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The Book of the Quest
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Alessandra's Poetry
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| The Poetry of
Gaspara Stampa This item of entertainment consists of two poems by Gaspara Stampa. They were published in the book Rime, a collection of Stampa's poems published posthumously in 1554. Gaspara Stampa (1523-1554) was the daughter of a well-off Venetian family, who held a salon of poets, writers, musicians and others in their home. She and her sister were educated as musicians, but when she fell in love at twenty with a nobleman she could not hope to marry, she began writing. The first poem, a Petrachan style sonnet, relates to this unstable love affair. After this first love ended, Stampa fell in love once more and this is the inspiration behind the second poem. Source and Poem Translations: Fiora A Bassanese Gaspara Stampa (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1982) |
CXI Ah set me where the angry sea wails and breaks, Where the waters are most calm and tranquil; Ah set me where the sun blazes and shines the most, Or where the ice pierces and torments others; Ah set me in the frozen Don or in the cold Ganges, Where sweet balms and manna ooze, Where evil poisons sparkle in the air, And where one laughs and weeps for love. Ah set me where the cruel and godless Scythian strikes, Or where calm and undisturbed people are, Or where sooner or later man lives and dies, I'll live as I've lived, I'll be as I was, So long as my own two loyal stars Do not turn away their wonted light. CCVIII Love has made me such that I live in fire, Like a second salamander in this world Or like the phoenix that lives and dies in the same place. All my delights and my game Are to live in flames and never feel the pain And never care if he who leads me to this, Pities me little or much. |
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