rossettiarchive.org

[Anonymous] “Sonnet. A Lady laments for her lost Lover, by similitude of a Falcon.” - Collection Introduction

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

General Description

Date: 1861

Rhyme: abbaabbacdcdcd

Meter: iambic pentameter

Genre: sonnet

Bibliography

◦ Trucchi, Poesie Italiane inedite vol. 1,54 (see also 53).

◦ Panvini, Le rime della scuola siciliana vol. 1, 654-655.

This collection contains 10 texts and images, including:

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction 

The translation is fairly close to the original sonnet, which remains anonymous to scholars. It is an uncommon example of a Sicilian work by a woman, and it seems of a fairly early date.

DGR's translation departs from the metrical form of the Italian octave. His source text was Trucchi's Poesie Italiane inedite (I. 54); the manuscript source describes it as a ballad for two voices.

Textual History: Composition 

Probably a later translation, late 1850s.

Printing History 

Electronic Archive Edition: 1