Cino da Pistoia. “Sonnet. To Love, in great Bitterness.”

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

General Description

Date: 1849?; 1861
Rhyme: abbaabbacdeedc
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: sonnet

Bibliography

“Introduction to Part II” (in The Early Italian Poets), 206-211

◦ Marti ed., Poeti del dolce stil nuovo, 602-603

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction

The translation is fairly close except at the end of the octave, where DGR is driven to a free translation in order to render Cino's distinctly “stilnovist” figure. The sonnet's wit is rather mannered, as is DGR's translation.

DGR's source text was Ciampi's Vita e Poesie di Messer Cino da Pistoia (page 77); see also its commentary.

Textual History: Composition

Probably an early translation, late 1840s.

Printing History

The translation was first published in 1861 in The Early Italian Poets; it was reprinted in 1874 in Dante and his Circle.

Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Source File: 196d-1861.raw.xml