Petrarch's "Giunto Alessandro..." version 1

[EDIT: See note at bottom of description]
The final version of this should be a montage of photos, but at the moment I only have permission for this particular one. (The final version will have a different title, too.)

The image is Isobel Wren, who has a YouTube channel
http://youtube.com/IsobelWren05
(currently in limbo due to YouTube's uncommunicative video removal policy). She's also the Monday vlogger on
http://youtube.com/fivenakedmodels


The sonnet is by Petrarch (14th cent.)

Translation:
Alexander, having reached the famous tomb
of fierce Achilles, sighing, said:
"Oh, fortunate one, that you found so clear a trumpet
and one who wrote so grandly about you!"

But this pure and white dove
of which I don't know if the like has ever lived in the world
in my frail style resounds so little...
(Thus to each one are their own fortunes fixed.)

...that is worthy of Homer and of Orpheus,
or that shepherd whom Mantua still honors,
that they might go always singing only of her.

A deformed star and fate, guilty only in this,
trusted her to one who adores her beautiful name
but perhaps mars her praises in speaking.


The image is from (the members' area of) Isobel's Web site, which you can visit if you are a legal adult:
http://www.isobelwren.com/
Warning: In addition to some pictures so beautiful they make me melt like wax in a fire, this site contains anatomically explicit erotic images (as you might expect, given that it's an adults only site), as well as certain images that might be disturbing to someone who (like me) isn't into BDSM.


"Il suo bel nome" Wasn't it clever of Petrarch to come up with that pun 600 years before the fact?


Just after I uploaded this, I learned that Isobel has cervical cancer. Apparently the prognosis is good, but her insurance company is evil. She's taking donations to help make up the remainder of the cost. See the following video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xygDeTYtwXo

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• poem
• Petrarch
• Italian
• sonnet
• model
• Isobel
• Wren

[ImaginedWriter]

Your model is not so beautiful as adequate. If you wish to see a truer vision of all that is beautiful; google Felicity Fey.