Return to the index of "Other Women's Voices."
Updated 04-09-08
Gaspara Stampa
(c.1523-1554)
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"LET THIS SUFFICE YOU, THAT IT MAKES YOU WRITE."
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Gaspara Stampa was born in Padua. By 1531, her father, a successful artisan, had died and her mother had moved the family to Venice. By the early 1540s, Gaspara's brother was a university student and earning praise as a poet. The family home became a salon for the Venetian literati, at which Gaspara and her sister presented musical performances. In 1544 Gaspara's brother died, but his fellow-poets continued to visit, and by the late 1540s Gaspara was part of one or more of the Venetian groups that met in various homes to discuss and practice the arts. At one of these she met Count Collaltino de Collato; her affair with him produced the poems for which she is best known.
Only three of her poems were published in Gaspara's lifetime, although many or all circulated among her literary friends and she was apparently preparing a book for publication. Soon after her death, at the urging of those friends, her sister, Cassandra, published Stampa's Rime, containing 311 poems, most of which are sonnets, and most of those about Collaltino. In these poems Stampa uses Petrarchan convention by assuming Petrarch's role: as Petrarch had described his suffering for love of a silent Laura, so Stampa details her love and loss of a generally unresponsive count. As with Petrarch, the poetry is perhaps more important to the poet than the person who inspired it.
Critics have often discussed whether Gaspara was a courtesan. There is no external evidence, as there is for Tullia d'Aragona or Veronica Franco, but the question is probably irrelevant. In Venice, more than in the other Italian cities, "respectable" unmarried women lived in near seclusion. By her musical performances before mixed audiences, by going to salons in men's homes, and especially by writing openly about a love affair, Stampa became a member of the demi-monde. If this marginality bothered her, it does not appear in her poems.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from translations in print.
Information about secondary sources.
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1. In English:
(a) Six sonnets (Rime #s 51, 83, 113, 128, 155, 192), translated by Jessica Harkins.
(b) Four sonnets (#s 32, 4, 104, 123), translated by A. S. Kline.
(c) Another four (#s 34, 101, 111, 161), translated by Laura Anna Stortoni and Mary Prentice Lillie, and followed by commentary by Ellen Moody.
(c) "If I, who am an abject, low-born woman" (#8), from Stortoni and Lillie.
(d) "When before those eyes," (#28), translated by Justin Vitiello.
(e) "Harsh is my fortune, but harsher still is the fate" (#43), translated by Stortoni and Lillie; the original is also given.
(f) Also from Stortoni and Lillie, "I have become so weary of my waiting" (#47)
(g) Another version of the above,"By now so sick of waiting,," translated by Leonard Cottrell, with a link to the original.
(h) "O night to me more splendid and more blessed" (#104), translated by Frank J. Warnke.
(i) "Ah set me where the angry sea wails and breaks" (#111), followed by the first eight lines of #208, "Love has made me such that I live in fire"; both are translated by Fiora A Bassanese (for information on Bassanese's study of Stampa, see below, under "Secondary sources").
(j) "I ask for Love's attention through my tears" (#132), described here as "adapted by Lynn Levin" (for an alternative version, see below, under "In print").
2. In Italian:
(a) At this alphabetical list from the University of Chicago's "Italian Women Writers" site, go to Stampa and click on "Texts Available" for two links to Gaspara's Rime: (1) a 1913 edition by Abelkader Salza, which gives Stampa's prose dedication to Collaltino, reorganizes the poems into 245 "Rime d'amore" and 66 "Rime varie," and is followed by an appendix that gives poems by others to or about Stampa. (2) a1738 edition arranged by Antonio Rambaldo di Collalto, a descendant of Gaspara's lover; it gives the poems in their original order and, among other material, includes Cassandra Stampa's 1554 letter of dedication to Giovanni della Casa (who had been papal nuncio to Venice and active in the city's literary life).
(b) A hypertext version of Rime (in which the poems are given in the order of the 1738 edition above); here, by clicking on a highlighted word, you can find all Stampa's uses of it.
3. Essays, etc.:
(a) A 1998 essay by Veena Carlson, "Imitatio and the Woman Poet: Renaissance Re-writings of Ovid," includes Stampa in a discussion of the use of mythological figures; five of her poems (#124, 104, 174, 152, 173) are given in the original Italian.
