One of Cavalcanti's finest sonnets is met with one of DGR's most remarkable
translations. The source text in this case fairly represents the text authorized by the
best contemporary scholars. DGR handles the religious materials evoked through the
poem quite as deftly as Cavalcanti does. The double allusion to Isaiah 63:1 and the
Song of Songs 6:9 in the opening line is raised but not insisted upon in either text, and
might scarcely be noted at all except for line 13 (“salute”;
“redemption”). At that point, however, the praise and description
have been so mortalized, as it were, that the religious theme turns completely into a
poetical figure.
One other feature of the translation deserves notice: the second order effect of the
translation, which adds a meaning to the poetry not present in
DGR alters the rhyme scheme of his model, but (as is his common practise in such cases) follows a form almost equally prevalent in the Italian tradition he is imitating.
As with nearly all of these translations, we don't know precisely when DGR made this one, but it was probably early (late 1840s).
The translation was first published in 1861 in
The Early Italian Poets)