Petrarch Laura Francesco Petrarch and Laura For a woman he would never know
For a woman he could never have
He should change the world forever
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Petrarch:The Canzoniere

Translated by: A.S.Kline
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Information on the sonnet is available here.
Looking for an analysis of a specific poem from the Canzoniere?
Read I go thinking an analysis of poem 264 by Holly Barbaccia.


ITALIAN ENGLISH
Pien di quella ineffabile dolcezza
che del bel viso trassen gli occhi miei
nel dí che volentier chiusi gli avrei
per non mirar già mai minor bellezza,

lassai quel ch'i 'piú bramo; et ò sí avezza
la mente a contemplar sola costei,
ch'altro non vede, et ciò che non è lei
già per antica usanza odia et disprezza.

In una valle chiusa d'ogni 'ntorno,
ch'è refrigerio de' sospir' miei lassi,
giunsi sol com Amor, pensoso et tardo.

Ivi non donne, ma fontane et sassi,
et l'imagine trovo di quel giorno
che 'l pensier mio figura, ovunque io sguardo.
Full of that ineffable sweetness
that my eyes drew from her lovely face,
so I'd have closed them willingly
that day, never to see any lesser beauty,

I left what I loved more: and have so set
my mind on contemplating her alone,
that I see no one else, and what is not her
I hate and despise, through constant habit.

Thoughtful and late, I came with Love alone
into a valley that's closed all round,
that leaves me refreshed with sighs.

No ladies there, but fountains and stones,
and I find the image of that day
my thoughts depict, wherever I gaze.


Note:
The closed valley: Valchiusa in Italian,
Vaucluse in French.


© Copyright 1999-2006
Peter Sadlon
Updated Sept 10th 2007

A Merentha Entertainment Project


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