Francesc Vallverdú i Canes, a native of Barcelona, received his law degree from the University of Barcelona in 1957. He worked as a lawyer from 1961-65 and taught Catalan from 1962-73. His interest in sociolingustics resulted in many publications important for the development of that field in the Catalan Lands, beginning with the classics L'escriptor català i el problema de la llengua (The Catalan Writer and the Problem of language; Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1968) and Dues llengües : dues funcions? (Two Languages: Two Functions?; Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1970). In all, he has published eleven books of scholarship and essays, many articles, and ten collections of poetry, of which four have won the Joan Salvat-Papasseit, Carles Riba, Joan Fuster, and Ausiàs March prizes. He won the prestigious Creu de Sant Jordi (Cross of Saint George) of the Generalitat de Catalunya in 1986. He has also published Catalan translations of seven works of Italian literature; his Decameron won the 1988 prize of the Ente Nazionale Giovanni Boccaccio (Florence). He has worked at the influential Catalan publisher Edicions 62 in various capacities since 1965.
The two poems translated below are sonnets VII and XII from Leviatan i altres poemes (Leviathan and Other Poems; Barcelona: Edicions 62: 1984). Leviatan itself comprises twelve sonnets which are largely meditations on the Book of Job.