Petrarch

by Mark Musa

  1. Spain’s Ebro: A river forming a perimeter on the west, part of a frame.

  India’s Hydaspes: A perimeter on the east.

  2. though searching every slope: Every easy access to a spiritual port.

  3. Red shore: The Red Sea, to the south.

  Caspian waves: Completing the frame on the north.

  4. another phoenix: Cf. poems 135 and 185. The phoenix is Petrarch’s original vision of Laura, here put in geopolitical perspective.

  5–6. What crow… what raven … / sings of my fate: Classically, omens of good fortune. Both birds are also common European symbols for the death-goddess, found perching over the body of the slain hero in ballads.

  6. What Sister Fate: The fate who spins, the one who winds, or the one who cuts the thread of life?

  7. is a deaf asp: The asp, in order not to hear the incantation, holds one ear to the ground and covers the other with its tail.

  8. wretch that I am: Cf. 150.14. Petrarch is speaking in the voice of ordinary mankind.

  11. she offers others: Cf. 207.51–52.

  14. my temples flower white: The image recalls Giacomo Colonna’s sonnet celebrating Petrarch’s coronation, in which the laurel “sopra le tempie verdeggiava.” Cf. poems 166 and 322.

  211 SONNET

  This sonnet, once marked for exclusion from the Canzoniere, dates precisely the moment his love began. It was revised and added to the collection in 1369.

  1. Desire spurs: Voglia, willful desire. Petrarch makes a rout here of the Platonic scheme in which reason holds the reins of the soul’s chariot. Cf. poem 6.

  2. Habit carries me away: Mere custom, the law of nature, has him in its grip.

  4. its right hand: Beckoning with false promises. Cf. the “feigning” of 210.13.

  6. disloyal and blind: Love, because he has led him into a blind corner.

  7. reason now is dead: Defeated in the struggle with sensual love.

  9–10. Virtue… /sweet words: The attributes of Laura were mere entrapments, like the right hand of hope in line 4.

  13. sixth of April: See note to 3.1. This precise date was also inscribed in Petrarch’s copy of Virgil’s works, called the Ambrosiana.

  14. the labyrinth: In classical myth a term synonymous with the Underworld, entered by heroes and wise men as a test and as practice for death. In medieval times it symbolized purgatory, as in the garden of love or le chemin de Jerusalem and lacs d’amour, designed in the shape of a knot, appearing in Gothic churches. In his Epistles III, 21, 22, and 23, Petrarch specifically referred to Avignon as his own labyrinth. Cf. Virgil, Aeneid V, 588 ff.: “Ut quondam Creta fertur Labyrinthus in alta, parietibus textum caecis inter, ancipitemque mille viis habuisse dolum: qua signa sequendi frangeret indeprensus, et irremeabilis error,” See also Boethius, Consolatione Philosophiae: “inextricabilem labyrinthum rationibus texens.”

  212 SONNET

  Subservient to the power she has over his senses, he compares his art to the labors of a lame ox pursuing a fleeing doe. This sonnet marks the twentieth year of his service to Love, dating itself Good Friday, 1347.

  1. Blest in my dreams: His prophecy for a new day.

  satisfied to languish: Cf. 206.52–54.

  2. chase a summer breeze: An enumeration of impossibilia in the style of Arnaut Daniel. Cf. Mark 13:28–30.

  7. a doe: Cf. poem 190, the inviolate white doe of Caesar.

  8. with ox: The connection of the ox with the doe was made by Arnaut Daniel, alluding to the myth of Pasiphaë, the moongoddess who mated with Poseidon’s white bull and produced the Minotaur (Carducci).

  13. have won me: Merco, referring to the idea that his worth has been assessed and found wanting.

  14. under this star: Venus, the Third Heaven of love poets, whose rise in Taurus blessed the season when Petrarch first saw her. The epicycle of Venus around the sun in summer creates a light too bright to be seen safely with the naked eye. Cf. 142.2.

  took the bait and hook: When he entered the labyrinth on that first day.

  213 SONNET

  For all his weariness he is still able to sing the praises of Laura, whose attributes in this sonnet take on the coloration of the poet’s. Castelvetro read in this Petrarch’s response to rumors that he had been bewitched.

