Petrarch

  4. My lady’s dead: In 1351 Petrarch crossed out the word morta and substituted for it gita, as if his lady had gone on a trip. It is worth mentioning the change because the poet includes it and dates it with careful attention to avoiding “ambiguity.” Dante had used gita after Beatrice’s death in the Vita nuova XXXII.

  6. interrupt these worst of times: The inherent violence of the word “interrupt” suggests to some an act of suicide. On the other hand, his natural death from grief might startle his contempories enough to make them notice the death of Laura.

  7. I cannot hope: If Laura was virtue personified, he has lost hope of meeting her embodiment in the world. Cf. 250.9–14.

  16. wrecked our ship: Cut off their hopes for salvation.

  17. seen the sun turn dark: Cf. 3.1–4. According to Petrarch’s notation in his copy of Virgil, Laura died the same hour he first saw her, Good Friday between 6 and 9 A.M. (the hour Christ died on the Cross, according to the Vulgate).

  19. could ever match my sorrowful condition: Reminiscent of Dante’s “Li occhi dolenti” in Vita nuova XXXI, and also of Virgil, Aeneid II, 362: “Quis … possit lacrymis aequare labores?”

  20. blind, ungrateful world: Corresponding to “these worst of times” in line 6.

  23–28. Your glory’s fallen … : The glory of Laura, her virtue and beauty, were always a thing new and unique to the world, known in their essence only to him.

  23. you do not see it: Cf. 261.4.

  32. this is what’s left to me: To weep in recalling her name.

  38. from that veil: Her soul released from the body.

  40. reclothed with it: When her body is restored on the universal day of judgment, her beauty will become infinite.

  48. this is one column: The memory of her living form.

  53. while she was flowering: In his earthly paradise.

  55. close to truth: To God in Heaven.

  56. Ladies: Those who have studied her ways in the hopes of learning her angelic style. Cf. poem 261.

  59. let pity vanquish you: Through his song as catharsis, allowing them to be overwhelmed by emotion.

  61. here at war: His customary war against himself.

  65. cut the knot: Giving himself up to death. Critics argue over whether he contemplated suicide, as they have about Dante. Dying from the inside—the imagination dying—seems a worse threat to the poet.

  66. He speaks to me within: His own love reasons with him now—the amoroso pensiero that does not die.

  67. Control the pain: This line received several reworkings by Petrarch, as if to illustrate the need to restore his unique balanced style to his verse. Cf. 264.76–79.

  68. excessive passion: Debilitating grief over his personal loss. Plotinus warned against such excess in the Enneads.

  70. to others: The blind world.

  71. her fair remains: The veil from which she freed herself and on which she gazed lovingly in life.

  72. sighs only for you: Finds in him her unique envoy.

  76. brighten your voice: Polish his style, making it more clear and candid in order to praise her shining name.

  78–82. Flee the clear weather … : Love has advised him to brighten his voice, yet instead, in this congedo he sends forth a message that conceals longing behind a black veil. Before Petrarch made this final version he composed two others of striking diversity, the first a poignant appeal for sympathy to the Florentine poet Sennuccio del Bene, and the other an attack on the pitilessness of the “torbido rio,” the “ramo senz’ ombra.” The version he chose preserves an authorial detachment, as if he watches himself go forth as part of a simple cortege.

  269 SONNET

  In July of 1348 Cardinal Giovanni Colonna died of the plague, only a few months after Laura. Petrarch’s double loss is noted here. Positioning this single sonnet between two canzoni deepens its significance, as poem 238, also a sonnet, was elevated in its position between two sestinas. As far back as poem 40 he had linked the generosity of his cultured patrons with his commitment to express his love for Laura, doubling his fabric, so to speak, with the Colonnas’ understanding support. Now both his mind and spirit are bereft.

  1. Broken: Both this pillar of the Church and the laurel tree have fallen. Cf. 266.12–14.

  2. provided shade: The opportunity to retreat from the world to study and write.

  4. from Boreas… to Moorish Sea: From north to south and east to west, referring to winds as well as seas.

