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
Cercato ò sempre solitaria vita
(le rive il sanno, et le campagne e i boschi)
per fuggir questi ingegni sordi et loschi,
che la strada del cielo ànno smarrita;

et se mia voglia in ciò fusse compita,
fuor del dolce aere de' paesi toschi
anchor m'avria tra' suoi bei colli foschi
Sorga, ch'a pianger et cantar m'aita.

Ma mia fortuna, a me sempre nemica,
mi risospigne al loco ov'io mi sdegno
veder nel fango il bel tesoro mio.

A la man ond'io scrivo è fatta amica
a questa volta, et non è forse indegno:
Amor sel vide, et sa 'l madonna et io.
I've often sought the solitary life
(river-banks know it, and fields and woods)
to escape these dull and clouded minds,
who have lost the road to heaven:

and if my wish in this were granted,
beyond the sweet air of Tuscan country,
I'd still be among those misted hills
where the Sorgue aids my tears and song.

But my fortune, always my enemy,
returns me to this place where I hate
to see my lovely treasure in the dust.

Fate was a friend to the hand that wrote,
at that time, and perhaps not unworthily:
Love saw it, and I know, and my lady.



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

A Merentha Entertainment Project


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