22 JANUARY 1927, Page 28

THE MINOR POEMS OF DANTE. Translated into English Verse by

Lorna de Lucchi. (Oxford University Press. 7s. 6d.)—Some years ago Mrs, de Lucchi gave Us an Anthology Of Italian Poems, which led us to expect suave, accurate, and inspired versions from her pen. Here she does not disappoint us, for in a remarkable degree she conveys the singleness of idea which gives Dante such an immense power and drive. Nor does she lose that early-world tenderness— that impersonal self-pity of the chivalric technique. Rossetti carried it into-his version of the Vita Nuova, but sometimes his lines were tortured into shape. Mrs.de Lucchi rivals and often surpasses him because of the appearance of ease which she brings into her achievement.