◦
“Introduction
to Part II” (in
Early Italian Poets)
212-217
◦
Lanza, ed.,
Rime. Cecco Angiolieri, 112-113
◦
Massera, ed.,
Sonetti Burleschi e Realistici,
I. 92
This collection contains 10 texts and images, including:
Early Italian Poets text
Scholarly Commentary
Introduction
Perhaps the most arresting moment in DGR's sonnet is the problematic final two lines. They do not render the sense of Cecco's text, much less its literal meaning, and they run a syntax that is difficult to understand. The problem comes in the expression “God send”, which doesn't parse in English and doesn't reflect anything in the Italian either. Perhaps DGR means the phrase to reference a grief sent by God.
DGR's sonnet captures rather well Cecco's self-undermining ironies, perhaps most Trucchi's effectively in the final line when he veers far from the literal sense of the original sonnet in order to secure a hold on its tone.
DGR's source text was Trucchi (I. 273). For further general information about Cecco and his work see the commentary for “Dante Alighieri, Cecco, your good friend”).
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.