’Tis thou who so our human state
Ennobledst, that its Maker deigned
Himself his creature’s son to be.
This flower, in th’ endless peace, was gained
Through kindling of God’s love in thee.
In this passage nine Italian lines of eleven syllables are converted into eight lines of eight syllables each. We submit it to the candid reader of Italian to say, whether aught of the original has been sacrificed to brevity.
The rejection of all superfluity, the conciseness and simplicity to which the translator is obliged by octosyllabic verse, compensate for the partial loss of that breadth of sweep for which decasyllabic verse gives more room, but of which the translator of Dante does not feel the want.
One more short passage of four lines,—the famous figure of the lark in the twentieth Canto of the “Paradiso”:—
Like lark that through the air careers,
First singing, then, silent his heart,