by Mark Musa
1. I am so tired: Cf. 57.1–4 and 81.1. He is vanquished by waiting.
2. the battle: The continual tension between affirmation and denial in his poetry.
4. every noose: The tightening cord (laccio) recalls Laura’s loveliness, which enslaves him.
5. I bear painted: The master image. Cf. 94.2.
7. cruel tortures: The word martiri appears for the first time since poem 55.
9. I first went wrong: His first youthful turning toward the elusive Laura.
11. it’s bad to follow: A mildly ironic aside.
12. unbound to its harm: After subjects other than Love.
13. do another’s pleasure: Then, turning back to Laura, whose lovely image compels him to suffer.
14. sinned but only once: The first time, when he chose to love (Carducci).
97 SONNET
He speaks again of his brief liberation, which revealed to him the falseness of any life apart from Laura.
1. lovely liberty: Cf. 23.112–120, 76, 89, and 96; see also Virgil, Aeneid VI, 821: “pulcra pro libertate.”
2–3. what my state/ was like: The state of carefree innocence he enjoyed before he fell in love.
4. the wound… cured: He uses the word guerrò for “cured,” close in spelling to guerra, “war.” Cf. 75.2.
5. My eyes … woes: He took up his former work again, total absorption in love poetry.
9–10. does not speak /about my death: Does not regard him as a lost soul.
12. in other directions: He has touched on all the tools of the poet: eyes, ears, tongue, feet, and hands are in her service.
98 SONNET
Here Petrarch consoles his friend Orso dell’Anguillara (to whom he addressed poems 27 and 38) for circumstances that prevent Orso from joining in a noble combat.
1. your charger: Orso’s desire is compared with a warhorse, well under the control of its master.
6. stopped from going: To the battlefield, which may be only a figurative expression for Orso’s goal.
7. everyone already knows: By his reputation for bravery and readiness to fight.
8. quicker: In the past he had always been the first to respond to a call to arms.
9. will be on the field: His heart, in a pathetic fallacy that Carducci notes, will enter the battle somehow through the operation of Orso’s good will, his affiliation by marriage with the Colonnas, his bravery, and his noble blood.
12. shouting: The heart calls out on behalf of his absent master.
99 SONNET
Also written to a friend—perhaps a member of the Colonna family—this sonnet has the poet standing aside from active life, wryly giving advice as the blind would lead the blind.
3. never fails: They had, perhaps, followed an idea of good as pleasure only. Cf. 13.10. True good cannot be false.
4. that happier state: Heavenly peace.
5–6. like a meadow /… lies the serpent: A common classical metaphor for life’s pleasures.
8. soul more tangled up: Caught in the knots and complexities of life.
9. So you, then: A peremptory tone, in spite of the voi which he uses as a sign of respect.
13. showing others the way: Cf. poem 60.
100 SONNET
Although written at different periods, this and the next sonnet have the same rhymes and rhyme schemes and together mark the anniversary of the fourteenth year of his love, the year of his coronation as poet laureate (commemorated in poem 79).
1. That window: The eyes of the mind.
2. one sun … the other: Dante’s Monarchia is a defense of empire as one sun and the papacy as the other. Petrarch here may disparage the papacy with his reference to its capriciousness (“any time it likes”), while putting empire at its zenith (“at noon”).
3. and that one: The other window, the ear of the mind, which hears the north wind blow. In fiede, the Boreas “wounds” the ear, recalling the cruelty of the god who carried off Oriethyia to his wintry abode.
5. the stone: Sasso, elsewhere a term for the labyrinth that was the Avignon papacy. on long days: Signifying summer, the season of harvest.
6. talking to herself alone: Laura unnoticed by others.
9. and the fierce pass: His unique moment in time.
11. renews my ancient wounds: As every year he mourns the death of Christ.
13. deep: Literally, “nailed high in the center of my heart,” relating Laura’s face and words to Christ crucified.
101 SONNET
Written some years later than poem 100 but linked to it in its rhymes, this sonnet turns attention away from the cherished scene toward the sound of that north wind portending death.
