Though known primarily as a sculptor and painter, Michelangelo was also
a poet. In his lifetime, Michelangelo wrote over 300 poems, many of
which were works of devotion and love poems of a spiritual and mystical
nature.
In 1961, Joseph Tusiani offered the first English translations of the
complete corpus of Michelangelo's poems. These translations illuminated
the subtleties of both the source and target language, giving
Michelangelo's verse a freshness, a depth, and an inventiveness that
time has not been able to obscure.
The Complete Poems of Michelangelo reproduces Tusiani's masterful
translation. In addition to Tusiani's introduction and translations,
this new edition contains Michelangelo's original Italian poetry, a
chronology of his life and works, a biographical profile of Tusiani, and
an interview with Tusiani exploring his musings on classic literature
and the subtle art of translation. The Complete Poems of Michelangelo
sheds light on Tusiani's many exceptional accomplishments during his
long and prolific life as a scholar, poet, translator, and artist.