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Poetry General

The Metabolism of Desire

The Poetry of Guido Cavalcanti

by (author) Guido Cavalcanti

translated by David R. Slavitt

Publisher
Athabasca University Press
Initial publish date
Mar 2012
Category
General, Ancient, Classical & Medieval
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781926836867
    Publish Date
    Mar 2012
    List Price
    $16.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781926836843
    Publish Date
    Apr 2012
    List Price
    $16.99

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Description

The fact that Cavlacanti’s friend, Dante Alighieri, was a supremely fine poet ought not blind us to Cavalcanti’s own, rather different excellence. Both men were attracted to the dolce stil nuovo, the “sweet new style” that emerged in thirteenth-century Florence. While Dante’s poetry was devoted to his childhood sweetheart, Beatrice, Cavalcanti’s poetry had more the tang of real-world experience: he struggled against unruly passions and sought instead to overcome love – a source of torment and despair.

It is chiefly through the translations of Rossetti and Pound that English-speaking readers have encountered Cavalcanti’s work. Pound’s famous translation, now viewed by some as antiquated, is remarkably different from the translation provided here in the graceful voice of poet David Slavitt. Working under the significant restraints of Cavalcanti’s elaborate formal structures, Slavitt renders an English translation faithful to the original poetry in both rhyme and rhythm.

About the authors

Guido Cavalcanti (ca. 1255-1300) was, after Dante, the most important Italian poet of the thirteenth century. Adapting the courtly traditions of Provencal poetry into the dolce stil nuovo (sweet new style), Cavalcanti’s shorter poems broke fresh ground - creating models that influenced Petrarch and most other poets of the renaissance.

Guido Cavalcanti's profile page

David R. Slavitt is a widely known poet, novelist, critic, and translator. He prepared these English versions of The Lays of Marie de France because he loved them.

David R. Slavitt's profile page

Excerpt: The Metabolism of Desire: The Poetry of Guido Cavalcanti (by (author) Guido Cavalcanti; translated by David R. Slavitt)

all pale beside my lady whose lovely face
and gentle heart show the unworthiness
of him who catches a glimpse of her perfection,
for she is an earthly vessel of heaven's grace
before whose greatness we are so much less,
beyond any redemption.

ciò passa la beltate e la valenza
de la mia donna e 'l su' gentil coraggio,
sì che rasembra vile a chi ciò guarda;
e tanto più d'ogn' altr' ha canoscenza,
quanto lo ciel de la terra è maggio.
A simil di natura ben non tarda.