The Poetry of Petrarch

The Canzoniere, 1–366

the North Star, associated with Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Callisto and her son Arcas were transformed by Juno into constellations because of Juno’s jealousy of Jupiter’s love for Callisto.

This sonnet was written to Orso dell’ Anguillara, a friend in Rome.

recipient unknown, Avignon area

This sonnet was written to a patron in Rome.

sticky substance used by hunters to capture birds

Latona, goddess of earth

Apollo

Caesar wept for Pompey, his son-in-law; David wept for Absalom and Saul, cursing Mt. Gilboa and making it sterile.

her mirror

changed to a flower

Daphne metamorphosed to laurel

Atlas, changed to a mountain

a madrigal

In May 1347 the tribune Cola di Rienzo tried to restore the Roman republic and temporarily gained control of the government; Petrarch was enthusiastic about the attempt, but Cola’s oppressive government turned supporters against him and he was gone within a year. Chronologically, then, this poem belongs much further on in the sequence, being ten years later than, for example, Number 50. The animals in the sixth stanza represent various Roman families; the column stands for the Colonna family.

another madrigal

a ballata

pillow, book, cup, and poem (“me”)

the poem hopes for immortality. Its recipient was probably Agapito Colonna, disappointed in love.

another ballata

Satan

i.e., Good Friday, 1338

a ballata

especially the Vaucluse, to which Petrarch moved in 1340

the Sorgue and the Durance

the northwest coast of Italy

laurel

This sonnet was written on a visit to Rome, probably in 1341.

Each stanza concludes with a line from another poem: one thought to be by Arnaut Daniel; one by Cavalcanti (“Donna me prego”); one by Dante; one by Cino da Pistoia; and the last from Petrarch’s own poem Number 23.

Laura’s eyes, the subject of Numbers 71, 72, and 73, known as “the canzoni of the eyes”

his inspiration or his head

Petrarch imagines time stopping while he gazes at Laura.

Greek sculptor

Simone Martini, who apparently sketched Laura’s portrait

1341

Satan

Christ

This sonnet was probably written to Petrarch’s brother Gherardo on the death of his wife.

This sonnet was written on the death of the poet Cino da Pistoia, 1270–1336.

This sonnet was written to Orso dell’ Anguillara, who was apparently unable to attend a tournament because of illness.

recipients unknown

This sonnet describes north and south windows at Laura’s house, part of a list of things associated with her.

Death

In May 1333, Stefano Colonna defended himself against two members of the Orsini family by killing them.

the Orsini clan

This sonnet was written to Pandolfo Malatesta, ruler of Rimini.

Roman generals

poetry and literature

canzone frotolla: a poem of intentional obscurities, maxims and proverbs, and constantly shifting subject matter

a madrigal; compare Numbers 52 and 54

This sonnet is addressed to the soil where Laura walked.

Sennuccio del Bene, Florentine poet and Petrarch’s good friend

presumably the Vaucluse

see Number 108

pun on Laura

probably the corrupt papal court at Avignon; see the next poem

Laura

Avignon

Vaucluse; see Numbers 116 and 117

Laura

probably Cardinal Giovanni Colonna, whose foot was gouty

Vaucluse, to which Petrarch moved in 1337

Vaucluse

the Papacy at Avignon

the first lady: Glory; the second lady: Virtue; Petrarch was crowned Poet Laureate in Rome on Easter Sunday, 1341.

Antonio de Ferrara, hearing a rumor of Petrarch’s death, had written a canzone mourning him.

This is Petrarch’s most important political poem, addressed to the warring factions of Italy. It was probably written during the siege of Parma, 1344, composed at Selvapiana, on the Po. German mercenaries were being widely employed by the warring city-states, and they were notorious for surrendering too readily (“Bavarian deceit / that throws its hands aloft”).

a Roman consul, the victor in a battle with the Teutonic tribes in 102 B.C.

her daughter was Helen of Troy.

classical Greek painters and sculptors

traditionally remote regions

one of the puns on Laura’s name

The natural wonders are drawn from Pliny: the phoenix in Arabia; the magnet in the Indian Ocean; the catablepa, a creature whose glance could kill; the fountain in Africa said to be hot by night and cold by day; the fountain at the shrine of Zeus in Dordona that could ignite and quench torches; and the pair of fountains in the Canary Islands. The final fountain, “this spring,” is the Vaucluse, where Petrarch lived. The sun is in Taurus around mid-April.

whore of Babylon, here personifying the papal court at Avignon; ate acorns, etc.: refers to the poverty of the early Christian Church

the papal court at Avignon

the pagan nature of the court will become clear and remove to the world of idolatry associated with Muslims.

This sonnet is addressed to the papal court at Avignon; Constantine was thought to have first given sovereignty to the Popes. He is in Hell, where Petrarch assigns them, too.

This sonnet is addressed to friends left behind in Italy.

possibly Venice

west, toward Provence

the Promised Land

slavery

another love poet, unidentified, possibly Sennuccio del Bene, to whom the next poem is addressed

fifteen years; one lustrum is five years.

the Sorgue, in Vaucluse; the poem commemorates planting a laurel tree on its banks.

perhaps of Heaven and earth

presumably Dante does not qualify because he wrote in the vernacular

Catullus

Virgil

Juvenal

sacred to Athena/Minerva

sacred to Apollo, source of poetic and prophetic inspiration, i.e., “that selfsame cave”

myth of Er, who governs a heavenly sphere and whose music constitutes its harmony; she and the three Fates rule the spindle of necessity, to which the heavenly spheres are attached.

i.e., his eyes

the love god

the Ardennes, probably c. 1333

the planet Venus

perhaps to the realm of virtue

This sonnet is a reply to one by Geri Gianfigliazzi, a Florentine poet, using the same rhyme words.

This sonnet was written while Petrarch was sailing east on the Po.

Laura’s hair

Laura

a traditional feature of river gods

Laura’s hair, braided with pearls

the laurel tree