Petrarch

  7. Ruler of Heaven: The poet mixes the classical invocation with the Christian, as Dante did in Purgatorio VI, 118: “O Jove Supreme, crucified here on earth for all mankind.”

  9. holy land: Italy, seat of the Holy Roman Church.

  10. gracious Lord: Christ.

  11. trivial reasons: Indicating the noblemen’s willingness to fight over the slightest offense, even a woman (Zingarelli).

  12. enclosed and hardened: Concerned only with their local affairs, heedless of a wider moral context.

  17. You: Petrarch turns his discourse directly to the warring lords, whose power came from Fortune rather than merit.

  20. swords of strangers: Of mercenary troops.

  22. barbaric blood: This sarcastic image carries with it disgust for the desecration of Italy’s carefully tilled soil; it also implies that anyone who thinks mercenaries would spill their blood for Italy is naive.

  23. Flattered: The noblemen delude themselves.

  25. venal hearts: Cf. Lucan, Pharsalia X, 408: “Nulla fides pietasque viris qui castra sequuntur Venalesque manus; ibi fas ubi maxima merces.”

  26. with more followers: You cannot buy loyalty from mercenaries who look for an opportunity to betray you.

  28. O deluge: This invasion of a hostile tribe from Germany.

  31. by our very hands: By personally inviting the hoards into their lands.

  34–35. screen / of Alps: A natural defense.

  35. German rage: Cf. 28.50. Petrarch shared this opinion with many, Pliny and Cicero included.

  38. healthy body sick: With the passage of the Germans through the Alps, disease entered the body of Italy.

  39. same cage: Sheep and wolves together.

  44–48. whose sides … : Marius was the Roman consul who defeated the Cimbri and Teutons in the battle of Aquae Sextiae in 102 B.C., on what came to be called the “putrid fields” for the blood that was shed there.

  45. so split open: Spilling not only their blood but their entrails. More than 100,000 soldiers were said to have been killed.

  48. as water from the river: The river is the Arc, where Marius was reported to have refreshed himself after the battle. The waters of the region were normally taken for their medicinal qualities.

  49. will not speak of Caesar: Whose reputation for violently subjugating peoples needed no further advertisement.

  52. who knows: He mocks those who blame Heaven for their misfortunes.

  54. thanks to you: The lords and princes.

  56. fairest part: Another allusion to the body of Italy, which contains within it the sacred womb of Rome.

  57. What fault: The question is posed ironically to those who might attribute to God or destiny acts that are clearly willed by proud and capricious men.

  59. scattered fortunes: Petrarch refers to the vengeful manner in which one city-state continues to harass another defeated one, as Venice did Genoa, for example.

  67. into a game: That mercenaries are not serious soldiers is demonstrated by their raising the finger, a gesture of facile surrender that mocks the war.

  68. The shame: Of surrender, which makes a laughing stock of the lords who pay them.

  70. other anger. Although the mercenaries fight ingloriously, the Italians are worse, since pride drives them to bloody internecine battle.

  71. dawn to tierce: From six to nine in the morning, when the mind is clear—coincidentally the time Christ died, according to the Vulgate. Cf. 3.1 and note.

  77. a name that is so empty: That is, lacking moral purpose, fighting without a standard.

  78–79. savage race / conquer our intellect: Ultimately insinuate itself into the Latin mind. With this he sums up his argument, focusing on Italy as an Eden threatened by the serpent of divisiveness.

  81–86. Is this not…: He invites each man to speak in his own voice as an Italian, asking himself these questions.

  88. look with pity: Look outside themselves. Cf. 53.57.

  91. to you for hope: To their expectations of an afterlife. If the noblemen have despaired of salvation, the people are doomed.

  100. here, but think: Life, appearing to be a given to the thoughtless, is time running out to the virtuous man.

  102. perilous pass: Judgment.

  107. more worthy act: More civilized, using their skill and intelligence toward honorable goals.

  114. with courtesy: He uses “courtesy” here in its courtly sense of sophisticated; that is, irony is used as a means of disarming the nobility.

  117. most vicious: The hatred they turn on each other. Behind this incendiary anger hovers the tribal rage of the Germans, poised to descend.

