Cino da Pistoia. “Madrigal. To his Lady Selvaggia Vergiolesi;
likening his Love to a search for Gold.”
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
General Description
Date: 1849?; 1861
Rhyme: abcabcabcabcdede
Meter: iambic trimeter and pentameter
Genre: madrigal
Electronic Archive Edition: 1
This collection contains 10 texts and images, including:
Early Italian Poets text.
Scholarly Commentary
Introduction
The poem in DGR's source text in Ciampi's Vita e Poesie di Messer Cino da Pistoia (page 144) is no longer included in Cino's corpus, nor have scholars determined its authorship. Nor is the original any more interesting as a poem than DGR's translation. Both exhibit a figural elaboration that seems more pedantic and mannered than rich and extravagant.
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.