by Mark Musa
10 SONNET
Addressed to Stefano Colonna the elder, father of Giacomo and Giovanni, this sonnet was written in 1330 during a sojourn near the Pyrenees, where Petrarch was guest of Giacomo, newly named bishop of Lombez.
1. Glorious column upon whom there rests: A play on the name of the powerful Colonna family, probably alluding to the conflict between the Colonnas and Pope Boniface VIII. “Column” is also a patristic term for pillar of the church.
2. renown of Latium: Of Rome.
3. wrath of Jove: Jove is a reference to the temporal ruler. Cf. 4.4.
buffeting rain: Rain and wind represent harsh political conditions.
6. a fir, a beech, a pine tree stand: The savage fir is symbolic of the common people, the beech of oracular or prophetic literature, and the pine, St. Peter’s tree, of the Holy Roman Church—all columns of support.
10. nightingale that in the shadows: Cf. Virgil, Georgics IV, 511: “Qualis populea moerens Philomela sub umbra amissos queritur fetus … at ilia flet noctem, ramoque sedens miserabile carmen integrat, et moestis late loca questibus implet.”
12. burdens every heart: For the suffering of the people. The nightingale, Philomela, appears from time to time in the Canzoniere, her song a refrain.
thoughts of love: In this case, the “thoughts” (amorosi pensieri) are of spiritual love.
13. cut short perfection: By Colonna’s not joining them, the potential good of the forces gathered in lines 6–8 is hindered from fulfilling itself.
11 BALLATA
The ballata antica, popular in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, was meant to be sung during dance. The six others in the collection are poems 14, 53, 59, 63, 149, and 324. This is a ballata grande because its refrain has four verses.
2. that veil: The veil is a complex symbol in Petrarch’s verse. Theologically it represents the fallen form of nature, the body which will be swept away at the time of Revelation. It can refer to writing itself, a less pure version of the Idea language is meant to convey. In poem 52, a madrigal, Petrarch puts his own touch on the common image of the veil, using it as a sign of allegory that both reveals and conceals truth.
3. discovered: She knew instantly the nature of his feelings when she looked into his eyes.
5. in secret: Before he had announced his love to the world.
6. kill my heart: Death of the heart is synonymous with the consuming intensity of desire.
10. loving gaze withdrew: She found his love unworthy. Cf. Dante, Vita nuova X, where Beatrice denies Dante her greeting.
12. the veil that rules me: A power more temporal than eternal.
13. in warmth or cooler weather: Cf. “in sun or shade” in line 1.
14. covers the sweet light: Her truest beauty is hidden as are his thoughts of love in line 5.
12 SONNET
He daydreams about old age when she will no longer be resistant to the idea of his love, when his youthful passion will be spent.
1–2. anguish … struggles: The suffering caused by unconsummated love.
4. dimmed by the force: Laura’s power to arouse his desire will give way to Nature’s power to take it away.
6. garlands and green clothes: Like Persephone, a maiden in the spring of her life.
7. face pale: Giving way to compassion. Cf. Dante, Vita nuova XXXVI. in all my misfortunes: Since the sweet pity in her face clouded over.
9. make me bold: After all fear of arousal is gone.
11. the years, the days: He anticipates. Cf. 343.11.
12. should time work against my sweet desires: Should one or the other die prematurely.
13 SONNET
The rhyme scheme of this sonnet appears only twice more, in poems 94 and 326.
3. as much as each: The singularity of Laura is shown to be mathematical perfection by this conceit. She is the sum of womanhood, the highest good of line 10. Cf. the rendering of Beatrice in Dante, Vita nuova XXVI.
4. the more the wish I love: The more he desires to reach her perfection.
5. I bless: A benediction of his first encounter. For other expressions of the blessedness of this hour, see poems 61, 85, 211, 284, and 336.
8. that you were found worthy: That the gods blessed him with the sight of her.
10. highest good: The way to God.
