Cecco d'Angiolieri, da Siena. “Sonnet. He is past all help.”

DGR's translation loses touch with the successful affect of Cecco's in the sestet, particularly the last two lines which are excessively oblique, compared with Cecco's poem. This change is in large part the result of DGR's cource text, Raccolta di Rime Antiche Toscane (II. 157), which prints “aitarmi” for the received “amarmi” (line 13) and “sì” for the received “me'” (line 14).. The last two lines mean literally, in the received version, “I want my lady to love me as I could never say in a truer sonnet”. for the received “me'” (line 14).

For further general information about Cecco and his work see the commentary for “Dante Alighieri, Cecco, your good friend”).

Probably an early translation, late 1840s

The translation was first published in 1861 in The Early Italian Poets; it was reprinted in 1874 in Dante and his Circle.