The Complete Poems of MichelangeloThere is no artist more celebrated than Michelangelo. Yet the magnificence of his achievements as a visual artist often overshadow his devotion to poetry. Michelangelo used poetry to express what was too personal to display in sculpture or painting. John Frederick Nims has brought the entire body of Michelangelo's verse, from the artist's ardent twenties to his anguished and turbulent eighties, to life in English in this unprecedented collection. The result is a tantalizing glimpse into a most fascinating mind. "Wonderful. . . . Nims gives us Michelangelo whole: the polymorphous love sonneteer, the political allegorist, and the solitary singer of madrigals."—Kirkus Reviews "A splendid, fresh and eloquent translation. . . . Nims, an eminent poet and among the best translators of our time, conveys the full meaning and message of Michelangelo's love sonnets and religious poems in fluently rhymed, metrical forms."—St. Louis Post-Dispatch "The best so far. . . . Nims is best at capturing the sound and sense of Michelangelo's poetic vocabulary."—Choice "Surely the most compelling translations of Michelangelo currently available in English."—Ronald L. Martinez, Washington Times |
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Page vii
... fire 74. I weep , I burn - burn up ! —my heart thereby 75. Too much ! the way he flaunts himself around 76. Whether or not the light I long for , sent 77. Supposing the passionate fire your eyes enkindle 78. From grief I cherished to a ...
... fire 74. I weep , I burn - burn up ! —my heart thereby 75. Too much ! the way he flaunts himself around 76. Whether or not the light I long for , sent 77. Supposing the passionate fire your eyes enkindle 78. From grief I cherished to a ...
Page viii
... fire of the frigid stone it waits 64. If fire can melt down steel and shatter flint 65. Just when I'm lost in adoration of you 66. Maybe , so I'd look kindly on souls in need 67. A new and more commendable delight 68. Then there's this ...
... fire of the frigid stone it waits 64. If fire can melt down steel and shatter flint 65. Just when I'm lost in adoration of you 66. Maybe , so I'd look kindly on souls in need 67. A new and more commendable delight 68. Then there's this ...
Page ix
Michelangelo. US X 122. If fire , so quick to char 123. The more it seems I agonize , the more 124. My lady is so impetuous , devil - may - care 125. Such wealth of promise lies 126. If the soul , in truth , from body once set free 127 ...
Michelangelo. US X 122. If fire , so quick to char 123. The more it seems I agonize , the more 124. My lady is so impetuous , devil - may - care 125. Such wealth of promise lies 126. If the soul , in truth , from body once set free 127 ...
Page xvi
... fire 134 • III 20 THE FOUR LAST THINGS ( 1547-1564 ) 136 267. I'm packaged in here like the pulp in fruit 268. Because age steals away 143 144 269. Now armed with biting ice , now tongues of fire 270. You give me only what you're ...
... fire 134 • III 20 THE FOUR LAST THINGS ( 1547-1564 ) 136 267. I'm packaged in here like the pulp in fruit 268. Because age steals away 143 144 269. Now armed with biting ice , now tongues of fire 270. You give me only what you're ...
Page 8
... fire's mortal ecstasy . ( 56 ) He was fifty - seven when he wrote those words , with only about fifty poems to show for the third of a century that covered the first period of his poetry - an average of less than two poems a year , half ...
... fire's mortal ecstasy . ( 56 ) He was fifty - seven when he wrote those words , with only about fifty poems to show for the third of a century that covered the first period of his poetry - an average of less than two poems a year , half ...
