Bokkaččo i Dante: tema poéta i poézii v tvorčestve Bokkaččo

The purpose of this article is to study the evolution of Boccaccio's attitude to Dante in the context of the topic "Poet and Poetry" in Boccaccio's various works. All his life, Boccaccio felt reverence for Dante as his master and tried to make Dante accessible to the "vulgo" (common people), writing his biography as well as commentary on the Comedy. At the same time, he was devoted to Petrarch, who created the model of "elitist" poetry, and Petrarch had some reservations about Bokkaččo's desire to "vulgarize" Dante. The dramatic nature of Boccaccio's works vacillates between two poles – "the vulgar poetry of Dante" and the "elitist poetry" of Petrarch – because Boccaccio tried to follow his predecessors' stylistic features in both these regards. Through the analysis of Boccaccio's attitude to Dante, we can explore some important aspects of his attitude to poetry and also gain insight as to the nature of his gift of mediating between genius and people.