Cinque Canti / Five CantosThis new translation brings to English-speaking readers an intense and brooding work by the greatest poet of the Italian Renaissance, Ludovico Ariosto. Begun as a sequel to his epic masterpiece Orlando Furioso (1516), the unfinished Cinque Canti are a powerful poem in their own right. Tragic in tone,they depict the disintegration of the chivalric world of Charlemagne and his knights and give poetic expression to a sense of cultural, political, and religious crisis felt in Ariosto's Italy and in early sixteenth-century Europe more generally. David Quint's introduction freshly examines the literary sources and models of the Cinque Canti and discusses the cultural contexts and historical occasions of the poem. Printed with facing Italian text, this volume allows the modern reader to experience a work of Renaissance literature whose savage beauty still has the power to chill and fascinate. |
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Common terms and phrases
Alcina alcun altri altro anco ancor andar andò appresso Ariosto army Astolfo avea avean aver avesse avria Baldovino Bradamante Canto Cardorano Carlo cavallier cento ch'a ch'avea ch'era ch'in ch'io Charles Charles's ché ciel Cinque Canti ciò Claudian court courtier d'ogni Demogorgon destrier detto dietro Durindana Emperor enemy Envy esser faccia facea Fairies fatto fece forza Francia fretta Ganelon Gano gente giorno Gloricia gran horse Innamorato insieme King knights l'altro l'un lord lungo Lupo maggior Mainz Malagigi mano Marfisa mezo molti molto mondo Montauban Morgana Namo nimico nome ogni Oliviero Orlando Furioso Orlando Innamorato Ottone Penticone petto Pharsalia più poco poem potea poter Prague Prince può quei quivi Ricardo Rinaldo Ruggiero seco sempre signor stanza Tassillone tempo tenea terra tosto traditor traitor troops tutta tutte tutto Unuldo vede veder venne venuto verso Vertumnus volte vuol