, 1370, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Ms. Ham. 90

The Plague

Something is rotten in the city state of Florence?

What is it?
 Black Death (Bubonic Plague), 1348

I say, then, that the sum of thirteen hundred and forty-eight years had elapsed since the
fruitful Incarnation of the Son of God, when the noble city of Florence, which for its
great beauty excels all others in Italy, was visited by the deadly pestilence.

The Decameron, c. 1414. Bibiliothèque nationale de France.

 Black Death (Bubonic Plague), 1348

Some say that it descended upon the human race

through the influence of the heavenly bodies,

others that it was a punishment signifying God’s

righteous anger at our iniquitous way of life.

But whatever its cause, it had originated some years

earlier in the East, where it had claimed countless lives
before it unhappily spread westward, growing in
strength as it swept relentlessly on from one place to
the next.
“a punishment signifying God’s righteous anger at our iniquitous way of life” ?

26.05.2020

15.05.2020

27.03.2020
 Black Death (Bubonic Plague), 1348

In the face of its onrush, all the wisdom and ingenuity of man were unavailing.
Large quantities of refuse were cleared out of the city by officials specially
appointed for the purpose, all sick persons were forbidden entry, and numerous
instructions were issued for safeguarding the people’s health, but all to no avail.

Nor were the countless petitions humbly directed to God by the pious, whether
by means of formal processions or in all other ways, any less ineffectual.

For in the early spring of the year we have mentioned, the plague began, in a
terrifying and extraordinary manner, to make its disastrous effects apparent.
Taddeo Crivelli 1467
Bodelian Library

“… one Tuesday morning (or so I was told by a person whose word can be trusted) seven young ladies
were to be found in the venerable church of Santa Maria Novella, which was otherwise almost deserted.”
Boccacio and Florentines
fleeing the plague

1485

Koninklijke Bibliotheek
 Fiesole
Villa Palmieri ?

Villa Salviati
 Brigata

1. Pampinea
5. Fiammetta
2. Filomena
9. Emilia
8. Lauretta
3. Neifile
6. Elissa

10. Panfilo
4. Filostrato
7. Dioneo

Decameron (15th century), Bodelian Library

 Day 1
frame story

10 stories/day

10 days

100 stories

novella

“literary prose”

progression from

the tales of vice in the First Day

to

the tales of virtue in the Tenth Decameron (London: William Pickering, 1825)
 THE PLAGUE (Context)

Florentine Brigata (Frame)

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10

S1 S1 S1 S1 S1 S1 S1 S1 S1 S1

S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2 S2

S3 S3 S3 S3 S3 S3 S3 S3 S3 S3

S4 S4 S4 S4 S4 S4 S4 S4 S4 S4

S5 S5 S5 S5 S5 S5 S5 S5 S5 S5

S6 S6 S6 S6 S6 S6 S6 S6 S6 S6

S7 S7 S7 S7 S7 S7 S7 S7 S7 S7

S8 S8 S8 S8 S8 S8 S8 S8 S8 S8

S9 S9 S9 S9 S9 S9 S9 S9 S9 S9

S10 S10 S10 S10 S10 S10 S10 S10 S10 S10
 Day 3 Day 4

King: Filostrato
Queen: Neifile
Narrator: Fiametta
Narrator: Filostrato
 1. Pampinea Subjects freely chosen
2. Filomena Happiness attained after misfortunes
3. Neifile Difficult goals attained, lost things found
4. Filostrato Love stories with unhappy endings
5. Fiammetta Love stories ending happily after misfortunes
6. Elissa Intelligence preventing danger, ridicule, and discomfort
7. Dioneo Tricks played by wives on husbands
8. Lauretta Tricks played by men and women on each other
9. Emilia Subjects freely chosen
10. Panfilo Acquiring fame through generous deeds

Day 5 Decameron (London: William Pickering, 1825) Day 9

 Daily Structure

Brief explanation of the theme of the day

Beginning of and introduction to the day
Stories
Heading summarizing the story
Brief comment
The tale
Comments
Plans for the next day
A song
End of the day

Day 2
Queen: Filomena
Narrator
 Daily Structure

Brief explanation of the theme of the day

Here begins the Second Day, wherein, under the rule of Filomena, the discussion turns
upon those who after suffering a series of misfortunes are brought to a state of
unexpected happiness.

