Petrarch

  13. forgetfulness eternal: Sunk in oblivion. The unspeakableness of war is a Virgilian theme.

  14. beginning of my death: Synonymous with the muteness of Love.

  47 SONNET

  Laura’s eyes, the murderous mirrors in the preceding sonnet, are shielded, and once again he finds himself on the right path.

  1–2. already failing / those spirits: From estrangement from Laura.

  4. for every mortal animal to fight: To protect its vitals. By analogy he defends his heart.

  5. I freed desire: He gave it free play, let it seek other objectives. keep in check: The crisis has passed.

  6. path I almost lost: The quasi smarrita suggests he skirted close to unworthy acts but pulled himself back in time.

  8. lead it somewhere else: On the path to good.

  11. carefully avoid: Because of the danger of being struck mute once again. Cf. 46.9–11.

  14. I’ll die then: Responding to lines 1–4. Unless he frees desire from time to time, his spirits will slowly die without the vitalizing effects of her glance.

  48 SONNET

  His desire loses itself in the vastness of his love. This sonnet has been described as abstruse by Zingarelli and misleading by Carducci because it is sexually suggestive.

  4. contrasts will increase: In opposition there can be a strengthening of forces, according to Heraclitus.

  5. our every thought: Of any lover.

  8. strengthen desire less: Why is his love not amplified, as fire is by fire and rain by rain?

  9. just as the Nile: The archetypal river of the proud.

  13. something too immense: A good so undefined, so boundless (“ne lo sfrenato obietto”). See 47.5 and note. Early commentators thought this line revealed a wantonness on the part of Laura.

  49 SONNET

  His tongue has not served him well in presenting his suit to his lady. The sonnet dates from the period of his Roman journey in 1337 (dated precisely 13 February), when he wrote poems 37 and 38.

  5. need of your assistance: He needs the redeeming influence of a more beautiful style.

  7. still colder: As if his poetry were a corpse growing cold.

  8. they are broken: Imperfecte, as if he stutters.

  spoken in a dream: Cf. Dante, Purgatorio XXXIII, 31: “It is my wish that you from now on free yourself from fear and shame, and cease to speak like someone in a dream.”

  11. when my peace is present: When the sweet thought comes to him.

  12–13. so quick … / my sighs: So ready to emerge as the offensive poem, so tardy to emerge as the one of praise.

  14. Only my look: Only in his eyes can he show the true state of his heart.

  50 CANZONE

  The second anniversary poem (the first being a sestina, poem 30), this canzone commemorates the tenth year of his martyrdom, bringing him to his thirty-third year. It is distinguished by its doubling of consonants and adverbial phrases, a dividing of stanzas into two, and its movement, similar to that of poem 37, of slowing and quickening according to the sense of the lines.

  1. the rapid heavens: When the sun seems to sink more rapidly toward the horizon in the evening sky. Each stanza begins with the sunset, advancing into night.

  3. expectant race: The people on the other side of the globe, at the antipodes (cf. 22.14).

  6. doubles her pace: Eight doublings of consonants appear in these two lines. Approaching death slows her while love of God spurs her on.

  12. But, oh: Each stanza divides at some point to make reference to himself, at lines 12, 25, 39, 46, and 63, moving from the end of the stanza to the beginning.

  14. eternal light begins to fade: The light of the sun, but also of Laura, who is a sun for him.

  15. begin to flame: As the sun reddens and seems to blaze just before sinking in the west.

  17. shadows / … cast deeper: Shadow is cast over shadow by the alpine heights.

  18. avid workman: He, too, has doubled his efforts to finish his labors before dark. The lines echo Virgil’s Georgics I, 47, and 1,160.

  22. all full of meager food: An illusion to the classical Golden Age, sung by Virgil (Georgics IV, 132), Ovid (Metamorphoses I, 103 and 106) and Boethius (Consolatione Philosophiae II, 5), when man lived in harmony with nature, feeding on acorns.

  24. the whole world sings: Giving lip service to the simple life but in fact seeking one ever more complex.

  28. for all the turning: The wheeling of the zodiac.

  30. are falling toward the nest: Cf. Dante, Purgatorio VII, 85. In fable the sun rested in the breast of the sea.

