Reading Vittoria Colonna at Veronica Gambara's Court: A Canzoniere of Colonna's Spiritual Poetry

• In Event: Vernacular Emotions and the Unbounded Self: The Materiality of Women’s Lyrics of the Renaissance

Abstract

Sarah Christopher takes on Rinaldo Corso’s (1525–82) commentary on the spiritual verse of the most famous Italian Renaissance woman poet, Vittoria Colonna. This is considered not only the first commentary on the collected works of a female writer, but it is also thought to be the first commentary on the collected works of a living writer of either sex. Christopher’s paper shows how Corso's commentary recounts Colonna's Neo-platonic and evangelical journey from earthly concerns toward a pure and loving union with God: Corso was able to group Colonna's sonnets into threes according to common themes. In doing so, argues Christopher, Corso was able to point out and emphasize the connections among the sonnets, the spiritual journey and inner transformation embodied in her verse. Corso’s editing work on Colonna in the vernacular was extremely important since she herself never approved of any of the printed editions of her poetry.

Author

• Sarah Christopher Faggioli, Villanova University