Arnaut Daniel Quotes

Arnaut Daniel was an Occitan troubadour of the 12th century, praised by Dante as a "the best smith" and called a "grand master of love" by Petrarch. In the 20th century he was lauded by Ezra Pound in The Spirit of Romance as the greatest poet to have ever lived. Wikipedia  

✵ 1150 – 1210
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Arnaut Daniel: 5   quotes 0   likes

Famous Arnaut Daniel Quotes

“Briefly bursteth season brisk,
Blasty north breeze racketh branch,
Branches rasp each branch on each
Tearing twig and tearing leafage.”

En breu brizara'l temps braus
E'l biza, e'l brus e'l blancx
Qui s'entresenhon trastuig
De sobre claus ram de fuelha.
"En breu brizara'l temps braus", line 1; translation from Ezra Pound Instigations (1920) p. 309.

“First of them all was Arnaut Daniel,
Master in love; and he his native land
Honors with the strange beauty of his verse.”

Fra tutti il primo Arnaldo Danïello
Gran maestro d'amor; ch'a la sua terra
Ancor fa onor col suo dir strano e bello.
Petrarch Il Trionfo d'Amore, capitolo IV, line 40; uncredited translation from petrarch.petersadlon.com http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/read_trionfi.html?page=I-IV.en
Criticism

“"O brother," said he, "He who is singled by
My finger (he pointed to a spirit in front)
Wrought better in the mother-tongue than I.
Whether in verses of love or prose romaunt
He surpassed all; and let the fools contend
Who make him of Limoges of more account.”

"O frate," disse, "chesti qu'io ti cerno
col ditto," e additò un spirto innanzi,
"fu miglior fabbro del parlar materno.
Versi d'amore e prose di romanzi
soverchiò tutti; e lascia dir li stolti
che quel di Lemosì credon ch'avanzi.
Dante Purgatorio, canto 26, line 115; translation by Laurence Binyon, in Dante's Purgatorio (1938) p. 309.
Criticism

“I am Arnaut who love the wind,
And chase the hare with the ox,
And swim against the torrent.”

Ieu sui Arnautz qu'amas l'aura
E cas la lebre ab lo bueu
E nadi contra suberna.
"Ab gai so cundet e leri", line 43; translation from Ezra Pound The Spirit of Romance (1910) p. 30.

“And even if the cold wind blows,
The love that rains in my heart
Keeps me the warmer the colder it is.”

"Ab gai so cundet e leri", line 12; translation by Leonardo Malcovati http://www.trobar.org/troubadours/arnaut_daniel/arnaut_daniel_04.php

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