Šiško Menčetić
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Šišmundo Menčetić (), known simply as Šiško Menčetić (; 1457–1527) was a poet from Ragusa (modern-day
Dubrovnik Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...
,
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
), chiefly creating his opus in the 15th century.


Biography

Menčetić was born in 1458 in the city of Dubrovnik,
Republic of Ragusa The Republic of Ragusa, or the Republic of Dubrovnik, was an maritime republics, aristocratic maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik (''Ragusa'' in Italian and Latin; ''Raguxa'' in Venetian) in South Dalmatia (today in southernmost ...
, 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.


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 (; ) (February 6, 1461 – September 26, 1501) was a Ragusan poet and playwright. Biography Držić was a citizen of the Republic of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik, Croatia). He was the uncle of the Croatian playwright Marin Držić, the ...
, 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, and that makes Menčetić, beside
Džore Držić Džore Držić (; ) (February 6, 1461 – September 26, 1501) was a Ragusan poet and playwright. Biography Držić was a citizen of the Republic of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik, Croatia). He was the uncle of the Croatian playwright Marin Držić, the ...
, 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 version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...
s, sensuality came to be accentuated as the poets drew closer to vernacular forms (''strambotto'', ''rispetto''), and
sonnet A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...
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, trouvères, and the minnesänger are known for composing their lyric poetry about courtly love usually accompanied by an instrument. Among the m ...
, either in terms of the Provençal
troubadour A troubadour (, ; ) 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 equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''. The tr ...
lyric and the motif of servitude, or in terms of lexical influences of German culture (
Minnesang (; "love song") was a tradition of German lyric- and song-writing that flourished in the Middle High German period (12th to 14th centuries). The name derives from '' minne'', the Middle High German word for love, as that was ''Minnesangs m ...
). In two of Menčetić's songs lexeme ''frava'' can be found,cit. Davor Dukić which originates from
Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...
''frouwe'' (confer
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
'' Frau''):''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 (poetry), verse () is a Meter (poetry), line of verse with twelve syllables. 12 syllable lines are used in a variety of poetic traditions. Dodecasyllabic meter was invented by Jacob of Serugh (d. 521), a Miaphysitism, Miaphy ...
metre of Dubrovnik typed; dodecasyllabic with intransitive
rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually the exact same phonemes) in the final Stress (linguistics), stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of rhyming (''perfect rhyming'') is consciou ...
and secondary
caesura 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 metrical pause or break in a verse where one phrase ends and another phrase beg ...
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 is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...
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 arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...
s and moral reflexives, as well as 11 religious poems dedicated to
Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
. 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 In poetry, a couplet ( ) or distich ( ) is a pair of successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (closed) couplet, each of the two lines is end-stopped, implying that there ...
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 Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingd ...
, 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 (; , ''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 various kinds of music m ...
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 or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practis ...
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, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...
and
Kotor Kotor (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian language, Italian: ), is a town in Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has ...
).


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 or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic disci ...
'', 9, Zagreb, 1869. * Kombol, Mihovil: ''Povijest hrvatske književnosti do preporoda'';
Matica hrvatska Matica hrvatska () 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 Illyrian movement during ...
, 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 Writers from Dubrovnik 1457 births 1527 deaths 16th-century Croatian poets 16th-century male writers Ragusan poets Ragusan nobility