  3. wisdom of gray age: A common theme in love poetry, referring to the beloved’s contemplative life. Cf. 182.8 and 210.14.

  4. in modest lady: One of the characteristics he has shared with her from time to time.

  7. a loving spirit glowing: Cf. Dante, Vita nuova XIX: “her eyes, wherever she may choose to look, / send forth their spirits radiant with love / to strike the eyes of anyone they meet.”

  8–11. breaking all hardness …/… to stone, /… to give to others: A sequence described in the metamorphoses of poem 23.

  13. tenderly are interrupted: She smiles, weeps, and sighs in turn.

  14. I had been transformed: He has taken on these qualities in his own life and verse.

  214 SESTINA

  He places his first encounter with Laura in a wholly new context in this intensely religious and elegiac sestina, where he offers up his love of Laura to God as a sacrifice.

  1. Three days ago: In his young manhood, Zingarelli believed that Petrarch’s mood in this sestina is ruled by poem 212, in which he commemorated his first encounter in absolute, rather than real time. See notes to poem 3.

  2–3. Where it could care … : Describing how he committed himself to loving her.

  4. she, still uncertain: His soul, unaware of its worth.

  5. alone…free: The unsuspecting young poet. Cf. 23.1–40.

  7. A tender flower: Laura.

  8. the day before: In adolescence.

  9. and be free: Remain aloof. Cf. 23.1–6.

  10. so new: Her beauty was unique, revolutionary.

  14. quickly made me turn: Cf. 6.1–8.

  17. verses, stones, or juice of herb: Every art or science.

  20. from its own knot: Its ties with the soul.

  21. all medicines: All bitter remedies.

  24. to come out lame: To emerge from the forest less than he was when he entered. Cf. 212.8.

  26. light foot that’s free: Like the foot of Laura, free of worldly care.

  29. give me your right hand: Restore faith in him.

  30. win my shadow: Secure his salvation.

  31. Look at my state: Of exile.

  35. my wandering consort: His soul, and by extension, Laura.

  let yours be the prize: May he renounce any claims on her who belongs to God.

  39. held back in the wood: Along with the flesh, still lame and tied to a mortal love.

  215 SONNET

  Poem 214 provided the groundwork for a new idea, liberating in its naturalness. This sonnet begins a series of twenty-two, culminating in poem 237, a sestina.

  1. In noble blood a quiet, humble life: Cf. 214.7–9 and 4.12—14.

  3. wisdom of age: Cf. 213.3 He alludes to the significance of the Old Testament for the New.

  5. this lady’s planet: Venus.

  6. King of stars: God.

  11. in its silence: Love seeds itself in her ineffable being.

  12. something in her eyes: That light collected by the King of stars.

  14. make honey bitter… wormwood sweet: Make a heaven or hell of his life.

  216 SONNET

  This sonnet is a study on the last line of the preceding sonnet.

  1. All day I weep: He returns to the language of poems 22 and 66 (sestinas), 50 (a canzone), and 164 (a sonnet), describing his isolation.

  5. I wear out my eyes: Consuming the light in them.

  7. I rank the worst: Worse than the lowest animal.

  those loving arrows: Laura’s glances.

  8. exiled from my peace: The sleep all other miserable mortals and living things enjoy.

  9. from one sun: In doubling his pain he has halved his life.

  11. death which is called life: Cf. 138.7.

 
; 12. More for her fault: For having chosen the wrong target.

  13. for living pity: What he saw in her eyes.

  217 SONNET

  Once he mustered his forces in fervid verse and flaming words; now he will be known for her beauty alone.

  1. just complaint: By standing out in his own defense with words that might evoke her pity.

  4. in midsummer: That withholds pity from him at the height of manhood. Cf. 132.14.

  5. and break the cruel cloud: His annoying style might exhaust her patience. Cf. 189.7–8.

  6. the aura of my flaming words: His most scurrilous poems. He’s alluding to poems such as the Babylon series, 136–138.

  7. or make her hateful: What he might have been accused of doing in 170.14, 183.14, and 203.5–6.

  8. those lovely eyes: A break in the line between “lovely” and “eyes” illustrates the sense of lines 5 and 6.

