Gaspara Stampa (1523-1554) is one of the most beautiful female poets ever written in Italian. Although she praised her for singing during her lifetime, her success and reputation as a poet appeared only after the re-publication of her verse in the early 18th century.

Her hair manages a series of human emotions, ranging from ecstasy to total love to despair at the end. While these tormented works and their multiple titles have led to speculation that Stamba may have been one of Venice's best-known lucky ones, it can also be read as a rebuttal of the usual assumptions about women's roles.

With the support of Rainer Maria Rilke, among others, feminist scientists recently celebrated her distinctive and original voice and her defiance of the Convention. The first full translation of Stampa into English, this volume combines every verse of emotional and lyrical.

It is also the first critical edition of her poems, and in restoring the original sequence of text 1554, it gives readers the chance to meet Stampa as she intended. Jane Tillus presents Stampa stamps in a meticulous English translation, allowing a new generation of students and scholars in poetry, Renaissance literature, and music history to rediscover this modern Italian poet..