Petrarch
The Poet of Love by Laura Owens
The Biography
- Petrarch was born on July 20, 1304, in Arezzo, Italy.
- He spent most of his life, when he wasn't traveling, in Avighon.
- Petrarch spent his early and teen years going to grammar, rhetoric, Latin schools, and then went on to the University of Montpellier and Bologna, both schools of law.
- He lived a life of solitude and simplicity, and traveled only when he needed to.
- He wrote poems and some of his works are The Canzoniere, The Africa, and The Triumphus Cupidinis.
- One of his patrons was Cardinal Giovanni Colonna, Petrarch wrote reliogious poems for him. And another possible patron was his love Laura who inspired The Canzoniere.
Se la mia vita da l'aspro tormento-If my life of bitter torment and tears
"If my life of bitter torment and tears
could be derided more, and made more troubled,
that I might see, by virtue of your later years,
lady, the light quenched of your beautiful eyes,
and the golden hair spun fine as silver,
and the garland laid aside and the green clothes,
and the delicate face fade, that makes me
fearful and slow to go weeping:
then Love might grant me such confidence
that I’d reveal to you my sufferings
the years lived through, and the days and hours:
and if time is opposed to true desire,
it does not mean no food would nourish my grief:
I might draw some from slow sighs" ("The Canzoniere").
Style of Work
The Octave introduces a problem, which the poem will follow. The Volta is when things change to the Sestet and the solution. And the Sestet offers a a solution to the problem. It may not give a direct answer, but it may comment of it.
The Canzoniere
First off, Petrarch wrote 366 intense lyrical poems called The Canzoniere for his love, Laura, who he loved at first sight ("Petrarch").
I find The Canzoniere so interesting because Petrarch focuses so much on this one person, who has supposedly stolen his heart. He literally devotes his life to writing to her, not even knowing if she could return his love or if she even would. And I found it amazing that he could deal with this unrequited love till he died.The "Founder" of Humanism
Works Cited
- "Petrarch (1304-1374)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.
- Petraca, Francesco. "Petrarch: The Complete Canzoniere."people.Virginia.EDU. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. <http://people.virginia.edu/~jdk3t/petrarchkline
- da Verona, Altichiero . Petrarch. N.d. Unknown, Unknown. . Web. 29 Jan. 2013.