Читать книгу A history of Italian literature онлайн

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This judgment was unreasonably severe. It is true, nevertheless, that Boccaccio would have gained more renown as a poet if the taste of his time had permitted him to seek inspiration among the people for his verses, as he did for his stories. How exquisite he could sometimes be is shown by two of the sonnets translated by Rossetti—versions, it must be owned, which surpass the originals:

Love steered my course, while yet the sun rode high, On Scylla’s waters to a myrtle-grove: The heaven was still and the sea did not move; Yet now and then a little breeze went by, Stirring the tops of trees against the sky: And then I heard a song as glad as love, So sweet that never yet the like thereof Was heard in any mortal company. “A nymph, a goddess, or an angel sings Unto herself, within this chosen place Of ancient loves,” so said I at that sound. And there my lady, 'mid the shadowings Of myrtle-trees, 'mid flowers and grassy space, Singing I saw, with others who sat round.

By a clear well, within a little field Full of green grass and flowers of every hue, Sat three young girls, relating (as I knew) Their loves; and each had twined a bough to shield Her lovely face; and the green leaves did yield The golden hair their shadow; while the two Sweet colours mingled, both blown lightly through With a soft wind for ever stirred and stilled. After a little while one of them said (I heard her), “Think! if ere the next hour struck, Each of our lovers should come here to-day, Think you that we should fly or feel afraid?” To whom the others answered, “From such luck A girl would be a fool to run away.”