Bernardo da Bologna. “Sonnet (to Guido Cavalcanti). He writes to Guido, telling him of the Love which a certain Pinella showed on seeing him.” Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1 1861
abbaabbacdcdcd iambic 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 sonnet addressed to Guido Cavalcanti appears in many early manuscripts. It is the only known work of Bernardo, who flourished in the late thirteenth-century. He is mentioned in the correspondence of Cino da Pistoia. The sonnet's chief importance lies in its connection to the excellent <xref doc="a.124d-1861.raw">response sonnet</xref> it drew from Cavalcanti.</p> <p>But Bernardo's sonnet is in fact much better than DGR's translation indicates. The problem comes because DGR mistakes the syntax of the original poem (the text he worked from is ambiguous and corrupt at a crucial mid-point, line 6). Consequently, DGR's translation goes completely awry at that point: Bernardo's sonnet assigns lines 6-11 to Pinela and lines 12-14 to Bernardo's response to her comments.</p> <p>The sonnet implicitly celebrates Cavalcanti's verse and love rhetoric, which has so smitten the lady named in the sonnet. (As Cavalcanti's <xref doc="a.124d-1861.raw">response sonnet</xref> shows, she is in fact from Lizzano, near Belvedere in the Bolognese Appennines). But Bernardo means to flaunt his own skill in making this report to Cavalcanti.</p> <p>DGR's rhyme scheme follows the source text, which is the <xref doc="a.pq4299.c2.rad" from="120" workcode="99d-1861orig">Cicciaporci text</xref> (page 120).</p> </section> <section type="texthistcomp"> <head>Textual History: Composition</head> <p>Probably late 1840s or early 1850s.</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="353" workcode="99d-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> .

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“Table of Poets” (in Early Italian Poets) 217 Cassata, <xref doc="a.pq4299.c2.a12.1993.rad" link="dead" from="200" workcode="99d-1861orig" to="203"> <hi rend="i">Guido Cavalcanti. Rime</hi> </xref> , 200-203 Contini, <hi rend="i">Poeti de Duecento</hi> , II. 552-553

The Early Italian Poets Text See WMR's note, (1911) The 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