Michelangelo’s Madrigal: ‘Poem 152’

In praise of a virtuous friendship

In "Poem 152," Michelangelo values virtuous friendship. “The Friends of Ellen Key,” circa 1900–1907, by Hanna Hirsch-Pauli. Public Domain

Just as by taking away, lady, one puts into hard and alpine stone a figure that’s alive and that grows larger wherever the stone decreases, so too are any good deeds of the soul that still trembles concealed by the excess mass of its own flesh, which forms a husk that’s coarse and crude and hard. You alone can still take them out from within my outer shell, for I haven’t the will or strength within myself.

Few people immediately associate the name “Michelangelo” with poetry. Yet when one beholds the Pietà or the Sistine Chapel, it hardly comes as a surprise that the artist was poetically inclined. Indeed, the greatest surprise comes perhaps in Michelangelo’s ability to complete so many poetic and artistic works over the course of his life.

“Poem 152” was written between 1538 and 1544. This was around the time when Michelangelo was completing his work on “The Last Judgment,” adding this to an impressive artistic résumé that already included the sculptures of the Pietà and David.

A detail from a portrait of Michelangelo Buonarotti, 1545, by Daniele da Volterra. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain

In fact, the poem sheds a great deal of light on the philosophy behind these sculptures. Along with Poem 151, 152 articulates the Neoplatonic theory of art, which held that the true form of the sculpture was hidden within the stone or other medium. It was the job of the artist to remove the outer shell to reveal the form or idea therein.

Drawing from this idea, Michelangelo unveils the essence of the poem, which is the idea that the person addressed in the poem gradually draws out the inner goodness of the speaker just as the artist reveals the form of the work of art.

In our modern age, we may be tempted to dismiss the theory in haste. However, if we examine the poem more closely, we come to understand a new understanding of a virtuous friendship as presented to us by Michelangelo.

The Soul That Still Trembles

“Poem 152” is a madrigal, which is a form of lyric poetry that became popular in 14th-century Italy. It was written for Vittoria Colonna, a fellow poet and dear friend of Michelangelo. Bonded together by their shared faith and artistic pursuits, the two drew a profound consolation from the intellectual camaraderie. They had in common the fact that their art was infused with their faith, and their friendship served as a further source of inspiration for their poetry.

Vittoria Colonna, drawing by Michelangelo. Colonna was approximately 50 and Michelangelo 65 at the time of the drawing. Public Domain

The first part of the poem presents us with the simile of the artist in place of the lady addressed, comparing the action of removing the outer mass of the stone to the action of the friend who brings out the goodness and virtue in the speaker. Michelangelo’s thought rings with what Christ told the apostles, that “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” The speaker’s intellect struggles against the will, and he lacks the strength to resist his impulses.

Here, the body is described as the outer shell of the soul, and the soul must combat the coarse, crude nature of the flesh in order for virtue to reign. Just as the sculptor removes the exterior of the stone to reveal the form within, so too the friend addressed in the poem draws out the speaker’s soul and inspires him to goodness. Without this friend, the soul trembles and fears for its own salvation, which is imperiled as the soul turns from goodness.

A Figure That’s Alive 

“The perfect form of friendship is that between good men who are alike in excellence or virtue,” Aristotle said in Nicomachean Ethics. “For these friends wish alike for one another’s good because they are good men, and they are good per se, (that is, their goodness is something intrinsic, not incidental). Those who wish for their friends’ good for their friends’ sake are friends in the truest sense.”

Like Aristotle, Michelangelo distinguished the shared pursuit of virtue as the defining characteristic of true friendship. A virtuous friend spurs another on to virtue, not only because they’re good themselves and inspire others to imitate them, but also because they desire the good of the other and will therefore encourage them in their progress. In fact, genuine friendship can’t be based on pleasure or utility; virtue is necessary for the friendship to endure because other forms of friendship will eventually dissolve in self-interest.

For these reasons, many of the saints stress the importance of good friendships in one’s spiritual journey. St. Francis de Sales wrote, “It is necessary to find those who will support us and need our support in promoting the devout life.”

The speaker in the poem exhibits just such a reliance on the friend he addresses. The lady addressed sculpts the good deeds the speaker performs, for when his will fails, hers is ready to carry him forward. Alone, the speaker can do nothing, but with the lady’s encouragement and example, virtue can be called forth to action from the speaker’s soul. In this sense, the friend becomes a reflection of God; in pursuing virtue, she draws closer to God and becomes more similar to him. In consequence, those who share in her friendship, in imitating and drawing nearer to her, will also imitate and draw nearer to God.

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