1–2. she who pardons / no man: Death.
2. anguished prey: Victims of premature loss.
4. keeps faith with us: Listens.
5. little reward: A response to his appeals has not been forthcoming.
10. not deceived: By the passing of time in a relative sense. He refers to the apocalypse.
11. by forces: Angelic forces.
12. Passion and reason: These are matched with seven and seven in the next line.
13. better one will win: Reason, man’s access to the better state.
14. see the good to come: Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses XV, 878–79: “If prophecies of bards are ever truthful, / I shall be living, always.”
102 SONNET
If Caesar can feign grief when he rejoices, Hannibal laugh when he grieves, and great historians mask men’s true motives in their writings, why can’t this love poet do the same?
1–4. Caesar … : See poem 44, which mentions this incident recounted by Lucan.
1. traitor: Ptolemy betrayed Pompey, who had sought refuge from Caesar in Egypt.
3. clearly felt: Manifesta, that is, his real feelings were known to God.
5–7. Hannibal… laughed loud: When the vanquished city of Carthage could not raise the money to pay tribute to Rome, as recounted in Livy’s history of Rome XL, 35, Hannibal laughed—he himself said—as a man driven insane by calamity.
8. bitter disdain: For his fellow Carthaginians, who did not rally to his cause.
11. a cloak that is different: The face is veiled with the contrary emotion. In Africa, Petrarch wrote that poetry covers the naked truth with new garments, “making truth at times clear, at times hidden” (Bernardo).
12. I laugh or sing: Each suggesting its opposite. Cf. Dante, Purgatorio XXI, 106–108.
14. of hiding: The contrary “dark” face is implied. So if at any time he weeps in anguish, he may do so because he has no other way of hiding his bitter laughter.
103 SONNET
Apparently written to Stefano Colonna the younger, who killed in combat two members of the Orsini family who attacked him near San Cesario in May 1333. Stefano’s death during the brief tribuneship of Cola di Rienzo signaled the collapse of Petrarch’s hopes for a unified Italy under the Church of Rome.
1. did not know how: Hannibal was criticized for failing to follow up on his victories, particularly in Cannae in 216 B.C.
2. victorious fortune: Cf. Livy’s history of Rome XXXII, 28: “vincere Scis, Hannibal, victoria uti necis.”
5. The bear: The Orsini family.
cubs of hers: Bertoldo and Francesco Orsini, killed by Stefano.
7. hardens teeth and claws: Becomes stronger and more ferocious in vengeance. Cf. Statius, Thebais II, 130: “Bella cupit, laxatque geenas et temperat unques.”
8. on us: On all followers of the Colonnas.
10. do not… rest: This note of bellicosity is rare for Petrarch.
11–12. where your fortune / is calling to you: Expressing his faith in the Colonnas and his belief that theirs was a noble and just cause.
104 SONNET
This sonnet is addressed to Pandolfo Malatesta of Rimini, who at the time of writing was an up-and-coming captain of the cavalry. His valor against German mercenaries in Romagna had impressed Petrarch. They became friends in 1356, and Petrarch made him a gift of
a collection of his rhymes in 1372.
1. hoped-for virtue: The valor the poet had hoped to find in a worthy subject. Cf. 28.1.
flowering in you: Pandolfo may have been as young as eighteen at the time.
2. when Love started: Love of the right cause.
6. far greater still: Cf. poem 40. He may have had in mind a major work he hoped Malatesta would support.
7. in no way can sculpture be: Cf. poem 77, another comparison of sculpture with poetry.
so solid: For all its beauty and integrity, marble does not flower or produce fruit.
9–10. Caesar or Marcellus, Paulus or Africanas: Roman generals. Do the works of these heroes act on the minds of men because of the sculptor’s art?
12. are frail: Like the human body that is their model, even solid marble and bronze crumble in time.
13. our work: Which seeds itself in the minds of good men, linking valor to valor through a passion for good.
