University Microfilms International - Arizona Campus Repository

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Having wept out his eyes with sorrow, he recalls the painful and yet
pleasing sight of his beloved: "So cruell none, nor one so fayre,/As
she then drives me to despaire" (p. 12). Not surprisingly, the lover's
mistress is indistinguishable- from her who had tormented II Disgratiato
or from any of the golden-haired, white-toothed, smooth-cheeked, rosylipped
ladies of the Petrarchan convention.
The third elegy is the shortest (278 lines) and the most
interesting of the three. The lover, "Disaventurato" (Unlucky), styles
himself "a Martyr for pure love,/Who more then common plagues do prove"
(p. 17). Because he pities others and wants to save them from his fate,
he describes how he was "plagu'd" by his cruel mistress, whom he compares
throughout to a temple. This sustained comparison adds immeasurably to
the plain topographical description of the lady because it allows the
poet to avoid the cliche-ridden language of the convention. On the
other hand, the temple comparison engenders some problematical language
of its own;
Before this sacred Deity,
Arabian incense plenteously,
A rare and precious vessel throwes,
Which was her straight and well form'd nose.
(p. 21)
Taken as a whole, the Three Elegies are actually three versions of one
poem or three illustrations of the same theme: it is useless to be
jealous over women because they are always faithless and cruel.
Of some interest in the elegies are the twenty-four marginal
notes, all of which are marked by * or II.
For the most part they are
uninspiring and dull. They explain mythological, historical, or