Bonaggiunta Urbiciani, da Lucca. “Sonnet. Of Wisdom and Foresight.”

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

General Description

Date: 1861
Rhyme: ababababcdedce
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: sonnet

Bibliography

“Table of Poets” in Early Italian Poets vol. 1, xxviii.

◦ Contini, Poeti de duecento vol. 1, 274; (and see I. 257-259; II. 825).

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction

This is not one of DGR's most impressive translations considered on any grounds. The original is a political commentary that probably has some local references no longer recovered even by scholars.

DGR's source text is the Raccolta di rime antiche toscane (I. 330). The translation departs slightly from the rhyme scheme of the original sestet.

See DGR's translation of “Gioia, nè ben non è senza conforto” for further commentary.

Textual History: Composition

Probably 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: 242d-1861.raw.xml