Dino Frescobaldi. “Sonnet. Of what his Lady is.”

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

General Description

Date: 1848?;1861
Rhyme: abbaabbacdeedc
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: sonnet

Bibliography

“Introduction to Part II” (in The Early Italian Poets) 219

◦ Marti, Poeti del dolce stil nuovo, 357-358.

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction

The poetry of Dino Frescobaldi (ca. 1272-1315) is graceful and dignified, perhaps indeed excessively so. DGR's translation renders these tonal features quite well, and except for line 7, the translation stays close to the literal sense of the original.

DGR's source was either Poeti del Primo Secolo (II. 517) or Raccolta di Rime Antiche Toscane (III. 371). See also the commentary for the source text.

Textual History: Composition

Probably an early translation, 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: 148d-1861.raw.xml