Giacomo da Lentini is considered the principal poet of the Sicilian school of poetry that flourished in the early thirteenth century in the court of Frederick II and formally initiated the Italian lyric tradition. Acknowledged as a major poetic authority by his contemporaries as well as poets of the next generation like Dante Alighieri, Giacomo is notably thought to be the inventor of the sonnet, a lyric innovation that would exercise immense influence not only on the development of Italian poetry, but also on the whole of European letters as it migrated outward from the Italian peninsula. His love poetry goes beyond translating courtly love from pre-existing medieval lyric traditions like the Occitan and Minnesang in distilling elements of science and philosophy that raise the level of…

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Citation: Kumar, Akash. "Giacomo da Lentini". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 January 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12946, accessed 29 March 2024.]

12946 Giacomo da Lentini 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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