Home › Glossary › Letter I

Italian canzone

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A medieval and Renaissance Italian lyric form, usually long and complex, associated with Petrarch.

Detailed Definition
An Italian canzone is a sophisticated lyric form from the Renaissance, usually comprising five to seven stanzas of hendecasyllables with a consistent rhyme scheme and a shorter envoi; associated with Petrarch, it explores love, loss, and philosophical reflection with musical precision and emotional depth.
Example
Example in poetry:
A long Italian lyric poem, often by Petrarch or Dante, composed of stanzas of 7-20 lines (typically 9-14) with an intricate, repeated rhyme scheme (like A b C A b C d e E), concluding with a shorter congedo or committatis; Dante's "Tre donne intorno al cor mi son venute," a classic example of the form with its complex structure and concluding envoy
Additional Notes
Italian canzone: A lyric poem developed in Italy (like the sonnet), characterized by a complex structure of many stanzas of equal length (often 5-7), each ending with a short line, and usually followed by a shorter commiato (envoi); highly formal and musical.
Also Known As
canzona italiana Italian song-poem medieval canzone Canzone (Italian) Italian song
Skip to main content