Clearly DGR translated the poem as an example of the kind of verbal
wit cultivated by the Italian poets he admired. His translation varies from the rhyme scheme of the
original but it reflects pretty well its verbal play.
DGR's source text is
Poeti
del primo secolo (II. 155). Information about the Italian poet is
virtually nonexistent.
This collection contains 11 texts and images, including:
Early Italian Poets text
Scholarly Commentary
Introduction
Clearly DGR translated the poem as an example of the kind of verbal wit cultivated by the Italian poets he admired. His translation varies from the rhyme scheme of the original but it reflects pretty well its verbal play.
DGR's source text is Poeti del primo secolo (II. 155). Information about the Italian poet is virtually nonexistent.
Textual History: Composition
Probably early, late 1840s or early 1850s
Printing History
The translation was first published in 1861 in The Early Italian Poets; it was reprinted in 1874 in Dante and his Circle.