Petrarch - The Canzoniere, or Rerum vulgarium fragmenta

P ETRARCHS CanzonerePublication of this work was assisted by a grant from the Publications Program of the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency. THE Canzonere
OR
Rerum bulgarum
fragmenta T RANSLATED INTO V ERSE WITH N OTES AND C OMMENTARY BY Mark Musa I NTRODUCTION BY Mark Musa WITH Barbara Manfredi T HIS BOOK IS A PUBLICATION OF I NDIANA U NIVERSITY P RESS 601 N ORTH M ORTON S TREET B LOOMINGTON , IN 47404-3797 USA HTTP://WWW.INDIANA.EDU/~IUPRESS Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 E-mail orders IUPORDER@INDIANA.EDU 1996 BY M ARK M USA O RIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1996 BY I NDIANA U NIVERSITY P RESS . F IRST REPRINTED IN PAPERBACK IN 1999 . A LL RIGHTS RESERVED N O PART OF THIS BOOK MAY BE REPRODUCED OR UTILIZED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPYING AND RECORDING, OR BY ANY INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, WITHOUT PERMISSION IN WRITING FROM THE PUBLISHER . T HE A SSOCIATION OF A MERICAN U NIVERSITY P RESSES R ESOLUTION ON P ERMISSIONS CONSTITUTES THE ONLY EXCEPTION TO THIS PROHIBITION . T HE PAPER USED IN THIS PUBLICATION MEETS THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF A MERICAN N ATIONAL S TANDARD FOR I NFORMATION S CIENCES P ERMANENCE OF P APER FOR P RINTED L IBRARY M ATERIALS , ANSI Z39.481984. [R IME . [R IME .

E NGLISH & I TALIAN ] P ETRARCH : T HE C ANZONIERE, OR , R ERUM VULGARIUM FRAGMENTA / [F RANCESCO P ETRARCA ]; TRANSLATED WITH NOTES AND COMMENTARY BY M ARK M USA ; INTRODUCTION BY M ARK M USA WITH B ARBARA M ANFREDI . P. CM . I NCLUDES BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES AND INDEX . ISBN 0-253-33944-8 ( CLOTH : ALK. PAPER ) I.

M USA , M ARK . PQU496.E23M8 1996 851. I -DC20 95-35943 ISBN 0-253-21317-7 ( PAPER : ALK. PAPER ) 3 4 5 6 7 05 04 03 02 01 for Isabella My quick-winged one, my Love, sacred-profane-profound, you know how Love has bound your lovely image to my heart, and deep in me it dwells, most marvelous of angels, forever bathing in the secrets of my hearts naked art, splashing the chilly waters of my words, wetting my soul most softly with your light, burning my mind in showers of your sound, you streak my body with supreme delight. O you who are intelligent in Love, you are the one who makes my world go round. 7677)

Petrarch took no chances. 7677) Petrarch took no chances.

He left us an autographed copy of his Canzoniere. How lucky we are! The Italian text for this edition of the lyric poems is edited from the diplomatic edition of the Vatican Librarys codex Vat. Lat. 3195 by Ettore Modigliani (Rome, 1904), part of which was written by Petrarch himself and includes the final revisions of individual poems and their ordering. I have not, however, reproduced all of Petrarchs spellings from that manuscript as did Gianfranco Contini in his edition, nor have I modernized Vat. Lat. 3195 in an inconsistent fashion as do most of the editions I have consulted.

While I do not retain all of the Latinisms of orthography, I always keep Petrarchs different spellings of the conjunction and: e, ed, and et. Since the punctuation of Vat. Lat. 3195 is not consistent and seems to be overdone, I have adopted modern conventions of punctuation, at times introducing quotation marks and parentheses when I thought the sense of the verse would be better served, particularly when complicated syntax is involved. I have not, however, altered the manuscript by using variations of indentation to indicate the parts of a ballata (the ritornello) or a canzone (fronte, sirma, and piedi). The notes to the poems were undertaken with the aim of highlighting Petrarchs special effects (both in language and logic) and of revealing the interconnectedness of image, metaphor, and structure among the individual poems; the notes do not attempt to provide an exhaustive listing of his sources and allusions, material which may be found, for example, in editions of the lyrics by Giosu Carducci and Severino Ferrari, or by Nicola Zingarelli.

The hope has been, first, to open up access to each poems complexities and, ultimately, to show the Canzonieres value as an integrated workas a lyrical drama to be read consecutively from beginning to end. Latin and Provenal sources are generally cited in the original to indicate the manner in which Petrarch borrowed from them. Biblical sources are from the New English Bible, except in cases where the Latin Vulgate more nearly translates the Italian. The dating of individual poems, unless otherwise indicated, is based on Ernest Hatch Wilkinss commentary in The Making of the Canzoniere and Other Petrarchan Studies, as well as on the Chronological Conspectus in that volume. References to Vat. 3196 derive from Wilkinss examination of Petrarchs working manuscript, in which the poet composed and conserved, then revised and edited poems for his final autograph manuscript, Vat. Lat. 3195. 3195.

Some of the citations from classical authors and from early commentators on Petrarch come from the editions of Alberto Chiari, Nicola Zingarelli, and Giosu Carducci and Severino Ferrari. The chronology given on pages xxxvxxxvi of the Introduction was selected from that outlined in Chiaris edition of the Canzoniere. Petrarchs verse does not always flow freely and easily. At times, the syntax can be rather convoluted or distorted, depending, of course, on the special effect the poet is trying to achieve. His language always strives to imitate the mood and meaning of his poems. My goal in these translations has been to preserve this delicate element in Petrarchs poetry and never to sacrifice the movement and meaning of the verse to the tyranny of rhyme. I am, however, concerned with the sounds of words and their position in my translation of each of the poems.

When sound in the Italian text seems to be the dominant element in a particular poem, I am careful to imitate this sound by choosing words that play with and echo each other. I have strived to maintain the same rhythm and meter in English that Petrarch uses in each of his Italian poems. In short, I have tried to be faithful to the poems meaning without being too literal, and faithful to its sound and music without being archaic or restricting myself to a formal rhyme scheme. Nothing is as good as the original, and if any of my translations should tempt the reader to look at Petrarchs original on the facing page, then part of my goal has been achieved. Petrarchs poetry, I feel, is meant to be read aloud. And I hope my reader will do so both in the Italian and the English.

For a translation, especially of lyric poetry, this is the decisive test.

In the last months of Francesco Petrarcas life, in 13731374, nearly all of the goals he had set his heart on in his young manhood had failed to materialize. Peace was remote as war raged not far from the little town of Arqu where he lived (an ongoing conflict between Padua and Venice in which mercenary Turkish troops were engaged). Hope for a return of the papal court to its seat in Rome was postponed again with the departure of Pope Urban V for Avignon after a brief stay in the Holy City. Emperor Charles IV remained in Bohemia, unpersuaded to extend his rule over Rome and Italy. The established authorities continued to interpret Petrarchs appeals for a new humanistic age with narrow chauvinism.