Folgore da San Geminiano. âSeven Sonnets. Of the Week.â
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
General Description
Date: 1855-56; 1861
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: poem group
General Description of
Date: 1861
Subject: âThere is among my thoughts the joyous planâ (âIo ho pensato di fare un gioielloâ)
Rhyme: abbaabbacdcdcd
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: sonnet
General Description of
Date: 1861
Subject: âNow with the moon the day-star Luciferâ (âQuando la luna e la stella dianaâ)
Rhyme: abbaaccadeffed
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: sonnet
General Description of
Date: 1861
Subject: âTo a new world on Tuesday shifts my songâ (âE il Martedi li do un nuovo mondoâ)
Rhyme: abbaaccadedede
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: sonnet
General Description of
Date: 1861
Subject: âAnd every Wednesday, as the swift days moveâ (âOgni Mercoledi corredo grandeâ)
Rhyme: abbaabbacdedce
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: sonnet
General Description
Date: 1861
Subject: âFor Thursday be the Tournament Preparedâ (âEd ogni Giovedì torniamentoâ)
Rhyme: abbaaccadefedf
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: sonnet
General Description
Date: 1861
Subject: âLet Friday be your highest hunting-tideâ (âEd ogni Venerdi gran caccia e forteâ)
Rhyme: abbaabbacdeecd
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: sonnet
General Description
Date: 1861
Subject: âI've jolliest merriment for Saturdayâ (âE il Sabato diletto ed allegranzaâ)
Rhyme: abbaabbacdcdcd
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: sonnet
General Description
Date: 1861
Subject: âAnd on the morrow, at first peep o' the dayâ (âAlla domane al parere del giornoâ)
Rhyme: abbaabbacdcddc
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: sonnet
Electronic Archive Edition: 1
This collection contains 91 texts and images, including:
Dante and his Circle
Scholarly Commentary
IntroductionÂ
This sequence is a companion work to Folgore's longer (and better) sequence on the twelve months, also translated by DGR. As with the latter, DGR's source was Poeti del primo secolo (II. 186-194). The translations in all cases are free, exceptâas usualâDGR adheres closely to the original metrics and rhyme schemes.
See also the commentary for the translation of Folgore's âTwelve Sonnets. Of the Monthsâ.
The historical references in Folgore's dedicatory sonnet establish the terminus ad quem date for its composition: 1308. Carlo di Messer Guerra Cavicciuoli was a violent Florentine Guelph, of the family Adimari. âLombard Estéâ was Azzo VIII d'Este (d. 1308).
Textual History: CompositionÂ
A manuscript of DGR's translation of the Friday sonnet is extant in the corrected holograph of âThe Staff and the Scripâ in the Harry Ransom Library, U. of Texas. This manuscript was being written in 1855-1856.
Printing HistoryÂ
The translation was first published in 1861 in The Early Italian Poets; it was reprinted in 1874 in Dante and his Circle.