A Song Of Italy Classic Reprint

Author : Ellen Mary Clerke
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9780364191125
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (911 download)

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Download or read book Fable and Song in Italy (Classic Reprint) written by Ellen Mary Clerke and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2018-03-09 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Fable and Song in Italy The aim of this little volume is twofold. First, to trace out some of the influences acting on the more popular forms of Italian song; and secondly, to offer to English readers, in the shape of translated extracts, specimens of Italian poets whose works difficulties of language have hitherto rendered inaccessible to the general public. In carrying out the first part of my programme, I have specially dwelt in the early chapters on the survival of classical myths in popular tradition, and on their trans formation and modification at the hands of minstrels and poets. As Boiardo is the great exemplar, among the more polished bards, of this species of assimilation, I have illustrated it by following out some of the episodes in which he has thus blended antique and mediaeval mythology, so as to present them in consecutive and intelligible form. It is only in this fashion that the chivalric epic can be rendered readable to contempo raries, since its prolixity and discursiveness make it wearisome to pursue continuously as a whole. Its ori ginal composition for piecemeal recitation places it in a totally different category from modern literature, addressed primarily to the mind through the eye. In the chapters on Giusti and Manzoni I have tried to emphasise their position as the two great influences on the growth of modern Italian, the one through his verse, the other through his prose, the unapproached and unapproachable masterpieces of their respective spheres of art. My second object has been in the selection of passages for translation, to Open up as far as possible new ground, choosing works that have not as yet been naturalised in English literature. Since there is no version of the Orlando Innamorato in our language, I have drawn largely on it for passages illustrative of my subject, especially as its beauties are, even in Italian, disguised by the obsoleteness of the language, and it has therefore the less to lose in the change of dress. In my selections from Ariosto, again, I have borrowed more extensively from his sparkling verse-letters than from his better known Orlando Furioso, since the latter is available in a very adequate English translation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.