rossettiarchive.org

Guido Guinicelli. “Canzone. He perceives his Rashness in Love, but has no choice.” - Collection Introduction

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction 

One of Guinizelli's celebrated canzone, it is referenced by Dante himelf in De Vulgari Eloquio (II.6.6).

DGR makes one of his common variations (abba for abab) in the fronte but thereafter in the sirma follows the original closely, making his usual substitutions of iambic pentameter for the hendeccasyllabics and iambic trimeter for the setenarii. His source is the text in Poeti del Primo Secolo (I. 93-95).

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