Blessed be the day, and the month, and the year

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by Francesco Petrarca (1304 - 1374)

Translation © by A. S. Kline

Benedetto sia 'l giorno, e 'l mese, e...

Language: Italian (Italiano)

Our translations: ENG JPN LIT SPA

Benedetto sia 'l giorno, e 'l mese, e l'anno,
E la stagione, e 'l tempo, e l'ora, e 'l punto
E 'l bel paese e 'l loco, ov'io fui giunto
Da'duo begli occhi che legato m'ànno;

E benedetto il primo dolce affanno
Ch'i' ebbi ad esser con Amor congiunto,
E l'arco e la saette ond' i' fui punto,
E le piaghe, ch'infino al cor mi vanno.

Benedette le voci tante, ch'io
Chiamando il nome di Laura ho sparte,
E i sospiri e le lagrime e 'l desio.

E benedette sian tutte le carte
Ov'io fama le acquisto, e il pensier mio,
Ch'è sol di lei, si ch'altra non v'ha parte.

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: sometimes erroneously listed as Sonnet 47.

Text Authorship:

by Francesco Petrarca (1304 - 1374), no title, appears in Canzoniere (Rerum vulgarium fragmenta) , in 1. Rime In vita di Madonna Laura, no. 61 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Andrew Ager (b. 1962), "Benedetto sia il giorno", 2012 [ voice and piano ], from Italian Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Erik Bergman (1911 - 2006), "Benedetto sia 'l giorno", op. 118 no. 2 (1991) [ baritone and chorus ], from Petrarca-sarja / Petrarca-Suite, 4 sonetti fra "Il Canzoniere" di Francesco Petrarca, no. 2, confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Benedetto sia 'l giorno e 'l mese e l'anno", op. 74a (Due sonetti del Petrarca) no. 2 (1933), published 1934 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Norman Dello Joio (1913 - 2008), "Un sonetto di Petrarca" [sung text not yet checked]
by Franz (Ferenc) Liszt (1811 - 1886), "Benedetto sia 'l giorno", S. 270a no. 2 (1843-6), published 1846 [ tenor and piano ], from Tre sonetti di Petrarca, no. 2, Haslinger, Vienna, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in French (Français), a translation by Émile Paladilhe (1844 - 1926) , "Sonnet de Pétrarque" ; composed by Émile Paladilhe.
- Go to the text.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874) ; composed by Franz Liszt.
- Go to the text.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Egon Joseph Wellesz.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov (1866 - 1949) ; composed by Yury Vladimirovich Kochurov.
- Go to the text.
Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by E. Solonovich ; composed by Boris Alexandrovich Arapov.
- Go to the text.

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (A. S. Kline) , no title, copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Francisque Reynard) , "Sonnet XXXIX"
JPN Japanese (日本語) (Naoyuki Okada) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Wilson Hidalgo) , "Bendito sea el día", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 110

Blessed be the day, and the month, and...

Language: English after the Italian (Italiano)

Blessed be the day, and the month, and the year,
and the season, and the time, and the hour, and the moment,
and the beautiful country, and the place where I was joined
to the two beautiful eyes that have bound me:

and blessed be the first sweet suffering
that I felt in being conjoined with Love,
and the bow, and the shafts with which I was pierced,
and the wounds that run to the depths of my heart.

Blessed be all those verses I scattered
calling out the name of my lady,
and the sighs, and the tears, and the passion:

and blessed be all the sheets
where I acquire fame, and my thoughts,
that are only of her, that no one else has part of.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

Translation from Italian (Italiano) to English copyright © 2002 by A. S. Kline, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:

a text in Italian (Italiano) by Francesco Petrarca (1304 - 1374), no title, appears in Canzoniere (Rerum vulgarium fragmenta) , in 1. Rime In vita di Madonna Laura, no. 61
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-03-10
Line count: 14
Word count: 127