  120. valiant few: Those whose intelligence allows them to perceive the very real danger they face.

  121. Who will protect me: A feminine voice, the ultimate cry of “fair Italy” for pity.

  129 CANZONE

  This poem is a meditation in which the poet puts poems 125–128 in a wholly new context and confronts his dilemma. The canzone was believed to have been written in 1344 after the completion of his diplomatic journey to Naples, during a particularly fertile period at Selvapiana. In the opinion of DeSanctis, this and poem 126 were the two most profound canzoni of the Middle Ages.

  1. From thought to thought: Only in solitude, with his whole attention fixed on his soul’s upreaching flame of desire, can he find refuge. Lanyi has noted that the word “thought” appears in each stanza in a descending scale, appearing for the last time in the last line of the fifth stanza.

  2. Love leads me on: The loving thought that presses on him to seek her in ever more lofty regions.

  5. between two peaks: His thoughts descend to the level of a valley on the slope of the mountain. Poggi are a grade below mountains peaks.

  6. that is the place: He is drawn to the eternal valley, the green bank where his roots are and where the woods offer him shade.

  9–13. and my face …: His verse reflects the changing nature of his thoughts. Cf. Virgil, Aeneid VI, 733: “Hinc metuunt cupiuntque, dolente gaudentque.”

  12. the man who knows: The lover (uom experto), one who has been tested.

  13. state is uncertain: He will make this observation in each stanza to follow.

  14. high mountains: His eyes move back up again to the alpine peaks.

  harsh woods: Farthest from habitation and cultivation, where progress is most difficult.

  16. a mortal enemy: Enemy of the intellect; inimical to inspiration.

  22. I say: He says aloud (later he speaks inwardly).

  saving you: The cause of Love is better served by his bittersweet life. 24. loathsome: Vile, a word that suggests a servile state.

  25–26. Then to another thought …: Questioning the simple faith expressed in lines 22–24 with these old doubts.

  28. first stone seen: Recasting Laura’s image in this stone.

  31. softened with pity: Perhaps out of compassion for her abandonment.

  32. What have you come to?: Cf. 23.30. These questions give the effect of stopping him in his tracks in self-blame and then resuming in a spirit of hope.

  34. on the first thought: He fixes his mind on the amoroso pensiero, which came before all else.

  38. I see her: Cf. 127.89–90.

  40. who’ll believe me?: This question defends the truth of the workings of his imagination (Zingarelli).

  41–45. clear water… green grass … : He will call all of these illusions into account. They differ from the images of poem 127 in being disconnected fragments—intentionally banal according to the poet Alfieri, who called them a sham (posticcio).

  42. beech tree: Cf. 23.117.

  46–47. The wilder… / the more: By contrast between his vision of peace and reality.

  50. that sweet mistake: Naivete.

  51. cold as dead stone: Mute because he is without hope or ardor.

  living rock: The heart-stone of Italy whose fires are banked against the assaults of a cruel history. Cf. 50.78 and Ovid, Heroides X, 49–50.


  53. that mountain: The highest of all.

  54. freest path: The word giogo (path) here means the approach to the mountain, those shoulders that provide a pass to the summit. It alludes to the approach to Calvary.

  56–57. measure with my eyes/my losses: Also, to tally up his reserves.

  58. painful cloud: A pejorative term for veil. Cf. poem 66.

  60. air: Like the heavy air of 66.1 or the distance he needed to travel in 37.41–48.

  61. always so near: Cf. line 36, “I feel Love so close by.”

  62. Then softly: Cf. line 22. He speaks to himself humbly, as if in prayer.

  63. Perhaps out there: “In that direction”—toward Laura.

  65. begins to breathe: Hope is renewed in this loving thought and balance restored with an intake of breath.

  66. My song: The congedo finds him on this side of the Alps, anticipating the day he will return to Laura. He neither sends the song ahead nor invites it to stay behind. It stands on its own merits.

  beyond those Alps: In Provence or Italy, wherever he imagines her to be.

  69–70. aura/distilling: The spring breeze that collects and concentrates the essence of flowers.

