Overview

Petrarch's Canzoniere stands as one of the greatest and most influential collections of love poetry ever written. In a classic story of love at first sight, the young poet expresses in beautiful verse his unrequited reverence for Laura, a muse who would prove as inspirational as Beatrice to Dante. Stricken with grief after Laura's death, Petrarch transmuted his sorrow onto the page and continued working on the Canzoniere until his own passing. At once movingly romantic and grandly meditative, always present within Petrarch's lines is a tension between his earthly desire and his spiritual longing for divine grace. In this monumental translation, the project of a lifetime, renowned poet A.M. Juster preserves the original text's formal elegance, honoring Petrarch's rhyme and meter while also capturing the profound religious and philosophical undertones that imbue the work. Rather than framing Canzoniere as mere ""troubadour poetry,"" this version highlights its classical roots and contemporary sensibilities. Juster, a celebrated poet and translator, brings Petrarch's vision to life with precision and grace, offering a rendition that is both faithful to the original and eminently accessible to contemporary readers.?

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9781324096498

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Reviews

After working tirelessly for three decades, A.M. Juster has produced an extraordinary translation of Petrarch's?Canzoniere. One cannot help being struck by the care to metrical form and language Juster offers, and with an expert's knowledge of classical Latin, Juster brilliantly guides us through the maze of Petrarch's lines.--Paul Mariani I find it impossible to overpraise this new edition of Petrarch's?Canzoniere. Andrew Frisardi's?introductory?essay alone is worth the price of the book--a magisterial overview of the poet, his work, and the age. A.M. Juster's rhymed translations re-create Petrarch's forms without losing either their lyrical passion or vernacular energy. Juster gives us the sense of a real person exploring his complicated?emotional and spiritual life. This new book allows American readers to understand why Petrarch became the central poet of the Renaissance.--Dana Gioia This edition of?Canzoniere?brings Petrarch's Italian to life for English readers with skill and beauty. Juster's translation will prove essential both to newcomers and long-standing admirers.--Philip Bunn

Author Information

A.M. Juster is the nom de plume of poet, translator, and critic Michael J. Astrue. His first book of poetry, The Secret Language of Women, won the 2002 Richard Wilbur Award. He has also won the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award three times as well as the Willis Barnstone Translation Prize. A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, Astrue had a long career in the federal government, where he worked in senior positions for four presidents. From 2007 to 2013, he was commissioner of the Social Security Administration. Andrew Frisardi is a poet, translator, critic, and editor. In 2013, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for annotated translations of Dante’s Vita Nuova and Convivio. He lives in Lazio, Italy, and Boston.

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