from fashion to conversation. The successful man must combine an exterior grace with a necessary social conformity. Anything that could give offense or reveal vulgar or crude thoughts should be avoided. For this reason, Della Casa advises caution, tact, and discretion at all times. Never should one sniff someone else's wine, for instance, as something might fall out of one's nose; even though this is unlikely, Della Casa notes, one should not take such risks. Instead, one must constantly attend to appearance, speech, and conduct so as to give no offense but also to convey a graceful reserve and intelligence. Many of the restrictions in Galateo continue to be useful today. Poetry Casa is chiefly remarkable as the leader of a reaction in lyric poetry against the universal imitation of Petrarch, and as the originator of a style, which, if less soft and elegant, was more nervous and majestic than that which it replaced. Della Casa began his literary career as a poet, writing licentious verse in the style of Berni. It was believed that his openly licentious poem, Capitoli del forno, his estrangement from the Medici regime in Florence, and the fact that the French court seemed to desire his elevation, prevented him from being selected cardinal. Toward the end of his life, he followed the model of Petrarch, composing some of the most intense lyrics of the sixteenth century. In his Rime, he chose love as his a main theme, along with sadness, disillusionment, and regret. His gravity and solemn style He wrote two sonnets of particular beauty, in which he looks at the vanity of life and to disappearing into nothingness after death. After the death of the poet in 1558, his Rime would have a great success in literary circles of the time. His use of enjambement, a technique by which the eleven syllable line continues through to the next line, gave his verse a new musicality and power. Two sonnets of particular intensity are O dolce selva solitaria, amica and Questa vita mortal, che ‘n o ‘n due. "All of Della Casa’s poems express a fundamental anxiety and an inquietude about love or ambition, often coupled with a long for release, peace, and even death. The combination of this troubled content and the sublime style made Della Casa’s fewer than eighty lyrics the best of the sixteenth century." (Wayne Rebhorn). In his retirement, he also