Scarecrow Press Selected Poems of Isabella Andreini

The 100 poems presented in this volume represent a broad cross-section of Isabella Andreini's lyric poetry, both in its original language and in verse translations. Of the nearly 500 poems published in Andreini's two books of Rime in the first decade of the seventeenth century, the 100 included here optimally demonstrate Andreini's range of style, the diversity of genres in which she composed, her views on Renaissance court society, and her interactions with other poets and patrons of the late sixteenth century. An extensive historical and analytical introduction aims to deepen the reader's understanding of Andreini, and hopefully, to inspire further study of this poet's little-known writings, including her Fragmenti d'alcune scritture, and the remaining large share of her lyric poetry. Students and researchers specializing in comparative literatures, women's studies, and Italian studies will find this a helpful addition to their discipline. Review Andreini's Selected Poems, with MacNeil's fine and exhaustive introduction, and with Cook's elegant verse translation and endnotes, offers to English-speaking readers an invaluable first glance at the vast poetic activity of the talented comedia dell'arte actress, academician, and poet of the late Italian Renaissance. This book should be of interest to readers in women's writings, and to scholars in early modern literature and culture.-- "Renaissance Quarterly" About the Author Anne MacNeil is a fellow of the American Academy in Rome and the American Association of University Women and currently holds a faculty appointment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the author of Music and Women of the Commedia dell'Arte in the Late Sixteenth Century. James Wyatt Cook is Langbo Trustees' professor emeritus at Albion College. The author of several books and numerous studies and reviews, Cook has been a research fellow of the British Academy, the Newberry Library, the Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies, and the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies at the University of Toronto.