The ''Eclogues'' are two

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...

poems in the

bucolic A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music ( pastorale) that depic ...

style by

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

, named after

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

's ''

Eclogues The ''Eclogues'' (; ), also called the ''Bucolics'', is the first of the three major works of the Latin poet Virgil. Background Taking as his generic model the Greek bucolic poetry of Theocritus, Virgil created a Roman version partly by offer ...

''. The two poems are the 68-verse ''Vidimus in nigris albo patiente lituris'' and the 97-verse ''Velleribus Colchis prepes detectus Eous''. They were composed between 1319 and 1320 in

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the ca ...

, but only published for the first time in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

in 1719. Shortly before the first poem's composition, Giovanni del Virgilio, a Latin poet living in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

, sent an eclogue to Dante Alighieri in Ravenna inviting him to adopt the Latin bucolic style of poetry, which was, at the time, more popular and highly regarded. He expressed his belief that this would firmly establish Dante as the preeminent poet in Italy. In 1319, Dante wrote back in the same bucolic style. He expressed his desire to achieve that same renown, not through the popular Latin style, but through the quality of his '' Commedia'', written in the common vernacular, which he sent Giovanni an excerpt of. The poem also contains philosophical reflections on poetic glory and Dante's desire to someday return from his exile to his hometown of Florence and be recognized for his abilities there. Giovanni sent a reply insisting that Dante join him in Bologna, where he believes Dante would be accepted as the greatest poet of their age. Dante replied in 1320 with the second eclogue, explaining the danger of traveling to Bologna as a result of his exile. It reasserts his desire to establish himself in the common vernacular despite his contemporaries. The second poem expresses an even greater ability in the bucolic pastoral style than the first. Together, the poems assert Dante's vision for his works and their influence.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 14th-century Latin books Works by Dante Alighieri