Michelangelo on Parnassus: The Reception of the Poems Among Writers

Abstract

Michelangelo wrote the Poems to directly confront themes to which as an artist he could not give the type of expression that he wished. To do so, he chose harsh language, which was distant from the transparent idiom of the Cinquecento. Critics have generally been cautious, often hostile, toward his ‘second trade’. By contrast, writers, appreciating their quality, have greeted his poems in a completely different manner. This book presents an original investigation of the relationship of a variety of authors (Varchi, Aretino, Foscolo, Wordsworth, Stendhal, Mann, Montale, Morante and others) with Buonarroti’s verse. Through close analysis of the texts, it shows why Michelangelo should hold a more noble position on Parnassus than that which historiography has hitherto granted him.