by Mark Musa
15. hidden for so long: Which he has not been able to say for want of readiness.
17. how much my praise falls short: When his style is put to the service of such exalted subject matter.
20. what no thought can hope to equal: Thought alone cannot explain the power of his experience.
25. that kind disdain: Her human superiority. Gentile and umano are used interchangeably.
26. my unworthiness offends: The banked fire of a lover might have the appearance of timidity, a characteristic that squelches love. Cf. 23.90 ff.
28. were not to temper flame: Chill it.
29. then, happy death!: Otherwise he would have succumbed to those fires and been consumed.
32. so strong a fire: Of her holiness. Cf. line 24.
34–35. but fear…/… strengthens the heart: Tempers it so that it withstands her fire, like the forging of metal.
37. O hills: As if he turns and looks down from a height, under a burning sun, into a cool, shaded valley.
41. fleeing is no help: Cf. 69.12–14. His fate does not desert him, whether he stays or goes.
43. a short and quicker way: He would take the easy way out and cease to martyr himself.
45. one who does not care: For then he would die and who would know the difference.
46. Sorrow, why: He turns again, as if responding to another voice.
52–53. colors Love / will often paint: The pallor of fear is replaced by the flaming of his cheeks.
57–60. you holy lights …/… what you are like: Not only does her graciousness instruct his style, but it can be demonstrated that her holiness and happiness are mirrored in his face. The concept originally came from Plato’s Alcibiades (Carducci).
66. is separate from the natural face: The beauty of her eyes has a divine origin, apart from nature’s handiwork.
70–75. Ah, why … : The preceding thought brings forth a series of laments.
71. give me that: The blessing of her glance.
73. at the destruction: Cf. 2.13, where the word strazio first appeared.
74. Why do you strip me: Cf. 29.4 and 29.12, where similar images appeared.
76. I must say: Dico stands alone. The declarative mode elsewhere means he does not lie. See 23.156 and note.
77. with thanks to you: The one who destroys, strips, and disdains him is yet merciful.
80. expels from there: He refers to his amoroso pensiero, that unique thought that redeems a painful life.
81. only one remains: Only that memory of first seeing her compassionate eyes.
82. This bit: The next nine lines gather together the several themes of the canzone.
90. I return to me: He sums up these themes by returning to the beginning. A rephrasing might be: “And so alas it’s fated that I return to me, always, by weeping, fighting against laughter.”
91. The amorous thought: “Sweetness unusual and new” has its cognate in a thought he read in her eyes.
93. draws out: Cf. lines 74–75. Now she elicits, where before she stripped.
97. Before your presence: When he calls her into his mind.
100. allow them entrance: Memory protects the sanctuary of deep thought.
101. the surface parts: Cf. 2.8: “where every other arrow had been blunted”; see also 23.34: “had not pierced me beyond the clothes I wore.”
103. from you first comes the seed: The amorous thought in her eyes, however fleetingly glimpsed, inseminated him. He is pregnant with it.
104. an arid piece of land: The image reinforces her miraculous qualities. She has become the male principal and he the female receptor.
105. praise all goes to you: Cf. line 45: “It is the fault of one who does not care.” All that is life-giving comes from his love; all that is deathly from its absence.
106. make me burn: In anticipation of fruition.
107. steals me from myself: She ravished him.
108. so be sure that you are not alone: He intends to provide companions to his song, the sister canzoni which follow.
72 CANZONE
Following on a canzone that traces a gradual ascent marked by hesitation and digression, this work seemed to one commentator to flower into poetry “of complete and unmixed joy” (Zingarelli).
1. I see, my gracious lady: Her presence is intimately felt.
2. when your eyes move: Turn in his direction.
6. and I can almost see it: Her glance, like the dazzling light of a sun, so impressed itself on his heart that residual light still lingers.
9. this alone sets me apart: This gift from her.
12. can make me feel: The feeling that preceded thought in the creation of the universe, as shadow preceded light (Zingarelli).
17. eternal Mover of the stars: The God of the Empyrean, the first cause. Cf. Dante, Paradiso XXXIII, 145.
20. the prison I am locked in open: Let his soul join them now. Cf. Cicero, Somnium Scipionis VI, 7: “Hic vivunt, qui ex corporum vinculis tamquam e carcere evolaverunt.”
22. I return to my accustomed war: His earthly love.
23. my day of birth: 20 July 1304.
28. a pleasure to myself: Cf. 71.91–105.
29. high and gracious thought: His thought ennobled by intimate knowledge of her compassion, the amoroso pensiero of 71.91.
39. sweetly consuming and destroying me: Pleasure that feeds desire for the immortal, bit by bit using up the mortal.
45. left there all alone: In his heart only the inseminating shower of angelic sparks remains, and Love.
47. lucky lovers: Whose love was requited.
50. the lovely black and white: Her compassionate eyes. Cf. 29.23.
51. Love takes delight: Regarding si trastulla, Carducci notes the many classical uses of the word to express noble simplicity in play.
55. Your veil: Cf. poems 11 and 52.
56. as does your hand: The hand that denies.
60. from your own changing look: A subtle pause occurs at the end of this stanza, as if he has offended.
64. I force myself to be: He goes against his nature.
66. noble fire: A passion to be honest and virtuous, according to the courtly tradition.
71. could help me: Attract her merciful eyes.
74. from fair eyes sweetly trembling: Early commentators heard an echo of Juvenal, Satires VII, 241: “oculosque in fine frementes.” Both Carducci and Zingarelli object, preferring Horace, Odes I, 22–24: “dulce ridentem Lalagen … dulce loquentem.” That Laura might laugh mischievously is in dispute.
75. ultimate hope: That she might love him for his whole self.
76. Song, just behind you: The three canzoni are sisters adorning themselves and each other, suggesting their role as the three Graces (Brilliance, Flowering, and Joy), or the virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity.
77. same place: In his imagination.
78. I rule more paper: He has more to say.
73 CANZONE
The first of the sister canzoni began an ascent of the mountain, the second reached the summit, and this final one finds him descending once again to his war.
10. my words burn: As the wish of line 2 forces him to write poetry, so the very words in turn inflame him.
11–15. nor does my talent … : Although at times he fears his lack of genius, it is the words of Love themselves that undo him by their sound. In this canzone, hearing will be counterpoised with seeing.
16. when I began: Cf. 23.1–4, where he hoped to make his life less bitter by singing (cantando).
19. this hope of mine: Encouraged by a certain success, his hope burst forth in praise of her, but only for a moment. Cf. 23.50–60, the second metamorphosis.
22. this lofty venture: Of praising her eyes.
23. my loving notes: This and the sound of the words stress their music.
25. and dead is Reason now: Lines 25–30 were extensively reworked by Petrarch in 1353, long after he first composed them, according to Wilkins.
26. who held the reins: Reason once guided
unruly desire, but Reason has been deposed by Love, to whom the poet cedes the lead position now.
27. let Love show me: He who is expert at finding the chink in one’s armor.
29. strike the ears: Percuote, a word that wounds. The musical motif is repeated as if the poem were a series of sounds winging toward her susceptible ear.
my sweet enemy: Cf. 21.1. He would do her a turn and reach her heart through her ears, as his heart was reached through his eyes.
30. pity’s friend: When she hears his song she will be moved to pity by his laments.
31. I say: Although reason is dead, he begins an argument quite rational in tone. He has used the phrase, “I say,” in all three canzoni.
31. if in that age: During ancient times when men burned for knowledge. He refers to philosophers like Pythagoras and Plato, whose journeys into foreign lands qualified them for admission into the fraternity.
32. true honor: Acquired through deeds and experience of travel.
36. their loveliest of flowers: They gathered knowledge or virtue wherever they found it, traveling far and wide.
38. to fill most perfectly: Within those eyes repose all the honored things the ancients gathered from the loveliest flowers.
44. run desirous toward death: “Running toward death” is living only in time.
48. to those two lights: The constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, shining in the polar region. Cf. Virgil, Aeneid V, 852: “clavumque affixus et haerens nusquam amittebat, oculosque sub astra tenebat.”
49. in the storm of love: The tempest threatens his poetry by driving it to dangerous limits.
52. do I steal from them: His furtive glances are necessary, perhaps, because of her veil.
53. now here, now there: Love shows him how to move his searching eyes about, not resting them too long in any one place—a piquant image reminiscent of Dante.
55. the little worth: That he should have them as guiding stars is the cause of all the worth he possesses.
66. every other beauty falls behind: Lauras gentle eyes, with their promise of pity and mercy, contain in one place all the virtue “wished by God and Love and Nature” (1. 37). Other beauties follow in inferior positions.
69. moves from their smile: Cf. Dante, Vita nuova XXVI: “Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare”; see also Dante, Paradiso XV, 34.
that holds and makes one love: Holds in harmony.
70. Could I but see fixedly: Were he able to gaze on the sight of her eyes without being overwhelmed by light.
72. for just one day: Cf. 22.31–33, where he wishes for one night with her in the amorous wood. “One day” is eternity.
75. without blinking: Without being hindered by the body.
76–78. Alas … : But none of these wishes is fulfillable. He seems to fall back in exhaustion.
81. when too much light: When he is overwhelmed by her splendor.
82. were loosened: The sense of loosening is contrasted with binding in, “I would gather up the courage.”
85. those wounds deeply pressed: The ancient wounds he suffered in Love’s first assault.
88. my blood runs to hide: Those wounds unmanned him, and even now his courage fails him.
89. nor am I what I was: When he walked free of love, in his youth.
90. this is the blow: Deep fear of unworthiness.
93. that speak to me: His canzone has been speaking to his lady. He now returns to counseling with himself to prepare for the sonnet that follows.
74 SONNET
In spite of its self-justifying conclusion, this sonnet succeeds in breathing scant life into the subject of her power.
5–6. face and hair /and… eyes: Three disembodied beauties.
9. my feet are not worn out: “Feet” also has the sense of poetic meter, still holding together.
10. following your footprints: Up and back down the mountain, as in the preceding canzoni.
11. wasting uselessly: This redundancy sums up the several images of emptiness he weaves into this sonnet, such as weary thoughts, burden of sighs, losing his tongue, and filling paper.
13. fill with you: Pages covered wtih script recall, in the word “fill,” the experience he evoked in 72.43 of sweetness descending into his heart, melting him.
if I am wrong: If his love is in some way inappropriate to his subject matter.
14. the fault: Colpa refers back to the wound dealt him by Love.
not the lack of art: His natural talent lacks only the gracious gift of worthiness. Petrarch pursues the theme of art’s power in the sonnets to follow.
75 SONNET
This sonnet expresses the perfect tension of his love.
2. can heal the wound: Cf. Dante, Inferno XXXI, 4; Pliny, Historia naturalis XXXV, 25 and XXXIV, 15; Ovid, Remedia amoris 44 and Tristia I, 1; Bernard de Ventadorn, “Ab joi mon” for references to the sword of Achilles.
3–4. herbs or magic art … : He cannot find the cure in folklore, the wisdom of the Magi, or in the philosopher’s stone.
5. have blocked my road: Filled all space.
6. one sweet thought: The “amoroso pensiero.”
7. and if the tongue: She has locked him into this impasse, and if he has been inveigled, it is her doing. Cf. 74.13–14.
9. These are those lovely eyes: He repeats the epithet three times in this sonnet.
9–10. make the banners / of my lord: The insignia of his lord, Love, an image of chivalry. Zingarelli notes that “everywhere” makes the poet’s body a battlefield upon which love is victorious over heart, eyes, thoughts, tongue, voice, and feet.
13. with flaming sparks: Cf. 72.37–39.