105 CANZONE
This work has been compared to a frottola (tall tale) or descort (dissent), two Provençal forms that were common vehicles in the period for political and moral ideas. In spite of its seeming incoherence, Petrarch’s canzone is distinguished by the integrity of its form. The six stanzas are rigorously constructed, with rhymes interwoven so that they link not only eleven-beat lines but five- and seven-beat divisions within those lines, forming a careful network of ideas. While the sounds, even the thoughts, seem discordant in the beginning stanzas, they are connected on an abstract level by the events of the poems that came before. At line 52, discord seems to be overwhelmed by a runner coming up from behind, who cuts short the poet’s irritable grumbling so that he gives in laughing once more to his love.
The persona Petrarch assumes is that of the disaffected lover playing buffoon, who makes himself the object of amusement while directing his barbs at very different targets. The canzone echoes the Bible, particularly the teachings of Paul and Proverbs.
1. I never want to sing: The proverb is Tuscan and means he has lost the desire to enchant.
2. no one understood me: Cf. 1.9–11. The true meaning of his love poetry had been misinterpreted.
3. in a lovely place: In her presence.
5–6. It is snowing… and day is getting close: Cf. Dante, Convivio IV, 7, 60: “Nevato è sì che tutto copre la neve.” Cf. Rom. 13:11.
9. who looks: Laura has taken a virtuous, detached stance.
11. Love rules: An old proverb.
12. let him turn back: Redire in viam is a Latin proverb. Cf. 54.10.
15. let him now: One paraphrase would be, “He who can’t do as he wishes, does as he can.”
nice glass: Clear truth will suffice.
16. but no longer: Cf. 95.12.
18. Bad tribute: A proverb from a feudal system that exacted heavy payment to the Lord. In 101.8, “tribute” meant the poet’s tears.
19. I get free: Mi spetro (unrock myself).
20. I hear: He “heard” perhaps from his own canzone, 23.49–80. Phaeton rebelled against Zeus, the temporal power.
21. blackbird: A saying meaning that spring has come and gone. The term also applies to members of the opposing party, in this case the Blacks.
23. a rock amid the waves: Cf. the scogli of poem 80. He seems to address those (or the one) who scorned him in line 2.
24. nor birdlime: One of Love’s many snares.
25. excessive pride: Cf. line 10. Bella is contrasted with amorosa. Excessive pride is inimical to virtue.
27–30. some answer … : Here he describes himself in his transformations.
29–30. and some … : He and other unfortunate lovers.
31. out of style: An ironic dissent.
34. A humble lady: Cf. 23.104–105. There is a time for humility and a time for boldness.
35. A fig: A version of the truism that you canot tell a book by its cover. “Fig” is a disparaging term for a female and the essence of sweetness.
36. things that are too hard: It’s better not to bite off more than you can chew, as the saying goes.
37. good dwelling places: Suggestive of other women. This saying is linked with line 13 and both are drawn together in line 80.
38. can kill someone: Cf. line 20.
39. joined the dance: The “dance” is figurative for worldly activity.
40. That little left: The worldly life he has left.
43. shelters in the woods: This God is merciful and offers the erring believer protection and solace on the path to redemption.
45. step by step: “Lead me to graze” (a passo).
46. don’t understand: Faith is not found in books, nor true knowledge in the appearance of things.
47. who sets the net: Cf. Prov. 1:17 “Frusta autem iacitur rete ante oculos penatorum.”
48. who is too subtle: To break your head over subtleties is to overlook the simplicity of God’s truth. Cf. 2 Cor. 3.
49. Let not: A legal term, “contractus non debet claudicare.” Cf. Gal. 3:23.
50. one descends: Into life in order to gain knowledge—a Neoplatonic concept derived from Orphic beginnings.
52. a hidden beauty: The amoroso pensiero that converts him from a cynical voyeur to a loving man.
53. blessèd be the key: Petrarch turns the canzone on this line, moving from subtlety to song.
54. and shook it from: Not the primal events but a response to a glance she seems to have turned on him in reaction to his words.
