Dante Alighieri. “Sonnet (to Guido Cavalcanti). He imagines a pleasant Voyage for Guido, Lapo Gianni, and himself, with their three Ladies.” Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1 1861
abbaaccacdeecd 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>Dante's sonnet conjures a scene of timeless love. It is imagined as a magical voyage where he, Cavalcanti, and Lapo Gianni, along with their ideal lovers, will discourse continually of love. DGR's source text departs from the currently authoritative version in one particularly crucial respect: in line 9 Beatrice is cited in DGR's source where the received version has Lagia, Lapo's mistress. (One consequence of this difference appears in <xref doc="a.1-1861.rad" from="340">DGR's note to line 10</xref>, which glosses “the thirtieth on my roll” as Lagia, otherwise unnamed in the text; modern scholars gloss it as a reference to one of the screen ladies in Dante's <xref doc="a.9d-1861.raw"> <title level="wrk"> <hi rend="i">Vita Nuova</hi> . The roll is of course Dante's list, given in that work, of the sixty most beautiful women in Florence.

DGR's archaic style works well in this sonnet, which departs slightly in its form from the source text's rhyme scheme: see Fraticelli, <hi rend="i">Opere Minori di Dante Alighieri</hi> (vol. I pages 145-146).

This sonnet comprises a double work with DGR's drawing <hi rend="i">The Boat of Love</hi> .

The sonnet is not accepted as genuine by all Dante scholars. DGR's source text was Fraticelli (I. 145).

Textual History: Composition

This is an early translation, late 1840s.

Textual History: Revision

Production History

Reception

Iconographic

Printing History

The translation was first published in 1861 in <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="30" to="31"> <hi rend="i">Dante's Lyric Poetry</hi> </xref> , I.30-31 (II. 255-257) .

<hi rend="i">The Early Italian Poets</hi> See WMR's note, (1911) Lady Joan: in the source, “monna Vanna”, a celebrated but otherwise unknown beloved of Cavalcanti. DGR conjures her in a modern style in his great oil painting <hi rend="i">Monna Vanna</hi> . <hi rend="i">The Early Italian Poets</hi> Birmingham Oil 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 Dante Gabriele Rossetti con 107 Illustrazioni Elena Rossetti Angeli 1906 0 The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood J. Ernest Phythian 1905 0 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, An Illustrated Memorial of His Art and Life H. C. Marillier 1899 0 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, An Illustrated Memorial of His Art and Life H. C. Marillier 1899 0 Opere Minori di Dante Alighieri (Volumo Primo) Dante Alighieri P[ietro] I[acopo] Fraticelli, ed. 1834 0 The Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1911) Dante Gabriel Rossetti William Michael Rossetti 1911 0 The Boat of Love The Barque of Love DGR 1881 oil (unfinished) 5 The Boat of Love (composition study) The Barque of Love DGR 1872 (circa) charcoal and white chalk on brown paper 1 The Boat of Love (sketch) The Barque of Love DGR 1855 (circa) pencil 1 The Boat of Love (composition sketch, six figures) The Barque of Love DGR 1855 (circa) watercolour and pencil on squared paper 1 The Boat of Love (study) The Barque of Love DGR 1855 (circa) pencil 1 The Boat of Love (study) The Barque of Love DGR 1855 (circa) pencil 1 The Boat of Love (study) The Barque of Love DGR 1855 (circa) pencil 1 The Boat of Love (composition sketch, four figures) The Barque of Love DGR 1850 (circa) pen and ink with traces of pencil 1 The Boat of Love [print] DGR 1881-1913 (circa) Charcoal and cream print mounted on cream/beige board. 1 The Boat of Love DGR 1867 (unexecuted) 1867 commissioned as a watercolour 1 The Boat of Love DGR 1873? (unexecuted) 1873 1 The Boat of Love DGR 1873 (unexecuted) 1873 1