Šiško Menčetić
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Šišmundo Menčetić ( it, Sigismondo Menze), known simply as Šiško Menčetić (; 1457–1527) was a poet from Ragusa, chiefly creating his opus in the 15th century.


Biography

Menčetić was born in 1458 in the city of
Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...
(today's
Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...
),
Republic of Ragusa hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world" , population_estimate = 90 000 in the XVI Century , currency = ...
, part of the aristocratic family of Menčetić, as the son of Šimun Menčetić and his wife, Veronika Đurđević. He spent his youth ribald and dissolute; his name is often mentioned in law documents of the Dubrovnik archive. He was charged in court due to incidents on city streets including the harassment of women. He served as an official in the Dubrovnik government in various positions; as a twenty-year-old he entered the Ragusan Small Council, and twice (in 1521 and 1524), he was the Duke of the Republic of Ragusa. Menčetić married in 1497 when he was 40. He died, with two of his sons, on June 25, 1527, in a major outbreak of the
plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...
.


Writings


Influences

Menčetić belongs to the first generation of Croatian lyrical poets, and most of his poems (512) have been preserved in Ranjina's Miscellany, in which he is the most represented poet. As opposed to
Džore Držić Džore Držić (; Italian: ''Giorgio Darsa'') (February 6, 1461 – September 26, 1501) was a poet and playwright, one of the fathers of Croatian literature. This respectable citizen of Dubrovnik, the uncle of the greatest Croatian playwright Mari ...
, Menčetić's opus contains longer lyrical narratives, and lyrical subject is more immediate, vigorous, lascivious and eroticized, and the topic of and the sensuality of reciprocated love is emphasized. The most distinguished role model is
Francesco Petrarca Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...
, and that makes Menčetić, beside
Džore Držić Džore Držić (; Italian: ''Giorgio Darsa'') (February 6, 1461 – September 26, 1501) was a poet and playwright, one of the fathers of Croatian literature. This respectable citizen of Dubrovnik, the uncle of the greatest Croatian playwright Mari ...
, the first Croatian Petrarchist. He belonged to the Strambottists, who detached themselves from certain Petrarchan ideas; notable was the absence of
Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonism, Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and Hellenistic religion, religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of ...
s, sensuality came to be accentuated as the poets drew closer to vernacular forms (''strambotto'', ''rispetto''), and
sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...
was being abandoned. Most of the opus thematically inherits Petrarchism though - beauty and the pleasures of the poet's beloved are described, but in several poems Menčetić diverged from classical Petrarchism, celebrating the happiness of a lover whose pleas have been conceded. Beside Petrarchian elements, Menčetić's opus demonstrates clearly discernible elements of
Medieval poetry Poetry took numerous forms in medieval Europe, for example, lyric and epic poetry. The troubadours and the minnesänger are known for their lyric poetry about courtly love. Among the most famous of secular poetry is ''Carmina Burana'', a manuscr ...
, either in terms of the Provençal
troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...
lyric and the motif of servitude, or in terms of lexical influences of German culture (
Minnesang (; "love song") was a tradition of lyric- and song-writing in Germany and Austria that flourished in the Middle High German period. This period of medieval German literature began in the 12th century and continued into the 14th. People who wr ...
). In two of Menčetić's songs lexeme ''frava'' can be found,cit. Davor Dukić which originates from
Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
''frouwe'' (confer
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
''
Frau ''Honorifics'' are words that connote esteem or respect when used in addressing or referring to a person. In the German language, honorifics distinguish people by age, sex, profession, academic achievement, and rank. In the past, a distinction was ...
''):''Goraše svital raj u ličcu toj fravi'' and '' Pjesance, kad budeš na skutu toj fravi''. Also present is the influence of folk motifs well-spread in the Middle Ages, amplified by the influences of Strambottisms, such as the rhyme of the folk song ''Mnokrat reci u sebi rič, koja je ohola'' or in the usage of diminutives (''kladencem vodice''), such as in the song '' Moj Bože, Bože moj, molim te za rados'' and the bugaršćica-type verse, with 15 syllables per line.


Form

Poems are usually versified in doubly rhymed
dodecasyllable Dodecasyllable verse ({{Lang-it, dodecasillabo) is a line of verse with twelve syllables. 12 syllable lines are used in a variety of poetic traditions. Jacob of Serugh (c. 451 – 29 November 521), a Miaphysite Bishop of Batnan da-Srugh, also ...
metre of Dubrovnik typed; dodecasyllabic with intransitive
rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...
and secondary
caesura image:Music-caesura.svg, 300px, An example of a caesura in modern western music notation A caesura (, . caesuras or caesurae; Latin for "cutting"), also written cæsura and cesura, is a Metre (poetry), metrical pause or break in a Verse (poetry), ...
after the third and the ninth syllable, with main caesure after the sixth syllable (e.g. ''Koji čtiš , sej pjesni , , , molim te , veselo''), with the exception of three poems with 15-syllable meter, and the poem ''Isusu na križu'' written in Marulić-style dodecasyllabic with transitive rhyme.


