Francesco Berni

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Francesco Berni

Francesco Berni (1497/98 – 26 May 1535) was an Italian poet. He is credited for beginning what is now known as "Bernesque poetry", a serio-comedic type of poetry with elements of satire.

Biography

Life

Berni was born 1497 or 1498 in Lamporecchio (Tuscany).

His father Nicolò was a doctor of a long-established Florentine family, but excessively poor. At an early age he was sent to

datary to Clement VII. The duties of his office, for which Berni was in every way unfit, were exceedingly irksome to the poet, who, however, made himself celebrated at Rome as the most witty and inventive of a certain club of literary men, who devoted themselves to light and sparkling effusions.[1]

So strong was the admiration for Berni's verses, that mocking or

Alessandro de Medici, for having refused to poison the duke's cousin, Ippolito de' Medici; but considerable obscurity rests over this story.[1]

Works

Berni stands at the head of Italian comic or burlesque poets. For lightness, sparkling wit, variety of form and fluent diction, his verses are unsurpassed. Perhaps, however, he owes his greatest fame to the recasting (Rifacimento) of

Orlando furioso had directed fresh attention to the older poem, from which it took its characters, and of which it is the continuation. But Boiardo's work, though good in plan, could never have achieved wide popularity on account of the extreme ruggedness of its style.[1]

Berni undertook the revision of the whole poem, avowedly altering no sentiment, removing or adding no incident, but simply giving to each line and

Reformation principles at that time introduced into Italy, and this may explain the bitterness of some remarks of his upon the church. The first edition of the Rifacimento was printed posthumously in 1541, and it has been supposed that a few passages either did not receive the author's final revision, or have been retouched by another hand.[1]

The success of Berni's Rifacimento was so great that the original text by Boiardo fell into oblivion for three centuries. Only in the nineteenth century did Anthony Panizzi discover in the British Museum Library the authentic Orlando Innamorato and publish it. A partial translation of Berni's Orlando was published by W.S. Rose in 1823.

Legacy

Streets in Florence, Empoli, Pietrasanta, Varese and Verona have been named via Francesco Berni after him.

References

Attribution:

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Berni, Francesco". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 802.

External links