(b) In this alphabetical list, click on "C" and go to City Culture and the Madrigal at Venice (1995), by Martha Feldman. Chapter 4, "Ritual Language, New Music Encounters in the Academy of Domenico Venier," includes a section (pages 104-115) on the musical settings of Stampa's songs. In the process, Feldman gives her translation of lines from various poems. Also look at the first half of Chapter 1, "Flexibility in the Body Social," for useful historical background. (At another site, a review of Feldman's book, by David Schoenbaum.)
4. Reviews (for excerpts from the translation, see under "In print"; for information on the other books' treatment of Stampa, see "Secondary sources"):
(a) Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum on Stortoni's and Lillie's 1994 translation of Stampa, Selected Poems.
(b) Patricia Phillippy on the 2005 essay collection, Strong Voices, Weak History: Early Women Writers and Canons in England, France, & Italy.
(c) Maria Galli Stampino on Irma B. Jaffe's 2002 study, Shining Eyes, Cruel Fortune: The Lives and Loves of Italian Renaissance Women Poets.
5. A bibliography of the editions of Stampa's work.
6. A portrait of Stampa, a 1738 engraving by the Venetian artist Felicita Sartori, believed to be based on a painting done in Stampa's lifetime.
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[Laura Anna Stortoni and Mary Prentice Lillie have translated 113 of the 311 poems in Stampa's Rime. The translations and the Italian originals are on facing pages. The introduction is helpful, though brief; instead, the reader is referred to Fiora A. Bassanese's 1982 study (for information on that, see below under "Secondary sources"); there are notes and a detailed bibliography of earlier sources:]
Stampa, Gaspara. Selected poems / edited and translated by
Laura Anna Stortoni & Mary Prentice Lillie. New York: Italica
Press, 1994. (xxxiv, 237 p.)
LC#: PQ4634.S65 A27 1994; ISBN: 0934977372
Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-233) and index.
[Two sonnets; for Stampa, the existence of the poems seems the most valued outcome of the love:]
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"This song of mine will not be overwhelmed by what it sings."
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O night, more glorious and more blest to me
Than are the brightest and most blissful days!
Night, worthy to be praised by the most brilliant
Of human minds, not only by my words,
You only were the faithful minister
Of all my joys; and all the bitterness
That had oppressed me you made sweet and dear,
Bringing back to my arms him who had bound me.
I only lacked the gift that was bestowed
On fortunate Alcmena, when you lingered
Far past the usual hour of dawn's return.
And yet I cannot say so much of you,
O shining night, but that this song of mine
Will not be overwhelmed by what it sings. [#104,
p.85]
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"Love answers me in his hard final sentence...."
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When in my weeping I inquire of Love
(Who so unwillingly gives ear to me)
A thousand times a day---never just once---
Why he will wound and pierce me all the time:
"How can it be, since I gave heart and soul
To him, the day I took them both from me,
If everything enclosed within his breast
Is only joy and laughter, never sorrow,
How can I feel cold jealousy and fear
And be deprived of all my joyfulness,
Living in him, and never in myself?"
"I bid you die to joy and live in grief,"
Love answers me in his hard final sentence,
"Let this suffice you, that it makes you write." [#132,
p.103]
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"...an ill that heals and wounds."
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{From a capitolo, a verse epistle:]
Young ladies, you who still enjoy your freedom
From the constraining bounds that Love imposes,
With which I and so many more are bound,
If you wish passionately to have knowledge
About this Love, who is made god and master
Not only by this age, but by olden times:
It is a burning feeling, vain desire
For empty shadows, self-imposed deception,
Setting your own well-being in disregard;...
Display of what were better kept in hiding,
A way of life forever pale and trembling,
Wandering in a way not understood;
Debasing of your self toward the beloved,
But when away from him, bold and defiant---
Not knowing surely where to set your feet;
A state of holding your own life in hatred,
Loving another more; your own existence
Darkened and say; again, happy and bright.
An apathy toward other occupations,
Fleeing from company of other people;
Close to one only, alien to yourself;...
