Abstract
I do not believe I could make a more appropriate contribution to this volume in honour of John Scott’s eightieth birthday and in celebration of his long life as a Dantist than this set of translations of selected lyrics written in Dante’s youth. The spirit of these lyrics, or at least most of them, expresses the buoyancy and inventive vibrancy of a ‘new kid on the block’, a poet who meant to place himself in heady competition with the best of his day. My hope is that these translations will find an ideal match in their recipient, with whose youthful