Frederick II, Emperor. “Canzone. Of his Lady in bondage.”

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

General Description

Date: 1848?; 1861
Rhyme: abbaabcddcdc; CODA: abbacc
Meter: iambic tetrameter
Genre: canzone

Bibliography

Poeti del Primo Secolo1 Text, I. 55-57

◦ Panvini, I. 155-162.

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction

The extraordinary outburst of Italian poetry that culminated in the work of Dante and his circle had its source in the Sicilian court of Frederick II (1194-1250). Frederick himself wrote poetry, some of which has been authenticated, but this work is probably not his. See DGR's notes on the Emperor and this poem, which DGR speculates may be an allegory on the empire.

DGR's source is the text in Poeti del Primo Secolo (I. 55-57).

Textual History: Composition

As with most of DGR's translations, this one cannot be exactly fixed. It is probably a fairly early work, however—done in the 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.

Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Source File: 146d-1861.raw.xml