Sonnets | Page 8

the final version of each
composition. It is true that when this was possible, Signor Guasti
invariably selected one of the autographs, that is, a copy in the poet's
own handwriting. But when we consider that very frequently Michael
Angelo's own autographs give twice as many various readings as there
are lines in a sonnet, when we reflect that we do not always possess the
copies which he finally addressed to his friends, and when, moreover,
we find that their readings (e.g. those of the Riccio MS and those cited
by Varchi) differ considerably from Michael Angelo's rough copies, we
must conclude that even the autographs do not invariably represent
these poems in the final form which he adopted. There is therefore
much room left for critical comparison and selection. We are, in fact,
still somewhat in the same position as Michelangelo the younger.
Whether any application of the critical method will enable us to do
again successfully what he so clumsily attempted--that is, to reproduce
a correct text from the debris offered to our selective faculty--I do not
feel sure. Meanwhile I am quite certain that his principle was a wrong
one, and that he dealt most unjustifiably with his material. For this
reason I cordially accept Signor Guasti's labours, with the reservation I
have attempted to express in this note. They have indeed brought us far
closer to Michael Angelo's real text, but we must be careful to
remember that we have not even now arrived with certainty at what he
would himself have printed if he had prepared his own edition for the
press.

[4] As far as I am aware, no complete translation of Michael Angelo's
sonnets has hitherto been made in English. The specimens produced by
Southey, Wordsworth, Harford, Longfellow, and Mr. Taylor, moreover,
render Michelangelo's rifacimento.
[5] 'Lezione di Benedetto Varchi sopra il sottoscritto Sonetto di
Michelagnolo Buonarroti, fatta da lui pubblicamente nella Accademia
Fiorentina la Seconda Domenica di Quaresima l'anno MDXLVI.' The
sonnet commented by Varchi is Guasti's No xv.
[6] I have elsewhere recorded my disagreement with Signer Guasti and
Signer Gotti, and my reasons for thinking that Vaichi and Michelangelo
the younger were right in assuming that the sonnets addressed to
Tommaso de' Cavalieri (especially xxx, xxxi, lii) expressed the poet's
admiration for masculine beauty. See 'Renaissance in Italy, Fine Arts,'
pp. 521, 522. At the same time, though I agree with Buonarroti's first
editor in believing that a few of the sonnets 'risguardano, come si
conosce chiaramente, amor platonico virile,' I quite admit--as what
student of early Italian poetry will not admit?--that a woman is
generally intended under the title of 'Signore' and 'amico.'
[7] Ridurle_ is his own phrase. He also speaks of _trasmutare and
risoluzione to explain the changes he effected.
[8] See Guasti's 'Discorso,' p. xliv.
[9] See in particular 'Orazioni Tie in Salmodia Metafisicale ... Canzone
Prima ... Madrigale iii;' and 'A Berillo, Canzone di Pentimento,
Madrigale ii.'
[10] 'De Libras Proprus,' I 3, quoted by Orelli and Alessandro d'Ancona.
'Opere di Tommaso Campanella,' vol. I. p 3.
[11] 'Opere di Tommaso Campanella,' vol. I p. ccci.
[12] Campanella's own poetry justified this curious nom de plume
adopted for him by his editor. See in particular 'Salmodia

Metafisicale,' canzone terza, madrigale ix.

'Tre canzon, nate a un parto
Da questa mia settimontana testa,
Al
suon dolente di pensosa squilla.'
[13] These are the sonnets entitled by Adami 'La detta Congiunzione
cade nella revoluzione della Natività di Cristo,' and 'Sonetto cavato dall'
Apocalisse e Santa Brigida,' D'Ancona, vol. 1. pp. 97, 98.
[14] In this respect rifacimento of 1623 has greater literary merits-- the
merits of mere smoothness, clearness, grammatical coherence, and
intelligibility--than the autograph; and I can understand the preference
of some students for the former, though I do not share it Michelangelo
the younger added fluency and grace to his great-uncle's composition
by the sacrifice of much that is most characteristic, and by the omission
of much that is profound and vigorous and weighty.
PROEM.
THE PHILOSOPHIC FLIGHT.
Poi che spiegate.
Now that these wings to speed my wish ascend,
The more I feel vast air beneath my feet,
The more toward boundless
air on pinions fleet,
Spurning the earth, soaring to heaven, I tend:

Nor makes them stoop their flight the direful end
Of Daedal's son; but upward still they beat:--
What life the while with
my life can compete,
Though dead to earth at last I shall descend?

My own heart's voice in the void air I hear:
Where wilt thou bear me, O rash man? Recall
Thy daring will! This
boldness waits on fear!
Dread not, I answer, that tremendous fall:
Strike through the clouds, and smile when death is near, If death so
glorious be our doom at all!
THE SONNETS

OF
MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTI
I.
ON DANTE ALIGHIERI.
Dal ciel discese.
From heaven his