trionfi.com
Boiardo Page
translated by Jane Cocker & the Boiardo group
known translation has been published in the English language. One of the main reasons we started the Boiardo
site was to work on translating the poem. In the beginning none of us were from Italy or had
proficient knowledge of the language. We started the translation with pure will and enthusiasm.
It's not complete, but it will evolve...
di Matteo Maria Boiardo
sopra un novo gioco di carte.
Subject of the chapters told
by Matteo Maria Boiardo
about a new game of cards.
-----
Quattro passion de l'anima signora
hanno quaranta carte in questo gioco;
a la più degna la minor dà loco,
e il lor significato le colora.
Four passions of the lady soul
they have forty cards in this game;
to the most worthy the lower gives rank
and the suits their meaning.
-----
Quattro figure ha ogni color ancora,
che ai debiti suo' offici tutte loco,
con vinti et un trionfo; e al più vil loco
è un folle, poi che 'l folle el mondo adora.
Four figures (face cards) more have each suit
that all rank to the proper office,
with twenty and one triumphs, and the lowest rank
it is a Fool, because the world adores folly.
-----
Amor, speranza, gelosia e timore
son le passion, e un terzetto han le carte
per non lassar chi giocarà in errore.
Love, Hope, Jealousy, and Fear
are the passions, and a tercet have the cards,
in order not to leave, who plays, in error.
-----
Il numero ne' versi si comparte,
uno, due, tre, sin al grado maggiore,
resta mo' a te trovar del gioco l'arte.
The number in the verses themselves appear:
One, Two, Three, but if to the greater degree:
It remains up to you to find the art of the game.
The Sonnet at the Opening
1 Sonnet = 14 lines
= 2 quartetts + 2 tercets
= 2 x 4 lines + 2 x 3 lines
The two quartetts present thesis and antithesis of the theme, the two tercets form the synthesis. Quartetts (a - b - b - a) and tercets (a - b - a) have a rhyme. In the poem Boiardo did chose for the starting sonnet the endings:
ra - co - co - ra
ra - co - co - ra
re - te - re
te - re - te
Probably the number 14 inside the card deck structure (10 pip cards + 4 court cards) could inspire the poet to use the sonnet-form (14 lines).
The deck has 4 "passions", which are used as suits. There are 40 pip-cards, which present the suits (1st quartett).
Each suit has 4 court cards. And there are 21 trumps and one fool, who has the lowest rank in the play (2nd quartett).
The four suits are Amor, Speranza, Gelosia and Timor (Love, Hope, Jealousy and Fear). On each card is a tercet (3-line-poem) (1st tercet(
By a complex word-game Boiardo at the begin of each tercet uses a word, which starts with the same letters similar as the number row in Italian language (uno, duo, tres, quattro etc.). The reader shall find out his poetical trick (trovar del gioco l'arte) (2nd tercet; end of sonnet).
Bellissimi Sopra Il Timore,
Gelosia, Speranza, Amore, Del
Conte Matheo Maria Boiardo
Beginning Five Beautifulst Chapters
On Fear, Jealousy, Hope, Love, By The
Conte Matheo Maria Boiardo
-----
CAPTIULO I (TIMOR)
CHAPTER I (FEAR)
-----
1) TIMOR un'alma tien tanto dubiosa
Ch'ella ha poca ragion di viver lieta,
Qual mai non gode e sempre è paurosa.
Fear holds many doubtful nourishing
That she has little reason to live happy
Which never enjoys and is always dreadful.
-----
2) TIMOR, dov'è qualche pericol, vieta
Pigliar piacere, e tanto un om fa vile,
Che l'animo ragion mai non acquieta.
Fear, where some peril is, forbids
To take pleasure, and makes many a man cowardly,
That reason never eases the mind.
-----
3) TIMOR tremar fa l'agnel ne l'ovile
Se di fuor sente il lupo, e si sta chiuso,
Che appena intrar gli puo il vento sottile.
Fear makes the lamb tremble in its fold
From outside it feels the wolf, and it remains closed
That the power of a slight wind scarcely enters.
-----
4) TIMOR quattro destrier d'un carro a l'uso
Sotto una virga tiene a un giogo stretti;
E molti in servitu, che non gli excuso.
Fear four steeds of a chariot to use
Beneath a rod it holds to a tightend yoke;
And many in bondage, than not the excuse.
-----
5) TIMOR ci tien talor, che i nostri effetti
Non possiam dimostrar, ché assai ne offende,
Che compagni al timor sono i rispetti.
Fear holds us at times, that our effects
Not able to demonstrate, that much about it offends
That have been in respects companions to the fear.
The chapter Timor starts with 14 tercets (one tercet for each card; on the cards, that survived, the text is on the cards.
Each tercet in the suits starts with the title, in this case "Timor" (fear). The next word is in this case "UN'alma", cause the number of the card is one, in Italian "Uno", which refers to "UN'Alma". This is Boiardos "gioco l'arte" mentioned in the sonnet above. It is played on all 40 number tercets.