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Sonnets (Oneworld Classics) (Oneworld Classics)

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Sonnets (Oneworld Classics) (Oneworld Classics) (Paperback)

by Giuseppe Gioachino Belli (Author)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Oneworld Classics Ltd; New edition edition (29 Jun 2007)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1847490115
ISBN-13: 978-1847490117
Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2.2 cm

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 667,889 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Writing clandestine sonnets in local dialect for over fifteen years whilst leading a respectably conformist life of letters and bureaucracy, Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli erected a lasting poetical monument to the people of nineteenth-century Rome. Set against the chequered background of the city of the six Ps - Pope, priests, princes, prostitutes, parasites and the poor - Belli's sometimes scandalous sonnets deal with life's elementals: love, death, sex, food, money, family, religion and politics. In his immense oeuvre, sampled here in a sizeable and varied selection of the best poems, people from every course and manner of life have their say - housewives, mothers, beggars, lovers, businessmen, popes, whores, doctors, thieves, lawyers, priests, penpushers, actresses, gossips and many more. Their voices and preoccupations are brilliantly and accurately rendered in this volume by Mike Stocks, one of the finest sonneteers of our day.

From the Publisher

First translation of one of Italian Literature's most loved poets. Translated by Mike Stocks, one of the finest sonneteers of our day. Dual-language edition, ideal for students of Italian literature and poetry lovers. Thoroughly edited and extensively annotated.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Language of the Streets, 31 Jan 2009

By	Paul D "Paul" (Darwen, Lancashire) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli (1791-1863) wrote over a thousand sonnets, mainly in Romanesco, the dialect spoken by the descendants of the original inhabitants of Rome, and which is still very much alive today. Belli later repudiated much of his writing, even asking one of his friends to destroy his works. Fortunately, the request was ignored, and as a result we can enjoy one of literature's most distinctive voices, earthy, witty, sometimes vulgar, always passionate. Two of his poems, "The Mother of Saintly Women" and "The Father of Saintly Men" consist of over two dozen different names for the genitalia of both sexes.

In other poems, Belli pours scorn on what he imagines is the true attitude of the Pope:

What does he do, the Pope? He fools around,
has sleepy-poos, drinks coffee, stuffs his face,
waves from the window, slobs around the place,
takes Rome to be his private stomping ground.

he tells of the daily life of the poor:

My poor old granny leaves her spinning wheel
and pokes the fire when daddy gets back late
and sets the table for the little meal
we'll sit down to;

always employing down to earth language. This is wittily translated by Mike Stocks, one of the finest sonneteers of our time. Not afraid of earthy language and idiomatic expression, Stock allows us to share in the sheer joy of language, an especial gift when dealing with a translation.

This book collects over sixty of Belli's poems, together with succinct notes and brief details of Belli's colourful life and career. In addition, the book contains several translations into Scots dialect by the
poet Robert Garioch (1909-81). The lines quoted above, from "The Good Family", are rendered into Scots by Garioch:

Faither wins hame, my grannie leaves her wheel,
puir sowl, gies owre her spinning for the nicht;
she lays the buird, blaws her wee coal alicht,
and we sit-in to sup our puckle kail.

This serves to give the reader an even clearer idea of how Belli's originals would sound to a native Italian speaker. The book itself is bilingual, with the original on the left, and the translation facing. A select bibliography directs the interested reader to other useful works.

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