Lyric Poetry of the Italian Renaissance: An Anthology With Verse Translations

by L R Lind

Genres: Renaissance, Poetry

243 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1945

Reviews

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of Italian poetry from the 13th through 16th Centuries from assorted authors (some famous -Petrarch, Dante, Boccaccio) and presented in Italian and English on facing pages. This is the format I prefer when reading poetry in translation as some translators take an unacceptable amount of license (which does happen occasionally in this book). Interestingly, many of the translators in this book are also famous poets themselves (e.g. Dante Rosetti, Wordsworth, Longfellow, Shelley, Pound). A word of caution: when I say “English translations” there is a certain amount of leeway to the term “English” in some cases – like a selection of Tuscan folk songs, translated into a well-nigh impenetrable Scots dialect (example: “Faur oot I the sea-faem a wee bird keepit/Ye’s hear nae sang but ane, ane cry, ane threep/Warlf-faur: Ooch, trechour hert, he weepit, weepit.”).