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Michelangelo, The Poet
Besides being a supreme sculptor and painter, Michelangelo was also a poet and writer. Michelangelo himself did not regard his work highly, defining his poetry as "something foolish". His poems were first published in 1623 by his grand-nephew, also called Michelangelo. His poetical output, however, is so highly regarded that many great English and American poets have translated his work into English. His work was made famous in the English-speaking world thanks to the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), who translated his poems into English. I give bellow a small selection of his poetry translated into English.
Celestial Light
No mortal thing enthralled these longing eyes
When perfect peace in thy fair face I found;
But far within, where all is holy ground,
My soul felt Love, her comrade of the skies:
For she was born with God in Paradise;
Nor all the shows of beauty shed around
This fair false world her wings to earth have bound:
Unto the Love of Loves aloft she flies.
Nay, things that suffer death, quench not the fire
Of deathless spirits; nor eternity
Serves sordid Time, that withers all things rare.
Not love but lawless impulse is desire:
That slays the soul; our love makes still more fair
Our friends on earth, fairer in death on high.
Translated by John Addington Symonds (1840-1893)
To Vittoria Colonna
When the prime mover of many sighs
Heaven took through death from out her earthly place,
Nature, that never made so fair a face,
Remained ashamed, and tears were in all eyes.
O fate, unheeding my impassioned cries!
O hopes fallacious! O thou spirit of grace,
Where art thou now? Earth holds in its embrace
Thy lovely limbs, thy holy thoughts the skies.
Vainly did cruel death attempt to stay
The rumor of thy virtuous renown,
That Lethe's waters could not wash away!
A thousand leaves, since he hath stricken thee down,
Speak of thee, not to thee could Heaven convey,
Except through death, a refuge and a crown.
Translated by H.W. Longfellow (1807-1882)
Song
Ravished by all that to the eyes is fair,
Yet hungry for the joys that truly bless,
My soul can find no stair
To mount to Heaven, save earth's loveliness.
For from the stars above
Descends a glorious light
That lifts our longing to their highest height
And bears the name of love.
Nor is there aught can move
A gentle heart, or purge or make it wise,
But beauty and the starlight of her eyes.
Translated by George Santayana (1863-1952)
Love's Justification
Yes! hope may with my strong desire keep pace, And I be undeluded, unbetrayed: For if of our affections none find grace
In sight of Heaven, then wherefore hath God made
The world which we inhabit? Better plea
Love cannot have, than that in loving thee
Glory to that eternal peace is paid,
Who such divinity to thee imparts
As hallows and makes pure all gentle hearts.
His hope is treacherous only whose love dies
With beauty, which is varying every hour;
But, in chaste hearts uninfluenced by the power
Of outward change, there blooms a deathless flower,
That breathes on earth the air of paradise.
Translated by William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
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