Cino Da Pistoia

Cino Da Pistoia Poems

Cino Da Pistoia Biography

Cino da Pistoia (1270-1336/37) was an Italian jurist and poet. He was born in Pistoia, Tuscany. His full name was Guittoncino dei Sinibaldi or, Latinised, Cinus de Sighibuldis. He received his doctorate from the University of Bologna, where he studied under Dinus de Rossonis, and taught law at the universities of Siena, Florence, Perugia, and Naples. In 1334, he was elected Gonfaloniere of Pistoia, but did not take up the office. Cino's most important legal work was Lectura in codicem (1312–1314), a commentary on the Justinian Code which blended pure Roman law with contemporary statutes and customary and canon law, thereby initiating Italian common law. He wrote some 200 lyric poems notable for purity of language and harmony of rhythms, most of them dedicated to a woman named Selvaggia. Dante, a friend of his, in De vulgari eloquentia, praised his poetry. Cino was also close to his fellow student Giovanni d'Andrea and was a literary friend of Petrarch. He is the narrator of Ezra Pound's dramatic monologue "Cino)

The Best Poem Of Cino Da Pistoia

In The Meadow I Gaze At Each White Flower

In the meadow I gaze at each white flower,
Remembering what it is that makes me
So eager to sigh that now I ask for more.
And I remember the white, the dark green,
That so created the lovely dress
With which Love was clothed,
When, with Mars and Venus watching,
The arrow that cuts deepest
Into my heart he drove:
When in the breeze the white flowers move,
I remember her lovely eyes’ sweet whiteness,
For which this desire of mine cannot be less.

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