12. all joyous honesty: Free of imperfection. The word leggiadria is one that Petrarch develops over the course of the Canzoniere. A perfect harmony of noble characteristics, its emergent quality is that of grace.
14. fly high: With confidence and pride in his abilities.
14 SONNET
He prepares for a journey which may challenge him grievously.
1. weary eyes: From weeping and studying her face.
2. killed your sight: By absorbing them completely. Petrarch uses morire (to die) transitively.
3. careful: Rely on what they already know of her virtue and beauty.
4. Love defies you now: Calls him into battle with himself.
6. loving path: Virtue.
8–10. but your light can be hidden … : Lesser beauties may obstruct the vision of his imperfect susceptible eyes.
11. tearful hours: Of parting.
14. brief solace: By fixing her face in his memory at the last moment.
15 SONNET
He begins his journey buoyed by optimism but slowed to a standstill by fear of separation and travail.
3. air: The word aere, distinct from l’aura, is used by Bernard de Ventadorn in a similar poem. The very air Laura breathes spurs him on.
5. Then thinking: Although his thoughts want to stay behind.
7. and pale: Fear of the journey causes his fire to wane.
8. at the ground, my eyes in tears: Irresolute, he waters the earth with his tears.
9–10. a doubt / assails me: The enjambment here brings un dubbio (a doubt) to the beginning of the line with sudden force.
10. all these parts: Of his divided being, that is, the vital spirits and body that journey forward, and the mind or soul that would remain with Laura.
12–14. Love answers me …: His love will bind together what doubt would split asunder.
16 SONNET
The poet makes a comparison between the lover and an old pilgrim traveling to the holy city of Rome.
3. bewildered: Fearing for the old man’s safety.
5–8. from there … : The sequence of response is similar to lines 1–4 of the preceding sonnet. Good will buoys him, but the body lags behind.
wearied by the road: The effect of a long life’s journey.
10. the likeness of the One: The impression of Christ’s face on the burial cloth, the Veronica, preserved in the basilica of St. Peter. Cf. Dante, Paradiso XXXI, 103–108.
12–14. Just so… : He seeks in others a semblance of the ideal which is Laura. Their beauty compares to hers as the cloth that covered Christ resembles his true desirable form. The poet Foscolo thought this sonnet skirts on blasphemy.
17 SONNET
Laura has disdained him.
3. my eyes turn: When he should chance to look at her.
4. I am divided: Because all his thoughts are about her.
5. sweet and soothing smile: Now withdrawn from him.
6—8. does calm the ardor … : Like the sun, her smile fills him with sweet warmth, tempering his emotions.
7. burning martyrdom: Petrarch uses “martyrdom” in the Greek sense of testimony, i.e., breaking the silence with his poetry.
9. turn cold: Like the earth without its sun, turning in rotation.
11. turning their gentle motion: Torcere has the primary meaning of twist or deviate from the normal path, making it seem like a contradiction to “gentle motion.”
12. Let loose: The amorous keys, Lauras eyes, have double power to lock and unlock.
14. deep in thought: His soul is able to transcend his martyred heart through meditation.
18 SONNET
Divided from the once-experienced source of light, he fol
lows a blind course. This sonnet is unique for its rhyme scheme which repeats the seminal words parte and luce in the quatrains and morte, desio, and sole in the tercets. The rhymes are equivocal since their meanings vary.
1. in the direction: Drawn toward that place and moment when he first saw her.
2. my lady’s sweet face shines: The light of her face had the double power of burning and clarifying. The term “Madonna” is a lover’s endearment.
3. lingering light: The permanent impression on his heart made by her eyes, awakening his desire.
5. breaks to pieces: Love’s assault wounded him where his strength was concentrated, dividing him from himself.
10. I flee: One of the paradoxes of Petrarch’s verse is this fleeing from that part of himself that both ennobles and consumes him.
