Nel palazzo del tiranno crudele. Il Sogno amoroso di Ercole Bentivoglio

Abstract

The paper aims to investigate the poem in rhymed octaves, published in 1530, Il "Sogno amoroso" by Ercole Bentivoglio, at the intersection of literary memories and visual suggestions. Echoing the themes of the Petrarchist lyric - the idyllic setting, the spring season, the triad sleep-dream-awakening - the poem stages, under the banner of an oxymonoric pronunciation, the ambiguity of love, due to its intrinsic duplicity destined to turn into cruelty. Bentivoglio therefore uses the oneiric pretext as a narrative expedient to condemn the weaknesses of the human soul - following the Old Testament assumption that «militia est vita hominis super terram» - and to actualize the tradition of the allegorical poem.