Beginning of and introduction to the day

The sun, having already ushered in the new day, was
casting its light into every corner… as their queen
had requested, they came to the little green
meadow, where they seated themselves in a circle
around her. She, looking most shapely and
attractive, sat there with her laurel crown on her
head, gazing in turn at each of her companions, and
eventually she requested Neifile to open the day’s
proceedings by telling the first story. Day 2
Queen: Filomena
 Daily Structure

Second Story
Rinaldo d’Asti is robbed, turns up at Castel Guiglielmo, and is provided with hospitality
by a widow. Then, having recovered his belongings, he returns home safe and sound.

Neifile’s account of Martellino’s adventures brought

gales of laughter from the ladies and the young men,

especially Filostrato, who, being seated next to

Neifile, was bidden by the queen to tell the next
story. He began straightway, as follows:

Day 2
Queen: Filomena
Narrator: Filostrato
 Daily Structure
Second Story
Fair ladies, the story that takes my fancy is one
that contains a judicious mixture of piety,
calamity and love. Possibly it has no more to
recommend it than its usefulness, but it will be
especially helpful to people wandering through
the uncertain territories of love, where those
who have not made a regular habit of saying
Saint Julian’s paternoster, even though they
have good beds, may find themselves
uncomfortably lodged.

During the reign of the Marquis Azzo of Ferrara, a merchant whose name was Rinaldo
d’Asti was returning home after dispatching certain business in Bologna. He had
already passed through Ferrara, and was riding towards Verona, when he fell in with
three men who, though they had the appearance of merchants, were in fact brigands
of a particularly desperate and disreputable sort.
 Daily Structure

Second Story
Rinaldo d’Asti is robbed, turns up at Castel Guiglielmo, and is provided with hospitality
by a widow. Then, having recovered his belongings, he returns home safe and sound.

Conversing with the three men about prayers

Gets robbed
Takes refuge under a house
Lady of the house ready for her lover
Lover called away by emergency
Lady feels sorry for Rinaldo and lets him in
Bath, food, and a pleasant night with the lady

They arose as soon as dawn began to break, for the lady was anxious not to give cause
for scandal. Having provided him with some very old clothes and filled his purse with
money…
 Daily Structure
Second Story
As soon as it was broad day and the gates were
Day 2
opened, he entered the castle, giving the impression
Queen: Filomena
he was arriving from a distance, and rooted out his
Narrator: Filostrato
servant. Having changed into the clothes that were in
his portmanteau, he was about to mount his
servant’s horse, when as if by some divine miracle
the three brigands were brought into the castle, after
being arrested for another crime they had committed
shortly after robbing him on the previous evening.
They had made a voluntary confession, and
consequently Rinaldo’s horse, clothing and money
were restored to him, and all he lost was a pair of
garters, which the robbers were unable to account
for.
Thus it was that Rinaldo, giving thanks to God and Saint Julian, mounted his horse and
returned home safe and sound, whilst the three robbers went next day to dangle their
heels in the north wind.
 Daily Structure
Second Story
(Comments on the second story at the beginning of the third story)

The whole company, men and ladies alike, listened

with admiration to the adventures of Rinaldo d’Asti,
commending his piety and giving thanks to God and
Saint Julian, who had come to his rescue in the hour
of his greatest need. Nor, moreover, was the lady
considered to have acted foolishly (even though
nobody openly said so) for the way she had accepted
the blessing that God had left on her doorstep.

