Commentary
Introduction
The sonnet follows closely upon the previous sonnet in the
Vita Nuova
sequence,
“Even as the others mock, thou
mockest me”
. Dante's poem rings various changes on the key
word “morte”, a crucial stylistic feature not lost on DGR, whose
fairly literal approach in his translation registers his poetic acuity. That verbal theme,
along with the mystical redemption through “death” that it alludes to,
defines this poem's more explicit presentation of Love's secret ministry. The clear
allusion to Luke 19:40 in line 8, the pivot
moment in the sonnet, further foregrounds
this important theme in the poem.
DGR's source text was
“Ciņ che m'incontra nella mente more” in the third volume of Fraticelli's
Opere
Minori di Dante ALighieri
.
Textual History: Composition
This is an early translation, in the 1840s, perhaps as early as 1846.
Textual History: Revision
Printing History
The translation was first published in 1861 in
The
Early Italian Poets
; it was reprinted in 1874 in
Dante
and his Circle
.
Bibliographic
“Introduction
to Part II” (in
Early Italian Poets)
189-193
Foster and Boyd,
Dante's Lyric Poetry
,
I.50-51 (II. 81-83)
.
De Robertis, ed., Vita Nuova, 98-101
.