Rinaldo d'Aquino. “Canzone. A Lady, in Spring, repents of her Coldness.”

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

General Description

Date: 1861
Rhyme: abcabcddc, deed
Meter: iambic pentameter and trimeter
Genre: canzone

Bibliography

“Table of Poets” in Early Italian Poets vol. 1, xxvi.

◦ Valeriani and Lampredi, Poeti del primo secolo vol. 1, 223-225.

◦ Panvini, Le rime della scuola siciliana vol. 1, 115-117.

◦ Contini, Poeti de duecento vol. 1, 111.

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction

The rhymes in D'Aquino's original canzone often appear approximate but probably reflect dialectal pronunciation. In any case, DGR clearly has set out to imitate both the rhyme scheme and the metrical form closely. Certain moments in the translation are especially remarkable, not least of all the brilliant wordplay in lines 7-9.

DGR's source is the text in Poeti del Primo Secolo (I. 223-225). He follows the rhyme structure of the original poem exactly, and adheres as well to the metrical form, making only his usual pentameter and trimeter iambic substitutions.

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: 84d-1861.raw.xml