  9–11. Not hate … : He continues to split his meanings by mixing up his phrases so they could be understood in their opposite sense. Carducci called this tercet “disorderly.”

  12. But I shall sing: The purity of the phrase interrupts the mocking tone of lines 1–11.

  godlike beauty: He rescues her from crudeness.

  13. shaken: Liberated.

  218 SONNET

  To lose the incomparable Laura to death would be like returning to chaos.

  1–4. However many … : Cf. 13.1–4.

  3. with her fair face: Her beauty had the effect of clearing the atmosphere of shadow and bringing serenity to the moment.

  4. daybreak makes: Eclipsing the light of all other ladies.

  5. whispering in my ear: A premonition.

  7. darkened: Without its sun.

  8. virtues die: Of which she is the unique example.

  9–12. If Nature took … : Reversing the creation in Genesis.

  13. so much and more: Corresponds to “however many” in line 1.

  14. close and hide her eyes: If something were to shut off the source of love.

  219 SONNET

  He returns to the double beauty of a new day dawning with this “esercitazione letteraria … inconsistente e artificioso al tempo stesso” (Sapegno).

  1. new song sung: The present sonnet.

  weeping of the birds: Laments of poets. Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses VI, the myth of Procne and Philomela.

  2. echoed in the valleys: Among the people.

  4. fresh, rapid streams: Spring torrents.

  5. The one: The goddess of the dawn, Aurora. Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses VII.

  6. contained no failings or deceit: He may allude to Cephalus and Procris in Ovid, Metamorphoses VII, each of whom succumbed to weakness.

  7. loving dance: The activities of Aurora trying to reawaken her lover.

  8. fleece of white: Of the aged Tithonos, Aurora’s impotent lover shut by her in a chamber, where he remained forever chirping like a circket.

  10. that other sun: Laura. The word for dawn, l’aurora, contains a pun, “Laura now.”

  220 SONNET

  As if to answer some unspoken doubt about fidelity that he may have planted in poem 219, this sonnet asks a series of rhetorical questions that should lay that thought to rest.

  1. the gold and from what mine: A series of “oriental” images follows. Cf. 200.9–11.

  2. What thorns: What painful emotion colored the roses of her cheeks?

  3. gave its frost: Chilled her fire with virtue.

  4. and breath: Lena, unique in the collection, suggesting enticement.

  5–6. pearls … / sweet words: Her words of pity withheld.

  8. more tranquil: Her brows now cleared of anger and disdain.

  12. high, kind light: That he saw at his first encounter with her.

  13. declaring war and peace: Either loving or angry in their expression.

  14. burn my heart: Literally “cook” (cuocono).

  in fire and in ice: Corresponding to war and peace.

  221 SONNET

  A final rhetorical question completes the series begun in poem 220. This sonnet marks for the second time the twentieth year of his love, 1347, recapitulating the melancholy truths of poem 212.

  1. what deceit: What strategy of Love.

  2. unarmed: Without any rational defenses.

  3. always conquered: By her loveliness.

  5. but gain: By dying.

  9–11. I feel …/ if she turns them: At a distance, Laura’s eyes remind him that he will someday die and must think of his salvation. But when they seek him out, reasonableness flees.

  12. Love with such sweetness: He dies and yet is held in life by her presence. For this image of wounding and curing, compare Dante’s Paradiso XXXII, 4–6: “The wound which Mary was to close and heal / she [Eve] there, who sits so lovely at her feet, / would open wider then and prick the flesh.”

  222 SONNET

  Petrarch echoes Dante (Vita nuova XXII) in this dialogue on the subject of Laura’s sudden absence from the company of her friends.

  1. Happy yet sad: This motif is repeated in lines 5 and 6 and again in 7 and 8. in company yet alone: Incomplete without Laura.

  2. walk along in conversation: Talking about Laura, their point of comparison.

  3. life … death: Laura’s double aspect was the focus of poems 220 and 221.

  7. her lovely company from us: Petrarch seems to play with the idea that his poems have been suppressed, by him or by others.

  9. Who can: He defends himself. Cf. Boethius, Consolatione Philosophiae III: “Quis legem dat amantibus? Maior lex amor est sibi.”