  5. my double treasure: Laura and the cardinal.

  6. with joy… with pride: Each doubling in lines 6–8 relates either to Laura or the cardinal.

  8. oriental gem: Frequently evoked to compare with Laura’s beauty.

  gold’s own power: Cf. Cicero, Tusculum V, 32: “In pompa cum magna vis auri argentique ferre tur.”

  9. wish of destiny: A tone of resignation.

  11. my head bent low: How can he look to Heaven in the face of such calamity?

  13. just one morning: Both Laura and Colonna died in their prime.

  270 CANZONE

  One paradox after another is revealed in this impassioned evocation of Laura now that she is most grievously dead, not the least of which is that it follows poem 268, where thought and emotion had been brought under such careful control. Another colloquy with Love, this canzone does not ask advice but sets out its own terms, buoyed by joy in the memory of his lady.

  1. ancient yoke: Cf. 51.12, 62.10, 79.6, 89.10, 129.54, 197.3, and 209.7. Earthly love still tempts him.

  3. astonishing and new: A proof of love never experienced by the world before.

  4. subdue me: Make him a slave again.

  5. Find my beloved treasure: Laura’s entombed body. The imagery of the canzone draws on Ovid’s accounts of Meleager, Atalanta, and Adonis in Metamorphoses VIII and X.

  8. make its home: Now with Laura in Heaven.

  11. as the Abyss: The Underworld, here one and the same with the world.

  14. take back from Death: As if Laura were Proserpina, seized by Pluto. Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses V.

  15. your colors raise again: The amorous rosiness, the gold, and the white.

  17. endearing flame: The loving glance that originally lit his fire.

  20. doe or stag: Cf. Ps. 41:1, “Quenadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum, ita desiderat anima mea ad te Deus.”

  23. and more to come: Knowing that desire grows back even when it is killed. Cf. 264.62.

  24. since well I know myself: Cf. 264.91–92: “I know myself, and I am not deceived / by a mistaken truth.”

  30. you have no power outside your own kingdom: Cf. Dante, Vita nuova IX: “Cavalcando l’altrier per un cammino.”

  36. dark and heavy mist: Wintry, in contrast with the aura. Castelvetro interpreted the mist as “d’ogni concupiscevole e villano appetito.”

  38. cannot reach: Because he can no longer glory in the living Laura.

  40. soul is stronger in its rights: Because it is immortal, having a say more pertinent than that of the body.

  41. their proper object: Restore the soul of Laura to her body.

  42. without which thing: Without the joy her living form gives him, he lives in torment.

  44. you exert your force: Love raises his hopes.

  47. sunlight on ice: Melting his defenses with the warmth of her glance.

  48. passageway: The eyes of Laura, where Love had posted himself at the beginning.

  51. let me hear: Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses I, 468.

  55. hooks … bait: “The hooks are her soft words, the bait her sweet acts and movements” (Vellutello). In the fifteenth century, Ficino identified esca (bait) as analogy, an attraction for like things.

  57. in her hair blond and curly: Cf. poems 90, 160, 197, and 227.

  62. neglected artfully and thick: Hair uncared for, as Daphnes was in Ovid, Metamorphoses I, 98–99.

  64. sweetly cruel: At once innocent and severe.

  65. myrtle, laurel: Spirit is opposed to substance in this comparison
. Myrtle was sacred to Mercury and laurel to Apollo; they were symbolic of the gods’ action but could not be a direct medium for it.

  66. kept green inside of me: It was the memory and awareness of both innocence and sensuality that spurred him to seek her through all the seasons.

  69. so much bold pride: Death usurped Love’s power by taking Laura.

  70. from which I feared escape: Cf. 264.84–90. To be cut off from her would be death-dealing to his poetry.

  72. a second knot to tie: Another love to take her place.

  77. invisible fires: Cf. Virgil, Aeneid IV, 2: “Volnus alit Venis, et coeco carpitur igni.”

  80. pensiveness and silence: Moderating the words from which he learned “what love was all about” (line 53).

  82. words once understood: After reappraisal.

