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[200x283]Francesco Petrarca
Some words about Peptrarch
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) (July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374) was an Italian scholar, poet, and early humanist. Petrarch is often popularly called the "father of humanism". Based on Petrach's works, and to a lesser extent that of Dante and Boccaccio, Pietro Bembo in the 16th century created the model for modern Italian, later endorsed by the Accademia della Crusca. Petrarch is credited for perfecting the sonnet, making it one of the most popular art forms to date.
Laura and poetry
In 1327, the sight of a woman called Laura in the church of Sainte-Claire d'Avignon awoke in him a lasting passion, celebrated in the Rime sparse ("Scattered rhymes"). Later, Renaissance poets who copied Petrarch's style named this collection of 366 poems IlCanzoniere ("Song Book"). Laura may have been Laura de Noves, the wife of Hugues de Sade and an ancestor of the Marquis de Sade. While it is possible she was an idealized or pseudonymous character - particularly since the name "Laura" has a linguistic connection to the poetic "laurels" Petrarch coveted - Petrarch himself always denied it. Her realistic presentation in his poems contrasts with the clichés of troubadours and courtly love. Her presence causes him unspeakable joy, but his unrequited love creates unendurable desires. There is little definite information in Petrarch's work concerning Laura, except that she is lovely to look at, fair-haired, with a modest, dignified bearing.
Laura and Petrarch had little or no personal contact. According to his "Secretum", she refused him for the very proper reason that she was already married to another man. He channeled his feelings into love poems that were exclamatory rather than persuasive, and wrote prose that showed his contempt for men who pursue women. Upon her death in 1348, the poet finds that his grief is as difficult to live with as was his former despair. Later in his "Letter to Posterity", Petrarch wrote: "In my younger days I struggled constantly with an overwhelming but pure love affair - my only one, and I would have struggled with it longer had not premature death, bitter but salutary for me, extinguished the cooling flames. I certainly wish I could say that I have always been entirely free from desires of the flesh, but I would be lying if I did."
Petrarch polished and perfected the known sonnet form inherited from Giacomo da Lentini and which Dante widely used in his Vita Nova to popularise the new courtly love of Dolce Stil Novo. Many of Petrarch's poems collected in the Canzoniere (dedicated to Laura) were indeed sonnets, and the Petrarchan sonnet still bears his name. Romantic composer Franz Liszt set three of Petrarch's Sonnets (47, 104, and 123) to music for voice, Tre sonetti del Petrarca, which he later would transcribe for solo piano for inclusion in the suite Années de Pélerinage.
Sample of his poetry
"The Voyage"
- My ship passes, loaded with oblivion,
- on rough seas, at midnight, in winter,
- between Scylla and Charybdis; and at the helm
- my lord sits, or yet my enemy;
- at every oar, a cruel and eager thought
- scorns the tempest and its end;
- the sail is torn by a wet, eternal wind
- of sighs, of hope, and of desire;
- a rain of tears, a fog of disdain
- bathe and slow down the already tired cords
- which are twisted with folly and ignorance.
- My normal two sweed signs have vanished:
- so dead in the waves are art and reason
- that I begin to lose hope of the harbor
Robby, more additional information is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrarch#Sample_of_his_poetry
And the special cite about L&P: http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/