SOURCE: Bassanese, Fiora A. “Gaspara Stampa's Poetics of Negativity.” Italica 61, no. 4 (winter 1984): 335-46.

In the following essay, Bassanese explores the Petrarchan foundation of Stampa's Rime as a basis of her pervasive humility, self-disparagement, and self-deprecation.

Gaspara Stampa has long been recognized as a petrarchista, but critical literary analysis of her poetry has been late in coming. From the appearance of the second edition of the Rime in 1738 to the early decades of this century, most works written about Stampa centered on the poet's biography at the expense of her art: the poetry was repeatedly interpreted as versified life history.¹ Benedetto Croce, who had labelled Stampa's work the “diario” or “epistolario” of her love for Collaltino di Collalto, had earlier subtly denied the inherent value of any poetic production by women on the basis of its origins in imitation or in experience: “Fu donna; e di solito la donna...