Gabriello Chiabrera
FREE Catholic Classes
A poet, born at Savona, Italy, 8 June, 1552, died there 1638. When nine years of age he went to Rome to live with an uncle and there received his early education. He attended lectures on philosophy at Jesuits' College until his twentieth year. When a youth at Rome, he was on familiar terms with the learned men of the day, and favours came to him unsought from the Dukes of Savoy, Mantua, and Florence, Pope Urban VIII and the Republic of Genoa. He spent most of his time in Florence and Genoa. When fifty years of age he married. He is said to have written this distich to be inscribed over his tomb :
Amico,Io vivendo cervava il conforto per lo Monte Pernasso.
Tu meglio consigliato, fa di cercarlo sul Monte Calvario.
Chiabrera and G. Marini were the greatest lyric poets of the century. Chiabrera especially was a devoted student of the Greeks and is often called the Italian Pindar, but Anacreon, Alcaeus, and Horace as well as Pindar, and, of the French poets, Ronsard were his models. He used to say that he strove to follow Columbus in discovering a new world, a new world of poetry, as a reaction against the conventionalities of Petrarchism and the degenerated taste of the century. This reaction led the way for the classical lyric of the eighteenth century. Although he declared himself opposed to the use of rhyme, and even wrote some of his longer poems unrhymed, many of his poems show that he was master of it; he even introduced some new metres into ltalian verse; he seems to have preferred short lines and some of his poems are in the form of the Pindaric ode, with strophe, antistrophe, and epode. On the whole, his poems are marked by splendid epithets, beautiful images, grace of form, richness of rhyme, yet, in spite of all that, they seern exaggerated and cold. All that he wrote was done with exactness, but it is only his lyrics that are read today. Less known are his five long heroic poems. He left, besides, a dozen dramatic works in verse and eulogies and dialogues in prose.
Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.
-
Mysteries of the Rosary
-
St. Faustina Kowalska
-
Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary
-
Saint of the Day for Wednesday, Oct 4th, 2023
-
Popular Saints
-
St. Francis of Assisi
-
Bible
-
Female / Women Saints
-
7 Morning Prayers you need to get your day started with God
-
Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Sacrifices of Faith: The Pro-Life Legacies of St. Gianna and Jessica Hanna
-
How to love God by caring for our bodies
-
Pope Francis calls for negotiations to End Russia-Ukraine War
-
Pope Francis Contemplates Return to U.S. for United Nations Assembly Address
-
Pope Francis Calls on Faithful to Embrace Faith, Hope, and Charity in New Teaching Series
Daily Catholic
- Daily Readings for Monday, April 29, 2024
- St. Catherine of Siena: Saint of the Day for Monday, April 29, 2024
- Prayer for the Dead # 3: Prayer of the Day for Monday, April 29, 2024
- Daily Readings for Sunday, April 28, 2024
- St. Peter Chanel: Saint of the Day for Sunday, April 28, 2024
- Prayer before a Crucifix: Prayer of the Day for Sunday, April 28, 2024
Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.
Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.