Themes

His poems mostly contain
love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...
motifs, often in
acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the Fre ...
with the names of the women the poems were dedicated to, but there are also a number of
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
s and moral reflexives, as well as 11 religious poems dedicated to
Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
. The dominant type is declaratory or dialogue, i.e. appellative poem, exceptions being poems such as '' Zoviješe zora dan a slavno prolitje'' where no appellative traits are found. Three poems in "woman voice", in which the narrator is a woman, are characterized by a simple poetical language, a woman's lustful longing for the lover in his absence, and the simulation of written communication. In the first thematic unit, poems like ''Ne mogu živjeti bez tebe'' are distinguished in which a beloved maiden becomes a part of lyrical subject (''ter tebe želeći sam sebe toj želju'') or
couplet A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...
poems such ''Bože, šta osta tebi'' n which the beauties of the poet's beloved are platonically described. The second thematic unit emphasizes sensuality and the perception of love (''ar se mnjah u broju ne jedan nu prvi / od Grka ki Troju puštaše u krvi''SPH 2/1937., br. 210), such as in the poem ''Ljuveno uživanje'', or lust, such as in the poem '' Ner tko je srcem lav i kamen u sebi.'' This thematic unit introduces the motif of
alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scottish people, Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed i ...
, a poetic form describing the dialogue of lovers, with possible presence of a third person (the guardian), separated by the dawn. The most famous poem of the second thematic unit is the '' Blaženi čas i hip'', paraphrasing Petrarca's LXI. sonnet ('' Benedetto sia 'l giorno, e 'l mese, e l'anno''). It is versified in dodecasyllabic couplets, odd verses following Petrarchan principles, and verses emphasizing sensuality. There is a Petrarchan platonist ending, celebrating the spiritual love towards Laura, as his inspiration and muse, eroticizes and mutates elegiac tone into
dithyramb The dithyramb (; grc, διθύραμβος, ''dithyrambos'') was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility; the term was also used as an epithet of the god. Plato, in ''The Laws'', while discussing ...
ic, and the central motif is no longer the lyrical subject but the erotic perception of the beloved (''Blažena ljepos tva, blažena tva mlados / pokli se meni sva darova za rados.'') Poems not themed on love are chiefly concerned with the absence of earthly love and the turn toward spiritual, which is manifested as 11 songs dedicated to Jesus, and one song dedicated to Virgin Mary ('' Uzmožna gospođe, tko milos ku žudi''). Certain satirical poems are also found, with
misogynistic Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...
elements of resignation (''Uzdarje u ženu'', ''Mrzim na žene''), but also poems of general character, confrontation of wealth and miserliness (''Zlo od Kotora,'' the first poetic trace of a traditional antagonism between
Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...
and
Kotor Kotor (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian: ), is a coastal town in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative c ...
).


Notes


References

* Jagić, Vatroslav: ''Trubaduri i najstariji hrvatski lirici''; ''
Rad JAZU ''Rad'' ( Croatian for ''proceedings'', ''work'') is an academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals se ...
'', 9, Zagreb, 1869. * Kombol, Mihovil: ''Povijest hrvatske književnosti do preporoda'';
Matica hrvatska Matica hrvatska ( la, Matrix Croatica) is the oldest independent, non-profit and non-governmental Croatian national institution. It was founded on February 2, 1842 by the Croatian Count Janko Drašković and other prominent members of the Illyri ...
, Zagreb, 1961. * Tomasović, Mirko: ''Hrvatska renesansna književnost u europskom kontekstu'', in: ''Hrvatska književnost u europskom kontekstu'', Zagreb, 1978. * ''Pjesme Šiška Menčetića Vlahovića i Gjore Držića'' (collected and with the introductory by Vatroslav Jagić); JAZU, Stari pisci hrvatski, knj. 2, Zagreb, 1870. * ''Pjesme Šiška Menčetića i Džore Držića i ostale pjesme Ranjinina zbornika'' (edited by Milan Rešetar); JAZU, Stari pisci hrvatski, knj. 2, 2nd edition, Zagreb, 1937.


External links

*
Mirko Tomasović, ''Croatian Renaissance literature in the European context''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mencetic, Sisko Croatian male poets People from Dubrovnik 1457 births 1527 deaths 16th-century Croatian people 16th-century Croatian poets 16th-century male writers Ragusan poets