What is it about?
This research explores how anatomical knowledge shaped seventeenth-century Italian poetry. It shows how poets used anatomical imagery and vocabulary to represent the body, emotions, and moral or spiritual concerns, revealing anatomy as a shared cultural language between medicine and literature.
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Why is it important?
The article shows that anatomy was not confined to medical texts but played a central role in early modern literary imagination. By studying poetry, it reveals how scientific knowledge circulated across disciplines and social contexts. This helps us better understand the cultural impact of anatomy and the close relationship between science and the humanities in the early modern period.
Perspectives
This article offers an interdisciplinary perspective on seventeenth-century Italian poetry by reading it through the lens of anatomical knowledge. It shows how anatomy functioned not only as a medical practice but also as a cultural and interpretative paradigm that shaped literary forms, metaphors, and ways of understanding the human body. By focusing on poetic texts rather than medical treatises, the study highlights the role of literature in absorbing, reworking, and disseminating scientific ideas. This perspective contributes to current debates on the circulation of knowledge in early modern Europe and encourages further research on the interactions between science, literature, and the visual culture of the body.
Dr Maria Di Maro
Universita degli Studi dell'Aquila
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Forme e usi della topica anatomica nella produzione in versi del XVII secolo: prime indagini, November 2025, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004691643_016.
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