Petrarch's Lyric Poems: The Rime Sparse and Other Lyrics

Durlings edition is a must read! this is a beautiful book that consists of the stunningly beautiful lyrics poems by Petrarch. The translations are accurate which makes this a great tool for readers and students.

Durling, one of this generations greatest scholars in Italian lyric poetry, captures the essence of Petrarch's fragmented soul as none other has yet been able to in an english translation. The text includes facing page Italian (so it is excellent for students of the Langauge) and Durling has done everything possible to preserve the lyric beauty of Petrarch's verse. Yet one must remeber that this is not a critical edition. Durlings commentary (if one can call it that) leaves much to be desired. Suprising also is the fact that Durling completely ignores the division in two parts (traditionally called "in life", 1-263 and "in death" 264-366. Petrarch clearly intended there to be a division, leaving blank pages in the Vatican manuscript, Vat. Lat. 3195. For those who desire a critical edition I would recomend Marco Santagata's 1996 edition (Mondadori), however it is entirely in Italian.

Everyone should read the beautiful and romantic poems by Francesco Petrarca, one of the great masters of Italian literature! Scholar Robert M. During has masterfully translated the Canzoniere poems in this bi-lingual edition, allowing you to enjoy them in either the original Italian or English.