Complete Poems and Selected Letters of Michelangelo

Great Book

For many years, I belonged to a reading group who explored different angles of diversity in literature; Michelangelo's poetry was one of the books we used, as it gave us the opportunity to explore different aspects at the same time. How would someone whose creative genius in some media (painting, sculpture, architecture) made him an immortal in history translate onto the written page? Would Michelangelo's sexual orientation, always a topic of debate based upon various images in paint and stone, as well as personal stories and correspondence, be more observable, or more obscured by his poetry?Gilbert presents a very good volume of Michelangelo's poetry - coupled with selected letters, this gives a good insight into the spirit of Michelangelo beyond the visual artistic productions. The poems are translated into verse form, not a choppy word-for-word translation, and there are notes that are helpful without being distracting.Gilbert begins with a brief biographical essay, exploring Michelangelo's artistry and relationships - so far as his poetry is concerned, he was not widely published in his lifetime, but did have some poems circulated, and sought the critical analysis and advice of other respected literary figures of the day. Michelangelo's poetry was known well enough to become the subject of composition (Bartolommeo Tromboncino set one poem to music) and general reference (Benedetto Varchi, when lecturing on artistic theory, used Michelangelo's poetry as examples).Michelangelo's grand-nephew, in publishing the poems in 1623, changed phrases and pronouns to make the poems conform to standard conventions - men would not be writing love poems to men, etc., and this change continued into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries unquestioned. This, however, is not a major theme in this volume.With regard to the quality of the poems, Michelangelo's literary output was less admired for its aesthetic and technical value as much as for the ideas contained therein. Even here, Michelangelo's ideas were fairly conventional, common among the educated literati, and rarely giving profound insight. Even so, his poetry was artful, technically interesting if not brilliant, and full of emotion as Michelangelo was known to be.The poetry here is full of passion; the early ones full of the kind of love and passion of a young lover; the later ones looking for a spiritual value and perfection unattainable in this world even with the chisel or brush or Michelangelo. He incorporates a kind of Neoplatonic admiration of the ideal over the physical, and has a sort of pessimism even in the height of passion. He often looks upon the body as frail, fragile, a 'temporary wrapper for the soul' - this contrasts dramatically against his visual art, particularly sculpture, where the powerful bodies (most often male) were Michelangelo's 'signature'.Michelangelo did not study Latin, so classical references are less here than more common contemporary influences. There are many magnificent lines and phrases here; I found my highlighter coming out numerous times throughout the poetry, and certain images remaining for a long time. This is interesting reading, all the more so given the other creations of Michelangelo - this book gives new insight into the mind of the great artist.

"It is better to remain silent than to fall from the heights" Primary sources need no review.

Michelangelo is one of my favorite poets, but as I read this I realized I had forgotten how depressed my man was. While Michelangelo is rightfully recognized as a great sculptor, painter, and architect, I think people overlook his poetry. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the artist, poetry, or Renaissance studies.I’m especially fond of his love poems, so I’ll share my personal favorite below to try and convince you all to read his poetry:With grace to all, to itself only scorn,A wretched beast is born in grief and pain,Clothes other’s hands, but its own hide unskins,And only in dying may be called well bornSo too I’d want to have my fate adornMy Lord, while living, with my dead remains;As on the rock the serpent sheds its skin,Only in death can my condition turn.Oh if I only had the hairy coatWhich, with its plaited fur, makes such a dress,That clasps so beautiful a breast with pleasure,I’d have it daytimes; or each little bootThat makes itself his column and his base,At least I’d carry it in dirty weather.

I have now gone on to obtain Michelangelo's 'complete letters', and this selection was a fascinating and exciting introduction. On the negative side, this translator has chosen to translate the poems as closely and literally as possible, without making any attempt at representing the poetic qualities of the original. I prefer poetry translated as poetry, not as words put together without giving any hint of how it may sound in the original. I therefore did not appreciate the poems in this selection, as I should have. I shall now look for either (1) another translation, or (2) a parallel text edition which would enable me to refer to the sounds and rhythms of the original, at least.