  33. grass and springs and beech’s shade: The language of this passage evokes the age of great pastoral poetry.

  37. he weaves out of green leaves: This metaphor was used by Boccaccio in the archetypal sense of preparing the marriage bed (Carducci).

  40. wild beast: Laura-Daphne.

  44. in some protected cove: Chiusa valle echoes the name Vaucluse, Petarch’s retreat near Avignon.

  47–48. Spain, / Granada … Pillars: The western-most points of Africa and Spain, beyond which man was forbidden to go by the ancient gods.

  55. nearly ten years: Since he first saw Laura, 6 April 1327.

  56. set me free: To be freed from love is to die. Petrarch uses indovinare to suggest that one cannot, as Ulysses discovered in Dante’s Inferno, know the nature of Death.

  57. relieve my pain: Cf. 23.4.

  58. I see at evening: The natural sun has disappeared from this stanza. Instead, only Laura’s beautiful face will be recalled in line 65.

  oxen coming home: Yoked oxen are a familiar image in classical poetry. Cf. Horace, Odes III, 6: “sol ubi montium Mutaret umbras et juga demeret Bobus fatigatis.” St. Augustine used the term to mean evangelists in De Doctrina 2.10.15.

  60–62. why, then …: These questions are rhetorical and recall the lamentations of Job, “favored” by God.

  61. heavy yoke: The burden that he assumed as a love poet.

  63. what I did: What he wrought.

  66. carve it: Cf. poems 30 and 46, both for the sculpting of the idol and the mirroring of her beauties, recalled as a petrifaction.

  67. neither by coercion nor by art: Neither by God’s will nor by his own efforts.

  69. of one who: Death.

  70. could she even then: Her beauty may be immortal. This point of disagreement with theology raises a question in the Canzoniere —never definitively answered—of whether he can, in fact, ever completely renounce her.

  73. join my party: The company of love poets.

  74. you will not show yourself: His song makes no pretensions to praise her.

  76. from hill to hill: In solitude and contemplation.

  78. living stone: Laura. Cf. 30.31–36.

  51 SONNET

  This sonnet stands alone between a canzone and a sequence of madrigal, canzone, madrigal, and provides a summing up of the first of five possible subdivisions in the Canzoniere created by four single sonnets. The others are 120, 238, and 269.

  1–4. Had it come … : Had he been favored by that star or sun whose light is remembered even at a distance, he might have undergone the metamorphosis Daphne did in Thessaly when she turned into a laurel.

  5. change into her form: Attain to her beauty and perfection.

  8. chiseled in care: Not beautiful, not perfect, but lined with thought, as his syntax demonstrates.

  10. crystal: Diaspro, red crystalline quartz spotted with deeper red, yellow, and brown. It is suggestive of shame, according to some commentators, but to Leopardi it represented truth.

  11. prized by the foolish: Valued for its baser qualities.

  12. I’d be free: If his poetry were, in fact, a reflection of any one of these things alone, rather than a composite of all three.

  13–14. old, tired man: The titan Atlas, holding up the world, had no greater weight than that of his triple burden. Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses IV, 653.

  52 MADRIGAL

  This is the first of the Canzo
nieres four madrigals (see also poems 54,106, and 121), consisting of two tercets of the terza rima type, followed by a couplet, comparable to the conclusion of a canto in Dante. Sapegno noted its sensual form with its intertwining rhyme of the terza rima and the kiss of the couplet. Soft g-sounds predominate.

  1. pleased her lover: Actaeon. Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses III, 138–252; see notes to 23.147–160.

  2. just by chance: Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses III, 141–43: “In the story / You will find Actaeon guiltless; put the blame / on luck, not crime: what crime is there in error?”

  4. simple mountain shepherdess: Imagery appropriate to a madrigal, which was intended to be amorous and bucolic in setting.

  5. the pretty veil: See note to 11.2.

  7–8. hot sunlight…/… chill of love: As if his burning thoughts were plunged in chilly waters, tempering them.

  53 CANZONE

  According to Wilkins, this canzone dates from Petrarch’s first residence in Vaucluse, between 1337 and February 1341. It may have been directed to Cola di Rienzo, the fiery Roman commoner who seized power in 1344 and for a time appeared to Petrarch to be the one man capable of resurrecting a fallen Rome, and by so doing, Italy itself. Some have speculated that the “noble spirit” was senator-elect Bosone da Gubbio, others that he was senator Stefano Colonna the younger.