12. I go in silence: His amoroso pensiero cannot flower into verse.
deadly words: Unspeakable thoughts that die aborning (Carducci).
19 SONNET
The love poet’s predicament resembles the involuntary movement of the moth for the flame. The sonnet anticipates the sestina soon to follow; see poem 22.
1–2. courageous / sight: That of the eagle, for example, symbol of apotheosis, associated with great kings.
2. the sun: The eagle’s ability to look directly into the sun was legendary.
3. others … harmed: Beasts of the night who shun light.
5. and others: The moth, for example.
6. joy in fire: Because of its promise of a greater peace. The image is apocalyptic.
8. latter race: Schera (schiera) is a term Petrarch uses again in 139.2 and 287.11. Cf. Dante’s use of schiera in Inferno XV, 16, and Purgatorio XXIV, 64–69.
9. to face … shield: Corresponding to lines 1–4.
13. my destiny: He was marked for martyrdom by his encounter with Laura.
14. what will burn me: That is, “the other power” (1. 7), a consuming dark force behind the sunlight of her face.
20 SONNET
Wounded in their first encounter, he is daunted by the task of praising her high beauty.
1–2. praised/your beauty: This was the promised goal of poem 5. Vergognando already wounds his verse with its laxity.
3. first time: This moment held in the memory is the touchstone of the Canzoniere.
4. as no one was: A thousand others failed to ignite his love.
5–6. not for my arms … polished by my file: Hers is not a beauty to be exalted in the usual way. Cf. poem 9.
8. turns to ice: From fear and shame at its inadequacy.
9–11. Now more than once … : Each part of the appartus put into motion for the creation of verse worthy of the lady is enumerated and found wanting.
14. were conquered: From the first moment, love had the effect of scattering his creative forces, centered in the heart where reason could not help him.
21 SONNET
He devises a clever argument to show that his inability to praise her cannot be blamed entirely on him.
1. my sweet warrior: Laura is his Diana, the beloved enemy who has possession of his heart.
4. to gaze so low: So great is the discrepancy between the ideal she symbolizes and the reality of his being.
6. fallacious hope: Mirroring his own for Laura.
7. spurn: The lover spurns his wounded heart as he imagines she might spurn it.
9. if I banish it: Abandon hope of repossessing it, accepting her terms.
13. grave guilt: For the projection of his guilt onto Laura, see also poems 23, 82, 207, 216, 224, 236, and 240.
14. loves you the more: In loving her he desires to be filled with her worthiness, but if he must lose hope for reciprocated love, his own unworthiness will be the stronger force, thereby wounding her.
22 SESTINA
This is the first of the Canzonieres, nine sestinas, a complex form used by Arnaut Daniel and Dante and one that Petrarch perfects in his final sestina, poem 332, by doubling it. The sestina is made up of six stanzas of six hendecasyllabic lines, concluding with a three-line tomata that repeats all of the rhymes of the poem. Each stanza uses six different words in end-rhyme position, repeated in a different end position in all six stanzas, in a sequence called retrogradatio cruciformis: abcdef/faebdc/ cfdabe/ecbfad/deacfb/bdfeca. Each stanza repeats the end-word of the preceding stanza in the order of lines 615243. The stringent requirements of the form have the effect of binding essential, potent elements together to compensate for a spiritual falling-short.
1–2. For any animal …: Cf. poem 19.
7–12. And I … : The poet who loves by day weeps by night in his verses.
8. that shakes the shadows: Dawn is the goddess Aurora performing her housewifely duties of clearing away the night.
10–11. sun … stars: The sun was her loving face, the flaming stars her eyes that disdained him.
14. is cause of others’ dawn: The shadows over Europe force the way to dawn over the opposite hemisphere (fanno alba). In poem 27, these shadows portend a new Crusade.
15. the cruel stars: Lauras eyes can both give and take away life.
16. sentient earth: As God created Adam in his image, her eyes formed him at their first encounter.