  70. fragrant laurel: He uses the word laureto, a whole grove of blooming laurels, a symbol of the Virgin Mary.

  72. ghost of me: Not only his body—the mortal rind—but his verse remains behind, an image of his soul.

  130 SONNET

  According to Wilkins, this sonnet was written at Selvapiana in the same period as poems 127–129, and the four following in this cycle of five at Vaucluse at some later time.

  1. road to mercy: To grace.

  3. what fate: This is the first time Petrarch uses the word fato.

  4. reward: The chivalrous guidardon comes from the German widarlon, meaning remuneration.

  10. Zeuxis, Praxiteles, or Phidias: Greek artists of the fourth and fifth centuries B.C., compared here with Love.

  12. What Scythia or Numidia: Scythia being in remote Central Asia, Numidia in the deserts of Africa.

  can protect me: Where can he hide?

  13. unworthy exile: From the sight of Laura.

  13–14. filled… /Envy: Sazia, sated. Petrarch may allude here to Ovid, Metamorphoses II, 708–803, where the beast Envy, who feeds on snakes, is sent by Minerva to seek out and punish the disobedient Aglauros. Cf. also St. Jerome: “O multiplices et ineffabile insidiae diaboli, sic quoque me latitantem invenit invidia” (Carducci).

  131 SONNET

  This sonnet is intended to charm while containing a bitter, fierce message.

  1. so differently: The usual “new” or “strange” way, here, perhaps, almost barbaric. See 134.9–14.

  2. draw by force: Seduce her with the persuasive voice of Love.

  hard side: The side of the heart, which is impervious to Love’s arrow.

  4. deep desires: Alti desiri. Cf. Dante, Inferno III, 22; IV, 1; IX, 50; and Purgatorio XVI, 64.

  5. face change often: A conceit often used to describe the face of his own verse.

  6. eyes becoming wet: Expressing their own grief and pain, a wish that carries a note of vendetta.

  7. repents too late: After the lover has turned away in despair from her she turns toward him with renewed compassion. He repeats this idea in line 14 of the next sonnet.

  9. deep red roses: Her lips bloodred (vermilion). Cf. 127.71.

  in the snow: Of her skin.

  10. moved by the breeze: Again he uses l’òra, connoting movement in time. Cf. 127.80.

  ivory uncovered: Her teeth revealed in a smile, according to Tassoni, her hands, according to Castelvetro.

  11. turns to marble: Like the smile of Medusa that turns men to stone. He may also allude to the fate of Aglauros in Ovid’s Metamorphoses; she was turned to cold, black marble by Mercury.

  14. season more mature: More ready for harvest.

  132 Sonnet

  A discourse about his love using logic notable for its circularity. Sibilants are audible in his interrogatives and summations.

  2. by God, what: Created by God, and therefore representing His will.

  3–4. If good… / If bad: Corresponding to the quid and quale of dialectic.

  5. If I burn: If he wishes this bittersweetness on himself, why not take in it what pleasure he can?

  6. if against: If it is God’s will, on the other hand, so be it.

  7–8. O living death …: This synthesis seems to ask why, if he accepts life and death for what they are, should he not rule himself? “Why not” (quidnis) was the question the serpent asked Eve.

  10. Caught in contrasting winds: He illustrates the fragility of his argument in this metaphor. As a means of support it can easily be upturned, like a point of dialectic weighted to one side.

  14. shiver: When he turns the full force of his love on her, her cold glance freezes him; when he turns away from love, the memory of her smile keeps him in bondage (Castelvetro).

  133 SONNET

  The arguments of poem 132 are given in another form.

  1. target for his arrows: Love has singled him out, making him susceptible to her divine qualities.

  2–3. like snow … wax …/… mist: Transforming nature by the agency of another.

  3. I’m hoarse: Roco, describing his verse.

  5. mortal blow: Cf. poem 2: “quando ‘l colpo mortal là giù discese.”

  7. you take it lightly: She laughs.

  8. make me such: Snow, wax, mist; that is, they make him a testimony to her effects.

  9–10. Your thoughts … : She both wounds and heals him, then steals him away with her desire.

