CHAPTER IV.. The Discovery of Man.--Spiritual Description in Poetry.

THE DISCOVERY OF MAN.--SPIRITUAL DESCRIPTION IN POETRY.

Popular psychological ground-work. The temperaments 309

Value of unrhymed poetry 310

Value of the Sonnet 310

Dante and the ‘Vita Nuova’ 312

The ‘Divine Comedy’ 312

Petrarch as a painter of the soul 314

Boccaccio and the Fiammetta 315

Feeble development of tragedy 315

Scenic splendour, the enemy of the drama 316

The intermezzo and the ballet 317

Comedies and masques 320

Compensation afforded by music 321

Epic romances 321

Necessary subordination of the descriptions of character 323

Pulci and Bojardo 323

Inner law of their compositions 324

Ariosto and his style 325

Folengo and parody 326

Contrast offered by Tasso 327