17. curse the first day I saw the sun: Cf. Job 3:3, “Pereat dies in quanatus sum, et nox in qua dictum est: Conceptus est homo.”
18. raised in the wood: As one who is bewildered by sudden light when emerging from darkness.
20. so cruel a beast: The fierce and proud warrior maiden, object of his desire.
24. firm desire comes down from the stars: His faith binds together cruel eyes, cruel beast, and the body of this earth in his creative mind. Cf. Arnaut Daniel, “Lo ferm voler quel cor m’intra.”
25–28. shining stars… amorous wood…pity: He makes a triad of these images also. The amorous wood was a region of Virgil’s Underworld assigned to those who die for love (Aeneid VI, 442 ff.).
28. for one day: Cf. Job 14:13, where Job imagines God’s granting him a rest from His constant gaze in one day’s descent into Sheol, the Hebrew underworld. Petrarch’s wish for a night of sexual love with her is repeated in two other sestinas, 237.35 and 332.73, and in canzone 73.72 with more spiritual intent. Cf. also 78.14.
29–30. can restore many years … from the setting: Cf. line 14, “our own dark is cause of others’ dawn.”
33. to never see the dawn: Because Petrarch seems to be speaking of a state between death (si parte il sole) and resurrection (l’ alba), he may be inviting judgment, wishing to be recognized as the fallible man he is rather than aspiring to saintliness. Cf. Job 9:32–35.
34. and she not be transformed: As Daphne was changed into the laurel.
37. But I’ll be under earth: He will not live to see his vision realized.
in a dry wood: Leopardi understood this to be a coffin, but here “wood” is selva, a forest, and it is “dry” because it yields a meager harvest. Figuratively selva means a multitude of thoughts, confusion.
38. tiny stars: Remote and weakened by distance.
23 CANZONE
This first canzone, half of which appeared in the First Reference Collection (1336–1338), may have been composed as early as 1330 (Wilkins says 1333 or 1334), but it did not receive its final form until 10 November 1356, when Petrarch made a notation on the working manuscript, Vat. Lat. 3196, that “after many, many years” he was transcribing it into finished form. In 1350, during a three-day period of work on the poem, he had reshaped it to give it a final touch. In 1351, in the early hours of Thursday, 28 April, he made the notation fine at the end of it. Yet on 4 November 1356, he was still retouching his “trifle” (nugarum); and a few days later, after further corrections, he made his final inscriptions, next to verse 156. It is evident that the canzone was no trifle in Petrarch’s mind, since he labored so long and hard over it; indeed, in canzone 70, this “portrait” of his young age numbers among the Provençal and Italian love poems he evokes to dedicate his work to a strange new style.
1. In the sweet season: Adolescence.
3. grew up against me: A sexual passion hostile to the preservation of self.
4. can unripen: Expressing his pain in verse may sweeten it.
6. in my home: In his heart and soul.
7. how this offended him: Compare the offenses of poem 2.
12. a thousand pens: Pens of his own that have been used up telling of his pain.
13. every valley: Wherever love reigns in inhabited regions.
14. painful way of life: His martyrdom.
17. that thought: The loving thought (amorosopensiero) of 10.12. The ambiguity of this thought lies in its capacity for transormation, demonstrated by the six metamorphoses.
20. I merely the shell: The body being the mere dress of the soul. According to Waller (p. 93) scorza means the narrating poet.
21. I tell you: The open declaration is a rhetorical device, used by St. Augustine, Dante, and others, derived from the biblical psalms.
first thrust: This “first assault” is believed to refer either to the shock of puberty or to the kind of experience Dante described as taking place in his ninth year, growing into a real adolescent passion that was suppressed. “Frozen thoughts” and “adamantine toughness” (11. 24–25) are fear and grief engendered by this early awakening of desire.
23. giving up my youthful looks: Petrarch had reached his twenty-third year (1327) when he first saw Laura, the end to the age of innocence.