Though hurt, unable to express your grievance
To the offended; misdirected anger
Against yourself, disprizing of yourself;
Seeing one face alone that's worth the looking;
Preoccupied with it, though at a distance;
An inner happiness expressed in sighs---
And finally, an ill that heals and wounds. [#241,
ll.1-9, 25-36, 43-49; pp.193-95]
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[This anthology includes poems by Stampa, translated by Stortoni and Lillie; nine of the poems are not in their 1994 selection above. As in the above, the original is given on the facing page. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Women poets of the Italian Renaissance: Courtly ladies &
courtesans. Edited by Laura Anna Stortoni. Translated by Laura
Anna Stortoni & Mary Prentice Lillie. NY: Italica Press,
1997.
LC#: PQ4225 .E8 S838 1997; ISBN: 0934977437
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"From Bactria to Thule I hope one day to win both fame and
honor."
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I'm such a fool! Why do I talk such nonsense!
Why do I flee from such a clear deception?
Why do I ask Love to unburden me
Of this useful distress, to my own damage?
I am beside myself, if I don't see
That, with my clear torments, I have now equaled
Even surpassed, all women who have ever
Had joy in their past life and yet will have.
Burning of love for such a noble cause
Makes every life of hardship high and worthy,
More than enjoying low and abject things.
And I thank Love, who destined for my life
Such ardor, that from Bactria to Thule
I hope one day to win both fame and honor.
[#89, p.147]
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[This study by Ann Rosalind Jones includes a section on Stampa; Jones translates (and gives the originals) of six sonnets and part of a capitolo that are not included in the two Stortoni and Lillie books above:]
Jones, Ann Rosalind. The currency of Eros: women's love lyric
in Europe, 1540-1620 (Women of letters). Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, c1990. (xi, 242 p.: ill.)
LC#: PN1181 .J66 1990; ISBN: 0253331498
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"Let us share a gentle life of pleasure."
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[Jones notes that Benedetto Croce (1866-1952) called this sonnet a "hymn of a fallen woman" and finds the description astonishing; however, for Croce and his (male) contemporaries "high rewards, high honor, high adventure" were the chief goals of life --- so in their view only an evil seductress would try to deter a man from such noble endeavors:]
Alas, my lord, leave off great ambitions
of going in quest, in this flowering season,
to endure combats and mortal danger,
for high rewards, high honor, high adventure;
and in these hills, in the sweet safety
of these valleys and fields, where Love beckons,
let us share a gentle life of pleasure,
until the sunlight finally fades from our eyes.
For such great struggles and efforts
only make life harder, and such great honors
in the face of death suddenly vanish away.
Here, timely, we will gather rose blossoms
and grasses and fruits, and in sweet harmonies
along with the birds we will sing our love.
[#158, p.133]
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"...voracious appetites, wild to possess other men's property
and goods."
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[From a capitolo which also advocates peace over war and looks back at a mythical Golden Age:]
Lucky is the woman to whom the gods
have given a lover less fated to fame,
and less eager to acquire booty and trophies;
with such a man, whether her life is long or short,
she lives it joyfully, for he is always at her side,
faithful, constant, courageous and strong.
Happy was that ancient, blessed time
when the world was simple and innocent,
not yet accustomed to wars and robbery!
Then all shepherdess in love
had their shepherds always with them,
and they were never abandoned by them....
But then voracious appetites, wild
to possess other men's property and goods,
left ancient piety far behind.
And so first came into view
the cruel wars and din of weapons
which make us, unhappy women, endure such fear. [#242,
pp.134-135]
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[Fiora A. Bassanese's 1982 study is still a useful place to start, giving a comprehensive introduction to Stampa and her work. Bassanese translates a number of the poems and gives the original of each:]
Bassanese, Fiora A. Gaspara Stampa (Twayne's world authors
series; 658). Boston: Twayne, c1982. ([v], 144 p.: ill.)
LC#: PQ4634.S65 B3 1982; ISBN: 0805765018
Includes index. Bibliography: p. 137-140.
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[Irma B. Jaffe's collection of biographies includes one on Stampa,
which also offers both the Italian and translations by Jaffe
and Gernando Colombardo of 20 poems, whole or in part. With
the book is a CD that includes readings in Italian of eight of
Stampa's poems. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Jaffe, Irma B. Shining eyes, cruel fortune: the lives and
loves of Italian Renaissance women poets / Irma B. Jaffe with
Gernando Colombardo. New York: Fordham University Press, 2002.
(xxx, 429 p., 8 p. of plates: ill. (some col.), maps; 26 cm.
+ 1 CD (4 3/4 in.)