Contents
III | 9 |
V | 10 |
VI | 11 |
VIII | 12 |
XII | 13 |
XV | 14 |
XIX | 15 |
XX | 16 |
CXXVI | 91 |
CXXIX | 92 |
CXXX | 93 |
CXXXIV | 94 |
CXXXV | 95 |
CXXXVI | 96 |
CXLII | 97 |
CXLVI | 98 |
XXII | 17 |
XXIII | 18 |
XXIV | 19 |
XXVII | 20 |
XXVIII | 21 |
XXX | 22 |
XXXIII | 23 |
XXXVI | 24 |
XLI | 25 |
XLII | 26 |
XLIII | 27 |
XLIV | 28 |
XLV | 29 |
XLVI | 30 |
XLVII | 31 |
XLVIII | 34 |
L | 36 |
LI | 47 |
LIV | 48 |
LVII | 49 |
LVIII | 50 |
LIX | 51 |
LX | 54 |
LXI | 56 |
LXII | 57 |
LXIII | 58 |
LXIV | 59 |
LXVII | 60 |
LXX | 61 |
LXXI | 62 |
LXXII | 63 |
LXXIII | 64 |
LXXIV | 65 |
LXXVI | 67 |
LXXVII | 68 |
LXXVIII | 69 |
LXXIX | 70 |
LXXX | 71 |
LXXXIII | 72 |
LXXXIV | 73 |
LXXXVII | 74 |
LXXXIX | 75 |
XCI | 76 |
XCII | 77 |
XCVI | 78 |
XCVIII | 79 |
CI | 80 |
CII | 81 |
CVI | 82 |
CVII | 83 |
CXI | 84 |
CXII | 85 |
CXIII | 86 |
CXVI | 87 |
CXVIII | 88 |
CXIX | 89 |
CXXIII | 90 |
CXLIX | 99 |
CLIII | 100 |
CLVII | 101 |
CLVIII | 102 |
CLIX | 103 |
CLXIII | 104 |
CLXVII | 105 |
CLXVIII | 106 |
CLXIX | 107 |
CLXXII | 108 |
CLXXIII | 109 |
CLXXIV | 110 |
CLXXV | 111 |
CLXXVII | 112 |
CLXXVIII | 113 |
CLXXIX | 114 |
CLXXX | 115 |
CLXXXI | 116 |
CLXXXII | 117 |
CLXXXVII | 118 |
CLXXXVIII | 119 |
CLXXXIX | 120 |
CXC | 121 |
CXCI | 122 |
CXCII | 123 |
CXCIII | 124 |
CXCVI | 125 |
CXCVII | 126 |
CXCVIII | 127 |
CCI | 128 |
CCIV | 129 |
CCV | 130 |
CCIX | 131 |
CCX | 132 |
CCXIV | 133 |
CCXV | 134 |
CCXVI | 136 |
CCXVIII | 143 |
CCXIX | 144 |
CCXXI | 145 |
CCXXII | 146 |
CCXXIII | 147 |
CCXXIV | 148 |
CCXXV | 149 |
CCXXVI | 150 |
CCXXIX | 151 |
CCXXX | 152 |
CCXXXI | 153 |
CCXXXII | 154 |
CCXXXVI | 155 |
CCXXXVII | 156 |
CCXXXVIII | 157 |
CCXXXIX | 159 |
CCXL | 165 |
CCXLI | 167 |
CCXLII | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
aflame aglow angel anguish arms arrows beautiful and cruel better born Bracci breath burning Cambon Cecchino Clements Date uncertain dead death delight divine Donato Giannotti earth Eugenio Montale eyes face fate feel fire flame flesh Florence forever Francesco Berni gift Girardi give glow grace grief heart heaven heavenly hope kill kindles lady beautiful Last Judgment less life's live Lord love poems love's loveliness lovers Madrigal Mastrocola means Medici Chapel mercy Michel Michelangelo Buonarroti Michelangelo's note reads mind mortal never night once ottava rima pain passion perhaps pleasure poet poetry pope Probably for Cavalieri quatrain rhyme Riccio reads Rome Rondanini Pietà sculpture seems sestet sigh Sistine Chapel soul soul's stone sweet T. S. Eliot tears tercets terza rima thanks there's things thought tomb torment translation true Unfinished sonnet Vasari versions Vittoria Colonna what's who's words worse