Canticle and Creation

Francis of Assisi's "Cantico delle creature" (1224, rev.1226) is widely claimed to be the first vernacular poem in Italian, specifically in the Umbrian dialect.[1] As one might expect, it is a religious poem, indeed, a song that most likely pointed and enriched early Franciscan preaching.[2] Perhaps it was sung to the (now lost) melody that Francis composed for it.Certainly, he is known in his youth to have spontaneously sung troubadour lyrics, reportedly in quite bad French.Earlier by half a century or more than the "Cantico," though, is the cantilena "Salv'a lo vescovo senato," written in the Tuscan dialect, which was most likely composed c. 1150-71.[3] Yet it is with Francis's "Cantico" that Italian poetry is said to begin, and it might be observed that it begins rather than originates a tradition.If we look to the vernacular Italian poet of quality who comes after Francis, Jacopone da Todi (1236-1306), we find another Franciscan, a writer of equal religious fervor but with a completely different focus.Where Francis addresses himself to God as creator, Jacopone is oriented in his laudi spirituali to the themes of sin and death, body and soul, poverty and the cross, virtue, and divine love.More importantly, as far as poetry goes, we also see that Jacopone aims to be more regular in his verse than Francis, an aspiration that was richly continued by Giacomo da Lentini (fl.1200-50), who invented the form of the sonnet.[4]For the "Cantico" works less by rhyme and meter than by repetition and parallel clauses.When reading Francis's song today as poetry, we are