Petrarch: The Canzoniere, or Rerum vulgarium fragmenta

Mark Musa

May 1999 · Indiana University Press

About this ebook

"Mark Musa, in editing and translating Petrarch's Canzoniere, has performed a wonderful service to the English-speaking reader. Here, in one volume, are included the poet's own selection of the best lyric verse he wrote throughout his life, accompanied by brief but useful notes . . . " —Chronicles

"As well as skillful and fluent verse renderings of the 366 lyrics that make up this milestone in the development of Western poetic tradition, Musa offers copious and up-to-date annotation to each poem . . . along with a substantial, sensitive, and intelligent introduction that is genuinely helpful for the first-time reader and thought provoking for Petrarch scholars and other medievalists." —Choice

The 366 poems of Petrarch's Canzoniere represent one of the most influential works in Western literature. Varied in form, style, and subject matter, these "scattered rhymes" contains metaphors and conceits that have been absorbed into the literature and language of love. In this bilingual edition, Mark Musa provides verse translations, annotations, and an introduction co-authored with Barbara Manfredi.

About the author

MARK MUSA, Distinguished Professor of Italian at Indiana University, is well known for his translations of the Italian classics, including the works of Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Machiavelli. He is editor of Dante's Inferno: The Indiana Critical Edition. BARBARA MANFREDI, an independent researcher, has pursued a lifelong interest in radical poets, with a current focus on Dante.