Silvae (I Tatti Renaissance Library) [Hardcover]

Angelo Poliziano (Author), Charles Fantazzi (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 2004 | Series: I Tatti Renaissance Library (Book 14)

Angelo Poliziano (1454-1494) was one of the great scholar-poets of the Renaissance and a leading figure in the circle of Lorenzo de'Medici "il Magnifico" in Florence. His "Silvae" are poetical introductions to his courses in literature at the University of Florence, written in Latin hexameters. They not only contain some of the finest Latin poetry of the Renaissance, but also afford unique insight into the poetical credo of a brilliant scholar as he considers the works of his Greek and Latin predecessors as well as of his contemporaries writing in Italian.

(20050701)

Editorial Reviews

Review

At once expansive, elegiac, and exact, Fantazzi's translation brings Poliziano to us with affecting grace.
--William J. Kennedy (Renaissance Quarterly )

About the Author

Charles Fantazzi is Thomas Harriot Distinguished Visiting Professor of Classics and Italian at East Carolina University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (July 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674014804
• ISBN-13: 978-0674014800
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,525,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Renaissance Fan Fiction, June 25, 2010

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This review is from: Silvae (I Tatti Renaissance Library) (Hardcover)

Angelo Poliziano, the fifteenth century scholar-poet, is considered "one of the finest Neo-Latin poets of the Renaissance," (vii) and this collection from the I Tatti Renaissance Library makes it clear why. Each of the four "silvae" pays homage to the great poetic works of antiquity. "Manto" is about the poet Virgil and his hometown of Mantua, and contains a summary of his complete works. Those who know Virgil's Latin will especially enjoy Poliziano's clever variations on favorite lines from the Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid. In the "Rusticus," Poliziano pays tribute to Hesiod and Virgil by trying his hand at bucolic poetry. He describes the pleasures of life in the country with the clarity and earthiness of one who has really lived it. The "Ambra" does for Homer what the "Manto" did for Virgil; it's a very cool portrait of the life of Homer. Finally, the "Nutricia" represents Poliziano's vision of the complete panoply of great authors, from the Greeks and Romans to Dante Alighieri and Lorenzo de Medici.

For scholars, this collection is interesting as a work of Renaissance poetics and as an indicator of where classical scholarship stood in the latter half of the fifteenth century. As usual with I Tatti books, you are given a helpful introduction, the original Latin text, notes on the Latin and its English translation, and a select bibliography.

For poetry lovers, especially those who love ancient and especially epic poetry, these four "silvae" can't be missed. Poliziano's Latin is impeccable, of course, but Charles Fantazzi has produced an admirable prose translation that reads very well as English.