  10. The soul: The chorus responds.

  wrath and rigor: The righteously indignant female in Laura.

  11. sometimes in us: When they too disdain him.

  14. watery with dew: Softened by pity.

  223 SONNET

  Without her guidance he is fated to sleepless, solitary nights and mornings that never dawn.

  1. the sun bathes: Cf. Virgil, Georgics III, 359.

  2. my mind too: Cf. 222.13: “her lofty beauty darkened.”

  5. to one: To Laura, silent as death.

  8. I quarrel: Trying to win some advantage.

  9. rest is nullified: There is no hope for peace. Cf. Dante, Inferno IX, 57: “there would be no returning to the world.”

  11. tears sent by the soul: Lyrical distillations of pain.

  12. dark air: L’aura fosca, a malign emanation.

  not me: Corresponding to “rest is nullified.”

  14. torment sweet: All this darkness would be lifted by the return of Laura as he once knew her.

  224 SONNET

  He bargains with his lady, making a summary defense of himself.

  1. If loving faithfulness: Beginning a deposition on his own behalf that weighs the human and the divine.

  unfeigning heart: Free of deceit and stratagems.

  2. sweet languishing: Cf. 206.54 and 212.1.

  courteous desire: Harnessing the noblest of virtues with love.

  4. blind labyrinth: Cf. 211.14 and note.

  5. painted on my brow: Cf. 222.12, where Lauras face darkened, and 220.5, where her words were cut short by painful emotion.

  8. violet’s pallor, tint of love: Love mixed with fear. Cf. Horace, Odes III, 10,14: “Nec tinctus viola pallor amantium.”

  9. more than oneself: He is one who heeds the commandment more than required.

  13. that undo me: Upset the harmony of his verse.

  14. the blame is yours: The fault of her having stolen his heart, making half a man of him.

  225 SONNET

  The sight of Laura triumphant in a cart or singing in a little boat with her friends recalls some of the most notable of Greek figures.

  1–2. Twelve ladies: Like a latter-day Christ figure with her disciples. Cf. Rev. 12:1.

  5. carried Jason: The antihero in the legend of the Argonauts, recounted by Apollonius of Rhodes and Catullus.

  6. to the fleece: The golden hide of a murdered ram, nailed to
a tree, which Jason and his band suffered every hardship to procure. Petrarch contrasts a secular church and nobility bent on enriching themselves with the humble example of Laura and her crew of twelve.

  7. or like the shepherd’s: The vessel of Paris, whose abduction of Helen set off the Trojan wars.

  10. my Laurel: Laurëa, symbol of triumph as well as great knowledge.

  holy, modest manner: The joining of the little boat image (barchettd) and this word “modest” (schifi) recalls poem 177, the sonnet from the Ardennes.

  11. sitting to one side: The sole member of her category.

  13. Happy Automedon: Achilles’ charioteer.

  happy Tiphys: The helmsman of the Argo. They appear together in Ovid, Ars amatoria I, 5. Cf. also Virgil, Eclogues IV, 34 ff.

  14. who steered: And by extension, those poets who wrote about them.

  226 SONNET

  Yesterday’s triumphant vision, humble as it was, is remembered glory. Today he returns to his lamentations, addressing them to another country that possesses his treasure.

  1. sparrow … so alone: Cf. Ps. 101:7–8, “Vigilavi, et factus sum sicut passer solitarius in tecto.”

  6. food is gall and poison: Cf. Ps. 101:10, “Quia cinerem tamquam panem manducaban!, et potum meum cum fletum miscebam.”

  10. akin to death: A state of forgetfulness. Cf. Virgil, Aeneid VI, 278: “Turn consanguineus Lethi sopor.”

  11. that sweet thought: His amoroso pensiero.

  12. Rich, happy country: He turns like a solitary bird toward the place where Laura is.

  13. green … meadows: Bucolic scenes of his amorous youth.

  14. my treasure: The young Laura.

  227 SONNET

  From that same countryside that possesses his treasure comes an aura that stings and overwhelms him. Odd departures from his habitual language of sorrow seem showy on the surface but barely conceal a scatological subtext.