Images related to nature in the poetics of the Sicilian school

Abstract

The Sicilian school which developed at the court of Frederick II represents the first great attempt at a meditated and self-conscious Italian artistic lyricism that was cultivated for spiritual delight. In it there are motifs and themes inspired by Provençal poetics and lyric culture, which is its most direct precedent, albeit with substantial differences. The figure of the poet is no longer a professional but is rather often an official who exercises legal and administrative duties at the court and who devotes himself to poetry for pure spiritual exercise and pleasure. Sicilian poetry is more abstract than Provençal poetry; often the figure of the beloved woman appears less precise, being only hinted at, and often the lyrical fulcrum is represented by a reflection on the phenomenology of love and an intellectualization of the experience of love. Already present in Provençal poetry, the motif of nature in Sicilian poetry is developed in a broader and more in-depth way, reaching nuances and particularities that are difficult to find elsewhere. This article aims to show and analyse a whole series of images related to the world of nature present in many of the works of the Sicilian school. The scope of the article concentrates on “known” poets who were mostly Sicilian by birth, leaving out compositions attributed to anonymous and “non-island” authors.