  84–88. the look of angels …: He transforms Laura from the fiery young maiden to a mature woman most noble in her bearing.

  84. humble and submissive: Moderating from the “artfully neglected” appearance of the young girl in line 62.

  88. which of the two: Her youthful beauty or her attitude of majesty.

  90. I am safe: Love cannot reproduce her.

  91. your domain: That of Venus.

  92. one way or another: With more than one object of affection.

  94. the heavens ordained no more: He was destined for one love only.

  95. freedoms not my joy: His security and freedom were gained at the expense of joy.

  96. Ah, noble pilgrim: Laura, who passed through so quickly.

  105. its power failed: Like the symbols myrtle and laurel, the bow and arrow of Love have lost their meaning.

  106–108. Death has freed me… : Rather than the customary envoi, these lines provide a period to his extended sentence.

  271 SONNET

  Poem 270 could give the impression that the poet was tempted to love again, and this sonnet seems to confirm it, for once more Death is said to have liberated him from Love’s snare, taking away a potential love object. Numbered among the anniversary poems, it begins a series of fifty-two sonnets, the second longest series in the collection.

  1. burning knot: That point of concentration which was her divine presence in life.

  2. twenty-one entire years: From the first encounter in 1327 to her death in 1348.

  4. now I know: Cf. 262.9–11.

  5. let go of me: Like the bird-hunter releasing a poor catch.

  7. new tinder: A new enthusiasm.

  9. long trial: Those twenty-one “entire years.”

  11. less green: His being “unripe” in the beginning slowed the pace of his burning and created a flame full of smoke and hissing. Now that he has aged, he will burn with a brighter, swifter fire.

  12. another time: Cf. 257.4 and note. Because he suggests that he was tempted to love another woman, these lines are provocative. The matter is moot, however, because Laura’s death (and Colonna’s) delivered him from a second and all possible succeeding loves.

  272 SONNET

  The gap between life and death narrows as Death the runner gains on him from behind.

  1–2. Life runs away … : Cf. Virgil, Georgics III, 66; and Ovid, Ars amatoria I, 8.

  3–4. present things … past/…future: His time in history is marked by confusion and discord, raging on without hope into the future.

  5. anticipation, memory: His old preoccupations, but in a new equation lacking hope.

  6. on either side: Fill it on the left and on the right with equally depressing thoughts. Cf. 241.8.

  8. be free of all such thoughts: Be dead to them.

  11. turbulent winds: Of misfortune.

  12. storm in port: Unhappy last days. Cf. Dante, Convivio IV, 28.

  13. my helmsman: The guiding force of wisdom.

  my masts and lines: His mainstay, his line with Heaven, his Laura.

  14. fair stars: Her eyes.

  273 SONNET

  A more pragmatic voice responds to the despairing words of the last sonnet.

  1. What’s going on: Cf. 150.1.

  What thoughts are these: The melancholy thoughts of poem 272.

  2. to times: When he had felt some little sweetness, a bit of pleasure.

  3. Unhappy soul: Reason speaks to his desiring soul.

  3–4. heaping/more wood upon the fire: By returning again and again to the subject of love. Cf. 271.9–11.

  6. colored one by one: As if he were a painter with words.

  8. too late: Laura has returned to Heaven, and the golden season has passed.

  9. tortures us to death: Causing him to die a thousand times a day.

  10. vague, deceptive thought: Earthly and therefore illusory.

  11. pursue what’s fixed: Eternal.

  13. for all too badly: With little understanding.

  274 SONNET

  Laid low by Love, Fortune, and Death, he finds enemies even in his innermost thoughts. Castelvetro noted that in this sonnet Petrarch is like a city besieged by enemies outside, disrupted by its citizens inside, and betrayed by one, his own heart.

  1. cruel thoughts of mine: Those expressed in the preceding sonnet. Cf. Job 6:25, “Quare detraxistis sermonibus veritatis.”

  3. at my very gates: Through his eyes and ears, where he would most defend himself.

  6. Disloyal only to me: A traitor who opens the gates to the enemy.

  by giving shelter: Harboring conflicting thoughts.