76 SONNET
He notifies a friend that he is temporarily free of his burden; but out of the prison of love, he is a man marked by his chains, pale as death.
1. Love, by alluring me: Cf. 69.3; Love flattered him with sweet words and benevolent signs.
2. my ancient prison: His martyrdom to Laura.
7. who would believe it: Of one who had complained so much.
8. return to freedom: A hiatus between one poetic effort and another. His sighs express his desire for a new labor of love.
11. my heart is signed: His love is visible throughout.
14. little time before he’s dead: Cf. Dante, Vita nuova XXIII.
77 SONNET
Simone Martini, a well-known painter who was called to Avignon by Pope Benedict XII in 1339 to serve the papal court, illuminated a miniature portrait of Laura on parchment, which Petrarch praises in this sonnet. It was believed to have been painted when Petrarch was working on the Secretum, where Augustinus chides Franciscus for being enamored of a painting.
1. Polyclitus: Greek sculptor, d. 450 B.C. Pliny wrote about his bronze sculpture of an Amazon in Historia naturalis XXXIV, 55. Cf. also Dante, Purgatorio X, 32.
4. part of the beauty: He refers again to the sovereign eyes whose beauty has conquered his heart, filling it with divine sparks.
5. Simon was in Heaven: To be absorbed in rendering the beauty of Laura would be heaven enough.
6. gracious lady comes: From the divine idea.
8. as proof down here: As testimony.
13. he came down: Simones act of creating her elevated him above all worldly cares.
78 SONNET
Since Simone Martini conceived his idea in Heaven (see 77.5), the poet fantasizes that Providence might have been even more generous, giving a voice and thoughts to Lauras lips and eyes.
5. he would have freed: He would have confirmed the poet’s deepest wishes.
9–10. begin to speak to her, / most kindly: Pygmalion spoke to his statue, and she appeared to respond to his voice and touch.
12. Pygmalion: Pygmalion fell in love with his life-size statue of ivory, prayed to Venus for her life, and was granted his wish. Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses X, 212–97.
13. a thousand times: Pygmalion’s statue, made living woman, returned his love with passion.
14. yearn for just once: Cf. the “
one night” of 22.32, and the “one day” of 73.72. Una volta cannot be other than an event in time, an “audacious” wish according to one commentator, who excuses Petrarch on the grounds that he yearns for an image, not the real Laura.
79 SONNET
This observance of the beginning of the fourteenth year of his love dates the sonnet around April 1340. The rhymes alternate abab in the quatrains; this is only the second time he has departed from his customary abba form in a sonnet.
1. answer to the start: He visualizes the entire year, which has begun in travail.
3. cool shade or aura: Cf. 75.3–4, where neither herbs, magic art, nor exotic stone could heal his wound; here he cannot retreat to the laurel.
5. with whom I’m undivided: He refers to his thoughts, always consumed by Love. (Carducci suggests the meaning of “overripe” for non amezzo, allowed to hang too long on the vine.)
6. never breathe with ease: Because of the suffocating effects of his desire.
7. so that I’m less than half: Having passed his thirty-fifth year.
8. too much looking: Seeking signs of her love.
11. she who looking at me: The line suggests that she appeals to him for help, but he is silent (chiusamente, 1 .10).
80 SONNET
Poem 79 signaled a change in mood from a sense of accomplishment to one of despair. This sestina gives form to the conflicts the unhappy soul encounters in seeking understanding.
1. made up his mind: Became firm in his desire for his high idea.
2. upon deceiving waves: The many contradictions that life reveals in pursuit of that idea.
3. detached from death: Scervro, recklessly not fearing death, as one who sacrifices himself. Cf. Beatrice in Dante, Paradiso XVI, 13. Vellutello cites Juvenal, Satires XII, 57.
in a little bark: Legno, signifying the mortal life of the soul.
4. from his own end: From danger of shipwreck.
7. The gentle aura: Laura.
8. I gave on entering: Entrusting to her superiority the guidance of his soul through the perilous sea of life.