Guido Guinizelli , born in Bologna, in present-day Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, was an Italian poet and 'founder' of the Dolce Stil Novo. He was the first to write in this new style of poetry writing, and thus is held to be the ipso facto founder.The famous Florentine poet Dante Alighieri considered himself to be a disciple of Guinizelli:
...quand' io odo nomar sé stesso il padre
mio e de li altri miei miglior che mai
rime d'amor usar dolci e leggiadre...
.The main themes of the Dolce Stil Novo can be found in Guinizelli's Al cor gentil rempaira sempre amore: the angelic beauty of the beloved women, the comparison of nobility to the sun and the rampant use of topoi such as cor gentil and Amore.
Guinizelli's poetry can be briefly described as a conciliation between divine and earthly love with deep psychological introspection. His major works are Al cor gentil rempaira sempre Amore , which Peter Dronke considers "perhaps the most influential love-song of the thirteenth century" , as well as Io vogli[o] del ver la mia donna laudare and Vedut'ho la lucente stella Diana.He died in Monselice near Padua.
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“Look on me! if canst read the signs of love,
Thou’lt see that death is written in my face.”
Sonetto. (Poeti del Primo Secolo, Firenze, 1816, Vol. I, p. 105).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 407.
“The faithful servant shall his guerdon have.”
A buon servente guiderdon non pere.
Sonetto. (Poeti del Primo Secolo, Firenze, 1816, p. 104).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 239.
“Though the sun beat all day upon the mud,
Still foul the mud remains and bright the sun.”
Fere lo sol lo fango tutto ’l giorno;
Vil riman, ne il sol perde colore.
Canzone. (Poeti del Primo Secolo, Firenze, 1816, p. 92).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 302.
(Che) nessuna scienza
Senz’ ammaestratura
Non saglie in grande altura
Per proprio sentimento.
Canzone. (Poeti del Primo Secolo, Firenze, 1816, Vol. I, p. 83).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 369.
