Marinism

Marinism (Italian: marinismo, or secentismo, "17th century") is the name now given to an ornate, witty style of poetry and verse drama written in imitation of Giambattista Marino (1569–1625), following in particular La Lira and L'Adone.

The Marinist poet never hesitated to embark on a long string of comparisons with nature, most of them couched as metaphor rather than simile because this allowed for more striking statements.

Nevertheless, Marino leans heavily on both classical mythology and Christian imagery, adapting it freely to create a huge number of memorable word pictures: "gems, minerals, and precious metals [...] flowers (especially the rose and the lily), birds, fire, snow, the seasons, the sea, and, above all, sun and stars [...] milk, ivory, parturition, the arts and sciences, and a variety of actions and emotions useful for personification".

Although it has some similarities with other European Baroque movements, such as Euphuism, préciosité and Culteranismo, Marinism is essentially an Italian literary phenomenon.

[2] Apart from Marino himself, Marinists of note include Claudio Achillini, Giuseppe Artale, Ciro di Pers, Vincenzo da Filicaja, Girolamo Fontanella, Giacomo Lubrano, Marcello Macedonio, Giovan Francesco Maia Materdona, Bernardo Morando, Girolamo Preti, and Giovan Leone Sempronio.