Dante Alighieri. “Sonnet (to Brunetto Latini). Sent with the Vita Nuova.” Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1 1861
abbaabbacdecde iambic pentameter sonnet
<artist/> <location/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnpictorial> <citnmythic> <name/> <culture/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnmythic> <citnhistorical> <event/> <place/> <date/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnhistorical> <citnautobiographical> <name/> <place/> <date/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnautobiographical> <citnscenic> <place/> <date/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnscenic> </listcitn> </source> <commentaries> <head>Commentary</head> <section type="intro"> <head>Introduction</head> <p>This ironical sonnet has many local difficulties although its general import is clear: it makes fun of the addressee's imaginative dullness as a reader. DGR's subtext, identifying the “little maid” as Dante's autobiography, is a view by no means generally held.</p> <p>DGR's translation is rather good in rendering Dante's playfulness. It is also a text that, in the event, proves singularly apt for DGR himself and the notorious difficulty his poetry presented for readers.</p> <p>The source text for DGR's translation was Fraticelli's was <xref doc="a.pq4308.a24.vol1.rad" from="144" to="145" workcode="40d-1861orig"> <hi rend="i">Opere Minori di Dante Alighieri</hi> </xref> (I. 144-145).</p> </section> <section type="texthistcomp"> <head>Textual History: Composition</head> <p>Probably an early translation, late 1840s.</p> </section> <section type="texthistrev"> <head>Textual History: Revision</head> <p/> </section> <section type="prodhist"> <head>Production History</head> <p/> </section> <section type="recepthist"> <head>Reception</head> <p/> </section> <section type="icon"> <head>Iconographic</head> <p/> </section> <section type="printhist"> <head>Printing History</head> <p>The translation was first published in 1861 in <xref doc="a.1-1861.rad" from="310" workcode="40d-1861"> <title level="wrk"> <hi rend="i">The Early Italian Poets</hi> ; it was reprinted in 1874 in <hi rend="i">Dante and his Circle</hi>

Pictorial

Historical

Literary

Translation

Autobiographical

Bibliographic

“Introduction to Part II” (in The Early Italian Poets) 189-193 Foster and Boyd, <xref doc="a.pq4309.a1.1967.rad" link="dead" from="156" to="159"> <hi rend="i">Dante's Lyric Poetry</hi> </xref> , I.156-159 (II. 255-257) .

Early Italian Poets text The most common identification is with Betto Brunelleschi, a powerful Florentine whose Black party forced Dante into exile. DGR's identification is certainly wrong, and difficult to understand given Dante's admiration from Brunetto Latino (and despite the fact that he placed him in the seventh circle of hell). DGR's note makes the usual identification with Alberto di Cologna (Albertus Magnus, 1210-1280), whose fame as an interpreter was great). Master Janus: this is DGR's agressively interpretive translation of Dante's “Messer Giano”. Commentators have struggled to identify this reference but no consensus has emerged. DGR's translation is as good as any (see as well his note about “the twofold insight of Janus the double-faced”). Janus (1874); Giano (1861) Early Italian Poets text. The Early Italian Poets From Ciullo D'Alcamo to Dante Alighieri (1100-1200-1300), the Fitzwilliam Proof Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1861 0 The Early Italian Poets From Ciullo D'Alcamo to Dante Alighieri (1100-1200-1300), the Alderman annotated copy Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1861 0 The Early Italian Poets From Ciullo D'Alcamo to Dante Alighieri (1100-1200-1300), Presentation Copy to Frederick Shields. Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1861 0 The Early Italian Poets From Ciullo D'Alcamo to Dante Alighieri (1100-1200-1300) (the Princeton illustrated copy) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1861 0 The Early Italian Poets from Ciullo d'Alcamo to Dante Alighieri (1100-1200-1300) (Proof Copy) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1861 0 The Early Italian Poets From Ciullo D'Alcamo to Dante Alighieri (1100-1200-1300), the Wrenn Proof Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1861 0 The Early Italian Poets From Ciullo D'Alcamo to Dante Alighieri (1100-1200-1300), the Yale University Beinecke Library Proof Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1861 0 Dante and His Circle: With the Italian Poets Preceding Him (1100—1200—1300). Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1874 0 The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, vol. 2 (1886) Dante Gabriel Rossetti William Michael Rossetti 1886 0 The Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1911) Dante Gabriel Rossetti William Michael Rossetti 1911 0