And while everyone was busy talking, with half suppressed mirth, about the pleasant
night the lady had spent, Pampinea, finding herself next to Filostrato and realizing rightly
that it would be her turn to speak next, collected her thoughts together and started
planning what to say.
 Daily Structure
Second Story
(Comments on the second story at the beginning of the third story)

And while everyone was busy talking, with half

suppressed mirth, about the pleasant night the lady
had spent, Pampinea, finding herself next to
Filostrato and realizing rightly that it would be her
turn to speak next, collected her thoughts together
and started planning what to say.
 Daily Structure
Comments and plans for the next day
This story threw the whole company into such fits of
laughter that there was none of them whose jaws
were not aching, and the ladies unanimously agreed
that Dioneo was right and that Bernabò had been an
ass.
But now that the tale was ended, the queen waited
for the laughter to subside, and then, seeing that it
was late and everyone had told a story, and realizing
that her reign had come to an end, she removed the Day 2
garland from her own head in the usual way, and, Queen: Filomena
placing it on Neifile’s, she said to her with a laugh:

‘Dear sister, I do hereby pronounce you sovereign of our tiny nation.’

 Daily Structure
Comments and plans for the next day
‘I have no wish to depart from the excellent ways of my predecessors, of whose
government you have shown your approval by your obedience. But since I really
am your queen, I shall acquaint you briefly with my own proposals, and if they
meet with your consent we shall carry them into effect…

our theme should be the following:

People who by dint of their own efforts have achieved an object they greatly
desired or recovered a thing previously lost.

Let each of us, therefore, think of something useful, or at least amusing, to say to
the company on this topic, due allowance being made for Dioneo’s privilege.’
 Daily Structure
A song
‘Come, Love, the cause of all my joy,
Of all my hope and happiness,
Come let us sing together:
…
And this my greatest pleasure is:
That he loves me with equal fire,
Cupid, all thanks to thee;
Within this world I have my bliss
And I may in the next, entire,
I love so faithfully,
If God who sees us from above
Will grant this boon upon our love.’
End of the day
When this song was finished, they sang
a number of others, dances many
dances and played several tunes.
But eventually the queen decided it
was time for them to go to bed, and
they all retired to their respective
rooms, carrying torches to light them
on their way.
Here ends the Second Day of the
Decameron
 Day 1
Day 1 / Fourth Story

told by Dioneo

“A monk, having committed a sin deserving

of very severe punishment, escapes the
consequences by politely reproaching his
abbot with the very same fault”

Decameron (London: William Pickering, 1825)

 Day 1
Day 1 / Fourth Story

told by Dioneo

“Sir, I have not yet been long enough in the

Order of Saint Benedict to have had a
chance of acquainting myself with all its
special features, and you had failed until
just now to show me that monks have
women to support, as well as fasts and
vigils. But now that you have pointed this
out, I promise that if you will forgive me just
this once, I will never again commit the
same error. On the contrary, I shall always
follow your good example”

Decameron (London: William Pickering, 1825)

Index Avctorvm, Et Libroru[m], Rome, 1559
 Il Decamerone
Florence: Giunti, 1573
Marco Dotto’s notes (17th century)
3rd day, 1st story
 AUTHOR’S EPILOGUE

“There will perhaps be those among you who will say that in writing these stories
I have taken too many liberties, in that I have sometimes caused ladies to say,
and very often to hear, things which are not very suitable to be heard or said by
virtuous women.

This I deny, for no story is so unseemly as to prevent anyone from telling it,
provided it is told in seemly language; and this I believe I may reasonably claim
to have done.”
 AUTHOR’S EPILOGUE

And now I shall leave each lady to say and

believe whatever she may please, for the
time has come for me to bring all words to
an end, and offer my humble thanks to Him
who assisted me in my protracted labour
and conveyed me to the goal I desired.

May His grace and peace, sweet ladies,

remain with you always, and if perchance
these stories should bring you any profit,
remember me.

Andrea del Castagno, Giovanni Boccaccio, c. 1450,

Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence