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
Download them all in English or Italian
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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
In tale stella duo belli occhi vidi,
tutti pien' d'onestate et di dolcezza,
che presso a quei d'Amor leggiadri nidi
il mio cor lasso ogni altra vista sprezza.

Non si pareggi a lei qual piú s'aprezza,
in qual ch'etade, in quai che strani lidi:
non chi recò con sua vaga bellezza
in Grecia affanni, in Troia ultimi stridi;

no la bella romana che col ferro
apre il suo casto et disdegnoso petto;
non Polixena, Ysiphile et Argia.

Questa excellentia è gloria, s'i' non erro,
grande a Natura, a me sommo diletto,
ma' che vèn tardo, et sùbito va via.
I saw two eyes beneath such stars,
all filled with chastity and sweetness,
that near those gracious nests of Love,
my heart scorns every other sight.

There is none more appreciated, or equal
to her, in any age, on any foreign shore:
not Helen who with her errant beauty brought
trouble to Greece, the last despair to Troy:

nor Lucretia, the lovely Roman, who pierced
her chaste and disdainful breast with steel:
not Polyxena, Hypsipyle, or Argia.

Her excellence, if I do not err, is Nature's
great glory, and is my supreme delight,
except she came so late, and swiftly passes.


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

A Merentha Entertainment Project


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