LC#: PQ4063 .J34 2002; ISBN: 0823221806, 0823221814
Includes bibliographical references (p. [411]-415) and indexes
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[Mary B. Moore's study includes a chapter on Stampa's sonnets which uses detailed analyses of the poems to show the originality of Stampa's treatment of gender. Moore gives the original and her translation of several sonnets not given in Stortoni and Lillie (1997). (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Moore, Mary B. Desiring voices: women sonneteers and Petrarchism
(Ad feminam). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press,
c2000. (xiii, 290 p.: ill.)
LC#: PN1514 .M58 2000; ISBN: 0809323079
Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-282) and index
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[Gordon Braden's article provides a view of Stampa's relation
to Petrarch that differs from that of Phillippy or Jones (see
both below); in the process, Braden offers a useful primer on
Petrarchism. (See
the issue's table of contents online.):]
Braden, Gordon. Gaspara Stampa and the gender of Petrarchism.
Texas Studies in Literature and Language, 38:2 (Summer
1996), 115-139.
LC#:AS30 .T4; ISSN:0040-4691
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[Patricia Berrahou Phillippy's study of the Petrarchan palinode includes a chapter, "Gaspara Stampa's Rime d'amore: Replication and Retraction," which discusses the differences between the approaches of Petrarch and Stampa:]
Phillippy, Patricia Berrahou. Love's remedies: recantation
and renaissance lyric poetry. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University
Press; London: Associated University Presses, c1995. (261 p.:
ill.)
LC#: PR535.L7 P48 1995; ISBN: 0838752632
Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-248) and index.
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[This collection includes an essay by Ann Rosalind Jones, "New Songs for the Swallow: Ovid's Philomela in Tullia d'Aragona and Gaspara Stampa," which discusses three of Stampa's sonnets, in greater detail than in Jones' 1990 Currency of Eros (above, under "In print"):]
Refiguring woman: perspectives on gender and the Italian Renaissance
/ edited with an introduction by Marilyn Migiel and Juliana Schiesari.
Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1991. (viii, 285 p.:
ill.)
LC#: HQ1075.5.I8 R44 1991; ISBN: 0801425387, 080149771X
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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[In a more recent essay, "Bad Press: Modern Editors versus Early Modern Women Poets (Tullia d'Aragona, Gaspara Stampa, Veronica Franco)," Jones describes the various editions of the works of the three poets, showing how editors' textual revisions have changed the effects of the works from those intended by the authors. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Strong voices, weak history: early women writers & canons
in England, France, & Italy / Pamela Joseph Benson &
Victoria Kirkham, editors. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, c2005. (viii, 380 p.: ill.)
LC#: PN715 .S76 2005; ISBN: 0472098810, 0472068814
Results of a conference held at the University of Pennsylvania
in March 2000. Includes bibliographical references and index
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[This collection contains Diana Robin's essay, "Courtesans, Celebrity, and Print Culture in Renaissance Venice: Tullia d'Aragona, Gaspara Stampa and Veronica Franco," which discusses the writers' works in the light of the salons in which they participated and the growing Venetian publishing industry. The notes are especially valuable in reviewing earlier critical studies. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Italian women and the city: essays / edited by Janet Levarie
Smarr and Daria Valentini. Madison [N.J.]: Fairleigh Dickinson
University Press; London; Cranbury, NJ: Associated University
Presses, c2003. (244 p.)
LC#: PQ4055.W6 I85 2003; ISBN: 0838639658
Includes bibliographical references and index
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[One essay in this collection, Dawn De Rycke's "On Hearing the Courtesan in a Gift of Song: the Venetian Case of Gaspara Stampa," deals not with Stampa's own writing but with the way the poet might have sung her own or others' poetry; De Rycke looks at this by analyzing the music of a contemporary, Perissone Cambio, who dedicated a collection of madrigals to Stampa. In another essay,"The Courtesan's Voice: Petrarchan Lovers, Pop Philosophy, and Oral Traditions," Martha Feldman'includes a brief section (pp. 114-18) on Stampa's use and adaptation of Petrarchan verses in her songs. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The courtesan's arts: cross-cultural perspectives / edited
by Martha Feldman and Bonnie Gordon. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2006. (xxvii, 396 p.: ill.; 24 cm)
LC#: HQ111 .C68 2006; ISBN: 0195170288, 0195170296
Includes bibliographical references (p. 369-380) and index
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Updated 04-09-08