  1–3. Noble spirit: The spirit governs a man’s energies and works—in this case “members” most virtuous. The terms of this canzone are drawn from Laura’s model and transferred to the political figure.

  4. honored staff: The scepter of command. Cf. Ezek. 19:14.

  5. erring people: Those Romans who had lost sight of Rome’s glory and her role as capital of the world.

  11. appear to feel her woes: Italy has had no other recent spokesman.

  14. grab her by the hair: In Ezek. 8:3, God reaches out with his hand and seizes the prophet by the forelock.

  17. by such weight: Italy subjected to the oppression of tyrannical and warring lords.

  26. Mars’ progeny: The Romans, descendants of Romulus, son of Rhea Sylvia and Mars.

  27. to their own honor: Should they aspire to goals appropriate to their heritage.

  29. the ancient walls: Rome’s walls, symbol of her glory, were being dismantled and carted away by an indifferent and greedy populace, along with columns and statues and other treasures.

  33. men … great fame: The heroes of Roman history, whom he goes on to name.

  35. this one ruin: Rome abandoned to gradual decay, not only buildings and monuments but religion and culture—”one ruin” all.

  37. Scipioni: An ancient Roman family. One was Scipio Africanus, subject of Petrarch’s unfinished epic poem in Latin.

  O faithful Brutus: Brutus the first, renowned for his love of country.

  39. down there: In the Underworld, the afterlife of pagans.

  41. Fabricius: Famous for his incorruptibility, he brought down the Etruscans in Rome’s name.

  43. if the heavens care: The line echoes Virgil, Aeneid II, 536.

  44. citizen-souls: The saints in Heaven, alluding to the celestial Jerusalem. Cf. Dante, Purgatorio XXXII, 101.

  48. closed the pathway: Because of vandals and thieves, the churches and holy places were too dangerous to enter.

  50. den of thieves: Cf. Dante, Paradiso XXII, 76.

  54. how diverse: Estranged from good. Cf. Dante, Inferno XXXIII, 151.

  55. without bells: The bells were placed in the towers to praise and thank God; now they serve as a signal to attack.

  59. hate themselves: Alluding to their profane lives. Cf. Dante, Purgatorio XVI, 121; Lucan, Pharsalia II, 64; and Ovid, Metamorphoses VIII, 549.

  60. friars: Franciscans, Benedictines, or Dominicans. Their scattered numbers suggest they are a factor in the breakdown of culture.

  65. Hannibal feel pity: Even Rome’s most implacable enemy would feel a pity unfelt by the men currently in power.

  67. all aflame: The fire of ambition and pride burning unrestrained in Rome.

  71. bears and wolves: These names refer to the crests of Italian families whose willfulness causes such suffering as he describes. The Orsini are the bears; the wolves the counts of Tusculum; the lions the Savelli; the eagles the Annibaldi; the snakes the Caetani.

  72–73. great column … : The Colonna family, not only friends and benefactors of Petrarch, but according to him almost standing alone in their defense of Rome against armed opposition. In 1333 the Orsini opposed the Colonnas at San Cesario and were overcome, therefore “harming themselves.”

  74. that noble lady: Rome.

  76. bad plants: Ezekiel prophesied that parasitical plants will be destroyed by God.

  77. a thousand years: Before the transfer of the capital of the empire from Rome to Byzantium, when the Golden Age ended.

  80. you newcomers: They who did not descend directly from the Romans. Even the Colonnas derived from the region of Bologna; the Orsini were from Spoleto. Their family pride, coming first, denies the Church.

  82. Be husband, be her father: Rome, as the new Jerusalem, is daughter, wife, and mother. Cf. 366.47.

  84. the greater Father: The pope. The papal seat was Avignon, not Rome.

  85. injurious fortune: The daring virtuous man, seizing the day, defies the pitiless randomness of fortune.

  88. cleared the way: Fortune had always seemed to him to reward evil and punish virtue until this man liberated himself from her hindrances, opening the way to grand enterprises.

