Commentary
Introduction
This is the first of three sonnets by
or attributed to Boccaccio that DGR translated
“for
their beauty alone”. The other two are:
“Of his
last sight of Fiametta”
, and
“Of three
Girls and of their Talk”
. His three other translations
of Boccaccian sonnets were all made because they showed
“the enthusiastic
reverence” that Boccaccio had for Dante and his work. These are:
“To one who had censured his public
Exposition of Dante”
;
“Inscription
for a Portrait of Dante”
; and
“To Dante
in Paradise, after Fiammetta's death”
.
DGR's source text for this translation is the sonnet numbered XVII in
the Boccaccio section of the collection
<hi rend="i">Raccolta
di Rime Antiche Toscane</hi>
(IV. 17). Contemporary scholars like Ricci, however,
do not include the sonnet among Boccaccio's authoritative works.
Textual History: Composition
As with most of DGR's translations of the early Italian poets,
the date of this one cannot be determined with certainty. It is probably
one of the later translations.
Textual History: Revision
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>
.
Bibliographic
Villarosa, ed.,
<hi rend="i">Raccolta</hi>
,
IV. 17
Ricci, ed.,
<hi rend="i">Opere in versi</hi>