The French Originals of Rossetti's John of Tours and My Father's Close

Abstract

Though much of Rossetti's original poetry is now (temporarily) out of fashion, his success as a translator has never been questioned. His renderings of the Vita Nuova and the Early Italian Poets are standard, while his translations from Vil-lon, particularly the Ballad of Dead Ladies, will probably live as long as Villon's verses. Better than anyone else, perhaps, Rossetti shows the accuracy of the truism that only a poet can translate poetry.