Sonnets | Page 8

we reflect that we do not always possess the copies which he finally addressed to his friends, and when, moreover, we find that their readings (e.g. those of the Riccio MS and those cited by Varchi) differ considerably from Michael Angelo's rough copies, we must conclude that even the autographs do not invariably represent these poems in the final form which he adopted. There is therefore much room left for critical comparison and selection. We are, in fact, still somewhat in the same position as Michelangelo the younger. Whether any application of the critical method will enable us to do again successfully what he so clumsily attempted--that is, to reproduce a correct text from the debris offered to our selective faculty--I do not feel sure. Meanwhile I am quite certain that his principle was a wrong one, and that he dealt most unjustifiably with his material. For this reason I cordially accept Signor Guasti's labours, with the reservation I have attempted to express in this note. They have indeed brought us far closer to Michael Angelo's real text, but we must be careful to remember that we have not even now arrived with certainty at what he would himself have printed if he had prepared his own edition for the press.
[4] As far as I am aware, no complete translation of Michael Angelo's sonnets has hitherto been made in English. The specimens produced by Southey, Wordsworth, Harford, Longfellow, and Mr. Taylor, moreover, render Michelangelo's rifacimento.
[5] 'Lezione di Benedetto Varchi sopra il sottoscritto Sonetto di Michelagnolo Buonarroti, fatta da lui pubblicamente nella Accademia Fiorentina la Seconda Domenica di Quaresima l'anno MDXLVI.' The sonnet commented by Varchi is Guasti's No xv.
[6] I have elsewhere recorded my disagreement with Signer Guasti and Signer Gotti, and my reasons for thinking that Vaichi and Michelangelo the younger were right in assuming that the sonnets addressed to Tommaso de' Cavalieri (especially xxx, xxxi, lii) expressed the poet's admiration for masculine beauty. See 'Renaissance in Italy, Fine Arts,' pp. 521, 522. At the same time, though I agree with Buonarroti's first editor in believing that a few of the sonnets 'risguardano, come si conosce chiaramente, amor platonico virile,' I quite admit--as what student of early Italian poetry will not admit?--that a woman is generally intended under the title of 'Signore' and 'amico.'
[7] Ridurle_ is his own phrase. He also speaks of _trasmutare and risoluzione to explain the changes he effected.
[8] See Guasti's 'Discorso,' p. xliv.
[9] See in particular 'Orazioni Tie in Salmodia Metafisicale ... Canzone Prima ... Madrigale iii;' and 'A Berillo, Canzone di Pentimento, Madrigale ii.'
[10] 'De Libras Proprus,' I 3, quoted by Orelli and Alessandro d'Ancona. 'Opere di Tommaso Campanella,' vol. I. p 3.
[11] 'Opere di Tommaso Campanella,' vol. I p. ccci.
[12] Campanella's own poetry justified this curious nom de plume adopted for him by his editor. See in particular 'Salmodia?Metafisicale,' canzone terza, madrigale ix.
'Tre canzon, nate a un parto?Da questa mia settimontana testa,?Al suon dolente di pensosa squilla.'
[13] These are the sonnets entitled by Adami 'La detta Congiunzione cade nella revoluzione della Nativit�� di Cristo,' and 'Sonetto cavato dall' Apocalisse e Santa Brigida,' D'Ancona, vol. 1. pp. 97, 98.
[14] In this respect rifacimento of 1623 has greater literary merits-- the merits of mere smoothness, clearness, grammatical coherence, and intelligibility--than the autograph; and I can understand the preference of some students for the former, though I do not share it Michelangelo the younger added fluency and grace to his great-uncle's composition by the sacrifice of much that is most characteristic, and by the omission of much that is profound and vigorous and weighty.
PROEM.
THE PHILOSOPHIC FLIGHT.
Poi che spiegate.
Now that these wings to speed my wish ascend,
The more I feel vast air beneath my feet,?The more toward boundless air on pinions fleet,?Spurning the earth, soaring to heaven, I tend:?Nor makes them stoop their flight the direful end
Of Daedal's son; but upward still they beat:--?What life the while with my life can compete,?Though dead to earth at last I shall descend??My own heart's voice in the void air I hear:
Where wilt thou bear me, O rash man? Recall?Thy daring will! This boldness waits on fear!?Dread not, I answer, that tremendous fall:
Strike through the clouds, and smile when death is near, If death so glorious be our doom at all!
THE SONNETS
OF
MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTI
I.
ON DANTE ALIGHIERI.
Dal ciel discese.
From heaven his spirit came, and robed in clay
The realms of justice and of mercy trod,?Then rose a living man to gaze on God,?That he might make the truth as clear as day.?For that pure star that brightened with his ray
The undeserving nest where I was born,?The whole wide world would be a prize to scorn;?None but his Maker can due guerdon pay.?I speak of Dante, whose high work remains
Unknown, unhonoured by that thankless brood,?Who only to just men deny their wage.?Were I