Two Lyrics: from Niccolo Tommaseo

These translations are DGR's tribute to the distinguished writer, critic, and philologist Niccolò Tommaseo (1802-1874). Written early, in 1848, he published them in a letter to the Athenaeum (10 June 1874). His note accompanying the translations is a deft and touching acknowledgment that Tommaseo was both a poet and a patriot (he was active in the 1848 revolution). At the same time, it intimates that Tommaseo's political passions may have obscured his poetical accomplishments, which the translations are meant to expose.

DGR translates two poems from Tommaseo's Confessioni (1836), which is the edition he must have used. Both titled “Ad Altra” by Tommaseo, the first begins “Come fanciul che piange”, the second “T'arrisi, ti compiansi: e dal tuo labbro”. The poems are numbered XXIX and XXX in Tommaseo's book.

First published by DGR in the Athenaeum of 13 July 1874 and collected thereafter. No manuscripts of the poems are known.