Pietro Bembo Critical Essay | Critical Essay by William J. Kennedy

Critical Essay by William J. Kennedy

SOURCE: Kennedy, William J. “Authorizing Petrarch in Italy.” In Authorizing Petrarch, pp. 82-113. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1994.

In the following essay, Kennedy discusses Bembo's analysis of Petrarch's poetry in the Prose della volgar lingua and then examines Bembo's application of Petrarchism in his own poetry.

Authorizing Petrarch's Language: Pietro Bembo's Prose Della Volgar Lingua

Pietro Bembo (1470-1547) could deem himself a citizen of all Italy. As son of the patrician Venetian ambassador Bernardo Bembo, he spent part of his youth in the embassies of Florence (1475-76, 1481-83), Rome (1487-88), and Bergamo (1489-90).¹ As a young adult he studied Greek with Constantine Lascaris at Messina (1492-94). In 1497-99 and 1502-3 he lived at the court of Alfonso d'Este in Ferrara, where he pursued a celebrated love affair with Lucrezia Borgia, and in 1506-12 he lived at the court of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro in Urbino, where he participated in the discussions recorded in Castiglione's Book of the Courtier. From...
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