57. another grieves: The style of these two lines recalls the poetry of Pier della Vigna, a member of the Sicilian school who wove similar elegant conceits. Cf. Dante, Inferno XIII, 58–60.
60. no more, yet it’s no less: Inexhaustible but sweet. Cf. 23.4
61. In silence: In solitude.
62. sound: Of her words being uttered.
63. dark prison: Love.
64. nocturnal violets: Emblems of virginity and sacrifice.
65. wild animals: Cf. 56.7–8, “And in my sheepfold what wild beast is roaring? / Between the grain and hand what wall exists?”
68. where it is: Vaucluse, but more specifically, in his poetry.
69. love and jealousy: The first use of the word “jealousy.”
75. while I wear these clothes: As long as he lives.
76–90. I weep … : The final stanza gathers up this network of concepts linking his faith. No congedo is necessary.
77. in what I hear: Her sweet words.
78. I enjoy and wait for better: Like a wise Solomon standing back from the fray and passing his knowledge on to the younger generation.
79. I’m silent and cry out: Two contrasting biblical injunctions, the one meaning to be silent about evil while listening to the teachings of wisdom, the other to voice a general lamentation as an expression of the people’s pain.
80. on a good branch: He rests above warring elements. He refers to the Cross here as well as to the laurel.
81. the great refusal: His turning to God.
82. the base affect: The jealousy of line 49 that drove him to crave possession of her.
86. bold enough: Cf. line 36. He has resolved to tell the truth, to stand out, to whatever end.
106 MADRIGAL
In the first madrigal in the Canzoniere (poem 52), Laura appears as a shepherdess; in the second (poem 54), as a pilgrim. Here she descends from the sky as an angel.
2. desended: As a soul descending into corporeality. The “quick wings” of line 1 imply sagacity.
to the fresh shore: Some take this to be a riverbank in Vaucluse, but metaphorically, on the threshold of his new life.
3. all alone: The miraculous and the predestined are joined in this tercet.
4. with no friend and no guide: Like Beatrice descending to aid Dante, she is responding to his need for spiritual guidance.
5. a trap that she had woven: Ordire (to weave) has a figurative sense of “scheming.” She is beautiful by design.
out of silk: The subtlest fabric, full of lights and shadows.<
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6. within the grass: A new, fresh growth of hope implicit in “greened.”
7. I was not unhappy: His memory has sweetened.
8. light came spreading: As a gradual revelation.
107 SONNET
This begins a series of twelve sonnets encompassing the passing of the year 1341–1342, as this sonnet commemorates the fifteenth year of his love and poem 118 the sixteenth. The twelve were written in different periods over a span of about six years when Petrarch spent considerable time in Vaucluse. Zingarelli believed that the series expresses feelings of anticlimax that Petrarch suffered after his coronation as poet laureate in 1341.
2. have fought me: In an inner war with himself.
5–6. loving rays/that night: Cf. 106.8, “the sweetest light.”
11. light lit from it: Cf. Dante, Purgatorio XXII, 10–12: “Love, / kindled by virtue, always kindles love, / if the first flame is clearly visible.”
12. laurel tree: Such a wealth of hope and glory has sprung from the first poet. Cf. Dante, Purgatorio XXI, 94–96.
such forests flourish: With the spread of language and culture, like a vast root system. Cf. Virgil, Georgics IV, 273: “Namque uno ingentem tollit de cespite silvam.”
13. my foe: Love leads him to deeper and deeper researches.
14. can lead me: By means of grace and beauty.
108 SONNET
The sonnet is addressed to Sennuccio del Bene through the medium of the beloved terrain where Petrarch first saw Laura. Sennuccio, an older Florentine poet who fled into exile in 1311, lived for a time in Avignon. He and Petrarch were close friends, and poems 112, 133, 144, and 287, all of them sonnets, are also addressed to him, the last on the occasion of his death in 1349.
1. More fortunate: By destiny and miraculous happenstance. Cf. 106.1–4.
2. Love stop in her steps: He saw the action of love in the eyes she turned on him.
4. clear peace: The effect of the emerging sun that clears the sky.