Description
Book SynopsisDante’s best friend and a major exponent of the dolce stil novo, Guido Cavalcanti has had a lasting influence upon Italian poetry and is best known to English readers through the essays, translations and adaptations of Ezra Pound. Born from the cultural ferment of thirteenth- century Florence, Cavalcanti’s poetry is an extraordinary blend of unorthodox philosophy, sharp psychological insight and dazzling formal mastery. Anthony Mortimer, acclaimed for his versions of Petrarch and Michelangelo, provides a new verse translation complete with notes, critical comment and biographical material: following in the footsteps of Rossetti and Pound, he presents a Cavalcanti who speaks for his own time and to ours.
Trade ReviewAnthony Mortimer's translations are both sensible and sensitive, avoiding the pitfalls of cod-medieval cliche in favour of a lucidity and precision in tune with the poet's style. * TLS *
This lively version demythologizes that extremely sad, brave poem, written when Cavalcanti was dying. Ezra Pound said that Cavalcanti was more modern in his mindset than Dante; this superb rendering gives us all the chance to savour that poet's tough edge. -- AN Wilson
With all his gravity, he has the secret of lightness. -- Italo Calvino
