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
Quanto piú disïose l'ali spando
verso di voi, o dolce schiera amica,
tanto Fortuna con piú visco intrica
il mio volare, et gir mi face errando.

Il cor che mal suo grado a torno mando,
è con voi sempre in quella valle aprica,
ove 'l mar nostro piú la terra implica;
l'altrier da lui partimmi lagrimando.

I' da man manca, e' tenne il camin dritto;
i' tratto a forza, et e' d'Amore scorto;
egli in Ierusalem, et io in Egipto.

Ma sofferenza è nel dolor conforto;
ché per lungo uso, già fra noi prescripto,
il nostro esser insieme è raro et corto.

O sweet crowd of friends, the more
I spread wings of desire towards you,
the more fate hampers my flight
with bird-lime, or makes me go astray.

The heart that claimed it wrong to return,
is with you always in that broad valley
where the land most hems in our sea:
I wept at parting from my heart that day.

I took the left hand road, my heart the straight:
I was forced to go, my heart was guided by love:
my heart to Jerusalem, I into Egypt.

But patience is a solace to our grief:
by long usage, it's well-known to us both,
that being together is a rare and brief thing.



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

A Merentha Entertainment Project


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