  7. to cruel spies: The three enemies of lines 9–11.

  8. so quick and ready: To entice him into error.

  9–11. In you … : The self-defeating desires his heart has played host to after letting them through the gates of his senses.

  9. display his secret charms: His hidden agenda of betrayal.

  10. every pomp: All her power to woo him back into worldly pursuits by revealing the splendor of her forces.

  11. that blow: Laura’s death.

  12. break up: Like a defensive system on the verge of rout.

  14. I blame my every ill: He answers the question of line 5: no, his once resolute heart has faltered.

  275 SONNET

  Not only do his thoughts war against him and his heart betray him, but his eyes, ears, and feet give him no peace.

  3. and there it waits: Repetition of the words “there” (ivi) and “where” (ove) in the quatrains is insistent.

  4. because of our delay: The tardiness of one who has not been chosen to go ahead.

  6. those who understand them better: Those more worthy of her.

  7. My feet: Mortal, unworthy feet.

  9. wage war against me: That same war of thoughts carried out in poems 272–274 when Love tempted him once again.

  10. I’m not the reason: Cf. 274.13–14.

  12–13. Who binds/and frees: God united her soul with her body and then freed it in death. Cf. 271.1–4 and 12–14.

  opens… closes: Opened his heart to love and then closed it with her death.

  276 SONNET

  Although inner voices have told him he should accept the will of God and cease to inveigh against the injustice of Laura’s death, the question remains, how is he to find his way without the light of her presence?

  1. serene, angelic sight of her: Like Dante’s Beatrice, she appeared as mortal proof of Heaven.

  2. quick departure: Laura came into the world too late and left it too soon.

  3. shade of horror: Of his own life and death in a dark age.

  5. just grief: Cf. 217.1 This time surely he can be excused for weeping.

  9. This one cure: The cause of grief and the cure for grief are the same thing—the face of Laura alive.

  11. fortunate earth: That contains her grave.

  13. sweet and amorous and mild: Laura as he would like to remember her.

  14. light of my eyes: Cf. Ps. 37:10, “Lumen oculorum meorum et ipsum non est mecum” (Vellutello).

  277 SONNET

  In a sonnet whose style illustrates his bewilderment, he cannot find
his bearings or fix on a steady course without the star that once guided him.

  1. some new advice: Love’s last advice to him in 268.67 ff. was to control his grief and seek a way to praise Laura even in death.

  3. fear and grief: Fear of the future, grief for the past and present (Chiari).

  7. stormy seas: Mar che frange, literally, “sea that breaks.” Cf. 148.3–4.

  8. true guide: Such as the stars by which a helmsman charts his course.

  10. no, she’s in Heaven: He corrects himself twice, here and in line 12.

  12. not through my eyes: Not by sight but by memory.

  13. forbids them: His mortality obscures his vision. Cf. 276.3.

  14. turns my hair to grey: Cf. 122.5 and 195.1

  278 SONNET

  Laura died three years ago and with her departed whatever was vital to him in this world. The sonnet dates itself 6 April 1351.

  1. full bloom: Cf. 268.39: “which shadowed here the flower of her years.”

  5. living, lovely, naked: The soul free of the body, rising to eternal blessedness.

  6. drains my strength: Keeps him laboring in her service by drawing his thoughts upward.

  11. trouble: Affanno, a word often used to describe his poetic labors.

  13. much heavier to carry: A double burden because he is drained of strength.

  14. three years ago: At the time of writing this in 1351, Petrarch was in Padua, where he met with Boccaccio, who brought letters from the Commune of Florence recalling him from exile and restoring his patrimony. Petrarch was also invited to return to Florence to lecture, but he declined.

  279 SONNET

  In the summer of 1351 Petrarch returned to Vaucluse and, comforted by the beauty of his surroundings, seemed to hear the voice of Laura telling him not to grieve. An earlier sonnet written from Vaucluse, poem 260, also used the rare rhyme scheme abab, baba in the quatrains, suggesting mirroring of purpose.