Juan Boscan’s Letter to the Duchess of Soma

Juan Boscan is a significant Catalan lyric poet who was at the court of Charles V and was considered the best student of Siculo and Varini. The latter were teachers of Latin culture in the family of the Dukes of Alba. Subsequently, Juan Boscan himself became a mentor to the Duke of Alba and improved his excellent knowledge of Italian during numerous trips to Italy.

In 1526, the poet attended the marriage ceremony of Emperor Charles V with Princess Isabella of Portugal in Seville. From there, the entire motorcade moved to Granada with its gardens and palaces. Here, the acquaintance of Boscan with the Venetian ambassador, poet, philologist, and great connoisseur of the classic, Andrea Navagero, took place. He was a man of firm principles and solid beliefs. There was a conversation at the Venetian embassy of Granada, as a result of which Boscan started pursuing the goal of imitating Italian sonnets in Spanish. On the way home, Boscan wrote the famous letter to the Duchess of Soma, where he reproduced the dialogue with the Venetian ambassador. The latter suggested Boscan to try to apply in Spanish the techniques widely used by famous Italian poets in ballads and sonnets. Boscan wrote about this idea to his long-time close friend, the poet Garcilaso de la Vega, who was also inclined to try his pen in Italian meters. Then, the exercises of the two poets in the new versification and their mutual praise took place.

Thus, the letter declares the beginning of the implementation of Italian poetic forms into the Spanish ones. Boscan carefully thought over and correctly presented to the connoisseurs of Spanish poetry certain elements of Italian poetry, for example, the free line and the Italian royal octave. These became the favorite form of all the epic poets of Spain during the Renaissance. It might be concluded that the letter constitutes an explanation of a new lyrical style by quoting Navagero’s suggestion that was applied in practice further.

Cite this paper

Select style

Reference

StudyCorgi. (2022, April 18). Juan Boscan’s Letter to the Duchess of Soma. https://studycorgi.com/juan-boscans-letter-to-the-duchess-of-soma/

Work Cited

"Juan Boscan’s Letter to the Duchess of Soma." StudyCorgi, 18 Apr. 2022, studycorgi.com/juan-boscans-letter-to-the-duchess-of-soma/.

* Hyperlink the URL after pasting it to your document

References

StudyCorgi. (2022) 'Juan Boscan’s Letter to the Duchess of Soma'. 18 April.

1. StudyCorgi. "Juan Boscan’s Letter to the Duchess of Soma." April 18, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/juan-boscans-letter-to-the-duchess-of-soma/.


Bibliography


StudyCorgi. "Juan Boscan’s Letter to the Duchess of Soma." April 18, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/juan-boscans-letter-to-the-duchess-of-soma/.

References

StudyCorgi. 2022. "Juan Boscan’s Letter to the Duchess of Soma." April 18, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/juan-boscans-letter-to-the-duchess-of-soma/.

This paper, “Juan Boscan’s Letter to the Duchess of Soma”, was written and voluntary submitted to our free essay database by a straight-A student. Please ensure you properly reference the paper if you're using it to write your assignment.

Before publication, the StudyCorgi editorial team proofread and checked the paper to make sure it meets the highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, fact accuracy, copyright issues, and inclusive language. Last updated: .

If you are the author of this paper and no longer wish to have it published on StudyCorgi, request the removal. Please use the “Donate your paper” form to submit an essay.