In the following essay, Dunne contrasts three views of the character of Sordello—as revealed by a Provençal chronicler, by Dante in his Purgatorio, and by Browning in his poem Sordello—proposing that "the real Sordello lives in no one of the three."

In the following essay, Barolini attempts to illuminate Sordello's stature in Dante's Purgatorio by comparing his position with that of another figure in the work, Provençal troubadour Bertran de Born.

Bowra, an English critic and literary historian, was considered among the foremost classical scholars of the first half of the twentieth century. He also wrote extensively on modern literature, particularly modern European poetry, in studies noted for their erudition, lucidity, and straightforward style. In the following essay, he argues against the theory that Dante, by placing Sordello in Purgatory, characterized the troubadour as among the negligent rulers. Proposing that Sordello's placement in ...

Makin is an educator and Pound scholar. In the following excerpt, he discusses the content, style, and language of Sordello's poetry, and examines the influence of his life and works on Pound's early verse and his Cantos.

In the following excerpt from his full-length study of the troubadour, Benson addresses the theory of two Sordellos: one a noble public figure and the other a reckless adventurer and lover. He suggests that Sordello's varied life might be understood as representative of one who abandons the passions of youth for the dignity of adulthood.

Regarded as one of the twentieth-century's most influential American poets and critics, Pound is chiefly renowned for his ambitious poetry cycle, the Cantos, which he revised and enlarged throughout much of his life. These poems are significant for their lyrical intensity, metrical experimentation, literary allusions, varied subject matter and verse forms, and incorporation of phrases from foreign languages. An avid student of politics and history, Pound was particularly interested in the poetry of ...

Dante is perhaps the most famous poet of the Middle Ages. An accomplished prose and verse stylist in both Latin and Italian, he was the first major author to compose literature in the Italian vernacular. His most famous work is the Commedia (c. 1320), later known as the Divina Commedia, which consists of three sections: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paridiso, and details Dante's journey through the locales of medieval theology. In the following excerpt from the Purgatorio (c. 1307-20), Dante and Vergil e...

Wilhelm is an American medievalist and Pound scholar. In the following excerpt from his introduction to The Poetry of Sordello, he speculates that Dante was inspired by the vitality and variety he found in Sordello's works, as evidenced in the invective satire of the troubadour's sirventes, the political diatribe of his "Lament for Lord Blacatz," and the skepticism of his debate poems. Wilhelm also addresses the pronounced influence of Sordello on later poets, including Browning...

The following is an excerpt from an article by Dall first published in a periodical in 1872. She summarizes the disparate chronicles of Sordello's life and speculates that perhaps two interpretations of the troubadour's character existed: one as a singer only and the other as a warrior and thinker. Dall also assesses the poet's writings, finding that "the best of Sordello's verses show a dignity of composition and purity of taste which put him in the very front rank of th...

In the following excerpt, Chaytor outlines Sordello's biographical history and explores Dante's significant inclusion of the poet in the Purgatorio and De Vulgari Eloquentia, finding that "there is no necessity whatever … to imagine that two separate Sordellos are mentioned."

In the following excerpt, Farnell attests to the significance of Sordello, citing the high esteem in which Dante held the poet as well as the energy and vitality of the poet's major works. Of these, the critic contends that "Lament for Lord Blacatz" demonstrates "originality and force."