  11. he melts me: Cf. Job 42:6.

  13. cannot resist: Losing the sense of himself, giving himself up to her.

  14. compose the aura: The aura concentrates the essence of all these effects.

  134 SONNET

  This sonnet presents a series of contrary effects and paradoxes, like a riddle. The rhyme scheme mirrors the antithetical syntax.

  2. fear and hope: In opposition—fear with freezing, hope with burning.

  3. I fly above: Cf. Ps. 139:8.

  5. One keeps me: Laura, who does not care (133.4). Cf. Ps. 139.10.

  7. does not kill… chains: Does not end his martyrdom. An alternate reading of mi sferra is to pull the arrow from the wound (Zingarelli).

  8. lifeless: Cf. Ps. 139.11.

  9. I see with no eyes: Like a creature not completely formed in God’s mind. Cf. Dante, Inferno XXXI, 10–11.

  without a tongue: Without an intelligible language. Cf. Dante, Inferno XXXI, 67–69.

  11. I hate myself: Cf. Dante, Inferno XXXI, 76: “His words accuse him.” The last words of Psalm 139, echoed in this sonnet and in Dante’s passage, deal with hatred.

  135 CANZONE

  This canzone takes the form of a confessional, the presence of sin sometimes stated, sometimes revealed through metaphor. Its unique rhyme scheme does not break down into the usual subdivision after the first part but strengthens the A and B rhymes at the center, renewing itself at the end of the stanza with the beginning rhyme, in a cycle like that of the phoenix (the canzone’s opening image). Zingarelli described this stanza form as a set of manacles; the poet seems to free himself from each one until the end of the poem when he reveals the extent of his submission to them. Whatever atonement he achieves by way of his confession prepares the way for the sonnets to follow.

  1–2. wondrous / thing: Six wonders of nature appear in the poem, suggesting a correlation with poems 23 and 323.

  2. any foreign land: Cf. 130.12. Here he searches the four corners of the earth, the sky, and the far beyond for his metaphors—six points.

  5. where the day is born: In the East. According to Ovid the phoenix sprang from Assyria (Metamorphoses XV, 392).

  7–8. that voluntarily / dies: The phoenix nests in the highest branches of the palm, surrounds herself with fragrant and combustible things, and invites the sun to ignite her. From the flames of this pyre she
is reborn every 509 years.

  16. a stone so bold: Ptolemy, Albertus Magnus, and Pliny wrote about these magnet-stones (calamites), warning of the danger of sailing close to them. A calamite is “fiery” because of its reputedly rusty color but also because the poet puns on his own name Petrarca, the audacious one, hoisted on his own petard.

  19. steals it from the wood: The very nails of the ship are extracted.

  20. I prove this: By washing against her cold harshness with the waves of his verse.

  23. life must sink: Shipwrecked.

  29. drawn to the shore: Close to death.

  32. there lives an animal more tame and gentle: Said to be the catoblepas (from the Greek words meaning to “look downward”), a fabled African beast resembling a buffalo whose head was so heavy it could not lift it and whose glance was fatal. Pliny described it in Historia naturalis. Petrarch softens the savageness of the beast to make the comparison with Laura.

  35. turns his sight: In order to meet the eyes of the catoblepas, he would have to bend down and gaze up at her from below.

  36. with great care: From a secure position, quick to avert one’s eyes.

  38. all other parts are safe: Looking at her hunched-over, suffering body will not harm one, only gazing into her weeping eyes.

  45. angelic beast of innocence: Laura is made to suffer in this stanza for a crime she has not committed; as in poem 128 (“Italia mia”) the maiden is undefended.

  47. a fountain: Cf. Pliny, Historia naturalis II, 106: “In Troglodytis fons solis appellatur, dulcis.” Dal sole is the name of the fountain.

  48. by its nature: Without benefit of its own fire. He will compare this burning with the reflected light of the moon in lines 52–60.

  50. grows cold depending: The fountain’s cooling is a metaphor for the moon’s setting.

  51. grows more near: In the evening as the sun sets.

  56. and night is dark for them: A double darkness that anticipates death.