pickThe first translation I tried. David Young uses minimal notes and that didn‘t work for me. So I picked up two other translations. This is a plain language poetic translation. That‘s odd in places. And his translation sometimes contradicted Mark Musa‘s (who is probably more accurate.) But Young reads easy and will get you through this in a nice way of you are willing to go with his flow. (I wasn‘t entirely willing).
My new project.
I like that the introduction includes some wonderful critical quotes like “In the chemistry of the spirit the emotions do not neutralize each other.” And, “every moment in our existence contains in itself the substance of a poem” by Morris Bishop. I‘ll read Bishop‘s book on Petrarch next.
New Renaissance course is a serious infringement on my recreational reading. 😖 This week is especially tortuous since most of the poetry assigned revolves around love themes. What was with Shakespeare‘s reproductive obsession in his sonnets? I could understand sex, but these are admonishments to have offspring. Weird.
Time is our delight and our prison. It binds all human beings together, since we all share the pleasures and burdens of memory, and we all know the anticipation of cherished goals and the dark prospect of personal mortality.
The Poetry of Petrarch | 
