A Decade of Italian Women, vol. 1 (of 2)Trollope, Thomas Adolphus
History
A Decade of Italian Women, vol. 1 (of 2)
Trollope, Thomas Adolphus
Italy -- Biography; Women -- Biography
Again, in the following sonnet will be remarked a tone of thought and
style of phrase perfectly congenial to modern devotional feeling of
what is termed the evangelical school; while it is assuredly not such
as would meet the approval of orthodox members of either the Roman
Catholic or Anglo-Catholic churches:
"Quando dal lume, il cui vivo splendore
Rende il petto fedel lieto e sicuro,
Si dissolve per grazia il ghiaccio duro,
Che sovente si gela intorno al core,
Sento ai bei lampi del possente ardore
Cader delle mie colpe il manto oscuro,
E vestirmi in quel punto il chiaro e puro
Della prima innocenza e primo amore.
E sebben con serrata e fida chiave
Serro quel raggio; egli è scivo e sottile,
Si ch'un basso pensier lo scaccia e sdegna.
Ond'ei ratto sen vola; io mesta e grave
Rimango, e 'l prego che d'ogni ombra vile
Mi spogli, acciò più presto a me sen vegna."
Which may be thus, with tolerable accuracy, rendered into English:
"When by the light, whose living ray both peace
And joy to faithful bosoms doth impart,
The indurated ice, around the heart
So often gather'd, is dissolved through grace,
Beneath that blessed radiance from above
Falls from me the dark mantle of my sin;
Sudden I stand forth pure and radiant in
The garb of primal innocence and love.
And though I strive with lock and trusty key
To keep that ray, so subtle 'tis and coy,
By one low thought 'tis scared and put to flight.
So flies it from me. I in sorrowing plight
Remain, and pray, that he from base alloy
May purge me, so the light come sooner back to me."
Here, in addition to the "points of doctrine" laid down in the previous
sonnet, we have that of sudden and instantaneous conversion and
sanctification; and that without any aid from sacrament, altar, or
priest.
Similar thoughts are again expressed in the next sonnet selected, which
in Signor Visconti's edition immediately follows the preceding:
"Spiego per voi, mia luce, indarno l'ale,
Prima che 'l caldo vostro interno vento
M'apra l'ere d'ntorno, ora ch'io sento
Vincer da nuovo ardir l'antico male;
Chè giunga all'infinito opra mortale
Opra vostra è, Signor, che in un momento
La può far degna; ch'io da me pavento
Di cader col pensier quand'ei più sale.
Bramo quell'invisibil chiaro lume,
Che fuga densa nebbia; e quell'accesa
Secreta fiamma, ch'ogni gel consuma.
Onde poi, sgombra dal terren costume,
Tutta al divino amor l'anima intesa
Si mova al volo altero in altra piuma."
Thus done into English:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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