  93. reach eternal fame: For the first time the combination of circumstances is ideal for a new hero to arise.

  94. that monarchy most noble: Rome as caput mundi.

  98. when she was old: Perhaps an even greater heroic act would be to save the mother.

  99. Tarpeian Mount: The Campidoglio, site of the Senate and the rock from which Titus Manlius hurled himself for love of liberty (Virgil, Aeneid VIII, 652).

  102. One who’s not seen you yet: The exiled citizen of Italy who has heard of him only by reputation.

  54 MADRIGAL

  This madrigal dramatizes the history of his love in another way.

  1. Love’s colors: Red and white.

  2. pilgrim soul: As a fellow traveler on life’s road but also, perhaps, as someone foreign—strange and new. Cf. poem 52, the madrigal of the mountain shepherdess.

  4. along green grass: Cf. 23.1—2.

  5. loud voice: Clear and authoritative. Cf. St. Augustine, Confessiones VIII, 12.

  6. in the woods: Symbol of moral confusion.

  7. I sought shade: Forgetfulness.

  10. around midday: Quasi at midday is in contrast with Dante’s unequivocal “Nel mezzo del cammin” (Inferno I, 1). In the next poem he sets off on a new path possibly as errant as the last.

  55 BALLATA

  This ballata introduces a new phase in his love—the possibility of a secondo errore.

  1. That fire: Love for Laura.

  2. by the cold times: Cf. the Vulcan series beginning with poem 41, but especially poem 46.

  3. renews… suffering: A new desire to speak out is born.

  5. covered up a bit: By the ashes of defeat. Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses VII, 80: “Parva sub inducta latuit: Scintilla favilla.”

  7. tears I scatter by the thousands: All the words sent abroad telling of his pain.

  8. drip out of my heart: Si distille. Cf. Dante, Inferno XXIII, 97.

  9. both the sparks and tinder: “Sparks” are the memories of her eyes he holds there, “tinder” the noble love awakened by those sparks.

  11–12. What fire: Cf. poem 48, where fire diluted fire and water, water. He confirms that he continues to burn in spite of the deaf ears turned to his pain.

  14. between two opposites: Between fire and ice, desire and remorse, innocence and experience.

  17. her fair face: Hope and despair are the opposites struggling in his heart.

  56 SONNET

  The rhyme scheme of this sonnet is the first to alternate abab in
the quatrains. It gives form to the opposition between the lover’s passionate hopes and his feared disappointment.

  1. counting all the hours: Vainly numbering his days. 4. to my pity: Mercé, a merciful judgment.

  5–8. What shadow … : Three proverbs are echoed in these lines, all foreshadowing bitter disappoinitment of his hopes for peace in a new age.

  7. what wild beast is roaring?: What agent of destruction.

  8. Between the grain and hand: Between sowing and reaping. what wall exists?: Cf. Dante, Purgatorio XXVII, 36.

  10. that Love: Early commentators reconstructed a scenario for this poem that had Petrarch waiting with fear and joy beneath Laura’s balcony while her jealous husband roared inside (Carducci).

  13. finally depart: Come to judgment.

  14. consider himself blest: Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses III, 136–38: “But always, always, / A man must wait the final day, and no man / Should ever be called happy before burial.”

  57 SONNET

  He waited and despaired, and when she appeared it was only for a moment.

  4. swifter than a tiger: Cf. Lucan, Pharsalia V, 405; Statius Thebais IV, 315.

  5–8. the snow will fall… : Proverbial expressions for unimaginable outcomes. Cf. Virgil, Eclogues I, 60, where he uses similar language to speak of the impossibility of forgetting Augustus Caesar.

  9. find in this: In this world of “waiting and foresaking” (1. 3).

  10. find another way: Love and Laura promised him mercy but will lead him instead back into war. Cf. 56.10–11.

  11. plotted wrongfully: As he was enslaved by one and aroused by the other.

  12. when I taste sweet: Corresponding to “good fortune” in line 1.

  13. through my scorn: The pleasure is not worth the waiting and forsaking.

  58 SONNET

  This sonnet accompanied three little gifts sent to Agapito Colonna, according to a note on Vat. Lat. 3196. Agapito had recently suffered disappointment in love.