Chiara Matraini (1515–1604) was an Italian
Renaissance writer from
Lucca. Primarily known for her love poetry, composed in the style of
Petrarch, she also authored a number of spiritual prose and verse texts. Matraini wrote throughout her long life, publishing her last text, the ''Dialoghi spirituali'' (1602), when she was well into her 80s. Her many projects included genres that were uncommon for women writers of her time, such as an oration on the art of war, a translation from Latin to vernacular, and several didactic religious texts. Matraini's writing demonstrates an eagerness to compose in an authoritative voice.
Her father died soon after she was born, she was entrusted to the care of her uncle until she was married to Vincenzo Cantarini, with whom she had one son.
/about/ University of Chicago Italian Women Writers
/ref> Her husband's early death apparently facilitated her active literary life. Her literary contacts included Benedetto Varchi
Benedetto Varchi (; 1502/15031565) was an Italian humanist, historian, and poet.
Biography
Born in Florence to a family that had originated at Montevarchi, he frequented the neoplatonic academy that Bernardo Rucellai organized in his garden, the ...
and Lodovico Domenichi
Lodovico Domenichi (1515–1564) was an Italian translator.
Biography
Lodovico Domenichi was born in Piacenza (Italy) in 1515. After studying Law at the University of Padua, he pursued a literary career. He lived in Piacenza, Venice and Florence ...
.
Selected works
*''Rime et prose'', Lucca, Busdraghi, 1555.
*''Orazione d'Isocrate'', Florence, Torrentino, 1556.
*''Meditationi spirituali'', Lucca, Busdraghi, 1581.
*''Lettere di madonna Chiara Matraini... con la prima e seconda parte delle sue rime'', Venice, Nicolò Moretti, 1597.
*''Dialoghi spirituali'', Venice, Prati, 1602.
*''Rime e lettere,'' edited by Giovanna Rabitti, Bologna, 1989.
*''Brief discourse on the life and praises of the most blessed Virgin'', in ''Who is Mary?'', edited and translated by Susan Haskins, Chicago, 2008.
*''Selected Poetry and Prose'', edited and translated by Elaine Maclachlan, Chicago, 2008.
References
External links
*
See also
*Renaissance Literature
Renaissance literature refers to European literature which was influenced by the intellectual and cultural tendencies associated with the Renaissance. The literature of the Renaissance was written within the general movement of the Renaissance, ...
* 16th century in poetry
Works published
* Hamzah Fansuri writes in the Malay language.
* The compilation of Romances de los Señores de Nueva España, a collection of Aztec poetry (including pre-Columbian works).
Births and deaths
England
* John Skelton (c. 1460–152 ...
* 16th century in literature
This article presents lists of literary events and publications in the 16th century.
Events
1501
**Italic type (cut by Francesco Griffo) is first used by Aldus Manutius at the Aldine Press in Venice, in an octavo edition of Virgil's ''Aeneid'' ...
1515 births
1604 deaths
Italian women poets
16th-century Italian women writers
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