For teachers and students of Petrarch, Durling's edition of the poems has become the standard one. Readers have praised the translation as both graceful and accurate, conveying a real understanding of what this difficult poet is saying. The literalness of the prose translation makes this beautiful book especially useful to students who lack a full command of Italian. And students reading the verse in the original will find here an authoritative text.

Review

The translations are extremely readable, and their juxtaposition to the original makes the work a valuable tool for the reader whose knowledge of Italian may be less than perfect.

--Joseph A. Barber, MLN