Petrarch (108 page)

His vision of a merciful Laura has vanished like a phantasm.

2.
know not when:
So little of the sweet was there, he has nearly forgotten it (Tassoni).

3.
well knows the truth:
Cf. 56.13–14: “before the day we finally depart / a man cannot consider himself blest.”

5.
glory of our world:
Irony may be intended, since Petrarch has always before damned his age for abandoning
her in its search for riches. Cf. 24.6, 248.4, 261, and 338.12.

6.
makes bright and lovely:
An example to the world, an ornament to heaven.

9.
Cruel Death:
In poem 283, after Laura spoke of awakening to the internal light in poem 279, he
expressed similar recriminations. Cf. 342.12–14.

robbed me:
Removed his treasure to Heaven.

10.
great bliss:
He plays on the words
onorare-onore
and their core sense of “gold.” His vision of her alive in Heaven cannot truly sustain
him.

14.
pour forth:
He continues to write lamentations out of habit. Note the equivocal rhyme
verso/verso
in lines 12 and 14. The style echoes Boccaccio in
Decameron
IX, 3, the tale of the pregnant Calandrino (Carducci).

This sonnet expresses repentance for the lack of faith he has demonstrated since poem
339 in those metaphors which sought from Heaven some palpable reward for his
suffering. It begins Petrarch’s final addition to Part II, transcribed in the last
year of his life.

1.
My tongue:
His language, in spite of himself, because it is that of mortal love. Some editions
read
la mal lingua
(rather than
la mia lingua),
meaning an evil, rash, or imprudent tongue (see Neri and Durling).

2.
move in the wrong way:
Was forced to bring her down to mortal reality and have her speak in his erring tongue.

4.
that which:
Cf., for example, 344.10–11: “nor does great bliss of her free, lovely soul / afford
my adverse state some consolation.”

if it were true:
Compare the central conceit of poem 206.

would not be right:
Cf. 339.12: “for pen cannot extend beyond one’s wit.”

6.
my sad condition:
His state of turbulence.

7–8.
the fact
… :
She has gathered herself in God in death as in life. The verb
domesticarsi
appears just this once in the
Canzoniere.

9.
console myself:
Find peace within, corresponding to her example in line 8.

10.
in this hell:
This world as he finds it, in particular court life. Cf. 138.7 and 259.11.

11.
to die and live alone:
Reversing order, as he has already done, in a sense, because when Laura died he died.
Reversing order has been his pattern in this period of recollection and repentence
beginning with poem 270.

14.
my eternal Lord:
Christ.

This version of Laura welcomed into Heaven by the angels demonstrates how she comes
and goes for him. The sonnet has been compared with works of Dante, Cino da Pistoia,
and the troubadours. At some point in his transcriptions, Petrarch wrote the Roman
numeral CCC next to it.

1.
The chosen angels:
The choicest guests at a coronation.

blessèd souls:
Lesser than angels but equal before the eyes of God, a hierarchy such as Dante’s
in the
Paradiso.

2.
Heaven’s citizens:
Referring to the City of God. Cf. 53.44.

on the first day:
Laura’s rising to Heaven, like that of the elect bound for the highest echelons,
was not delayed.

5.
What light is this:
Sending reverberations through the crowd.

6–7.
so lovely /a soul:
Beauty housed in her soul, which is her true form collected in itself. Cf. 345.7.

7.
has never risen:
Nowhere has Laura’s uniqueness been given such emphatic expression. Cf. Petrarch,
Africa
VI, 1, the arrival of Sophonisba in the Underworld.

9.
changed her dwelling place:
Left flesh for spirit.

10.
is equal:
She joins her peers.

12.
if I am following her:
Linked to him in Heaven as on earth.

13.
strain to Heaven:
Raise themselves up (
al ciel ergo
) in order to perfect themselves.

14.
that I hurry:
That he come more quickly.

With humble touches he has enthroned his queen in Heaven and now asks her to pray
that he might join her quickly.

1.
in our Maker’s presence:
For
principio nostro,
cf. Rev. 1:8, “Ego sum alpha et omega, principium et finis.”

3.
glorious throne:
Next to God Himself.

4.
pearls and purple:
Cf. 263.10 and 185.9: “A purple gown all bordered with sky-blue.”
Ostro
is used only once in the
Canzoniere
and can also mean, in poetic language, south wind.

5.
rare wonder:
The
raro mostro
of the original is like the French expression
sacre monstre,
meaning an icon.

6.
in the face of Him:
Enlightened by his truth.

who sees all things:
The phrase echoes Dante,
Paradiso
XXI, 49–50, where Dante is satirizing the indulgences of the Church.

7.
pure faith of mine:
Faith unveiled, corresponding to “unadorned” in line 4.

8.
so much ink:
“Ink” alludes to the infernal nature of his output, written in hell’s colors.

10.
what it feels now:
With her in Heaven. Cf. 313.7 and 314.12–14.

11.
sunlight of your eyes:
Of her gaze turned on him as God’s eyes now are turned on her.

12.
So then:
The
dunque
in this line comes as a final flourish of satisfaction.
to make amends:
To make reparation for his losses. Cf. poems 340–343.

As if to hold up for “amends” the simple elements of her created beauty, he lists
them once again.

2.
most beautiful hair:
Taking the second place of honor.

3.
seem not as lovely:
Diminished in his world and in his wording. Cf. poem 90.

4.
from:
Repeated use of “from” in the quatrains reinforces the sense of absence.

5.
hands and arms that could have conquered:
Possessing the power to seduce.

8.
body made in Paradise:
Her divine movement and form, reduced to their simplest components.

10.
the heavenly King and his winged couriers:
God and his angels, not unlike Jove and his messengers.

13.
she who can see every thought:
Cf. 347.6: “in the face of Him who sees all things.”

14.
obtain for me:
In her role as intercessor.

Straining to hear the answer to the heavenly plea Laura might make on his behalf,
he readies himself for a liberating flight to Heaven.

1.
hear the messenger:
For an amusing sidelight on heavenly messengers, see
Familiares I
, 5.

4.
so reduced:
Dimesso
suggests having even his small portion taken from him.

5.
hardly recognize myself:
Cf. the “naked and blind” of 348.11.

7.
to know just when:
The moment of his dying.

11.
heavy, frail garment:
The body, but also his poetry. Cf. 23.24 and 121.4 for other uses of
gonna.

14.
my Lord:
Carducci records several critical opinions hostile to the “prosaic” quality of this
poem; he himself called it “idealità purissima e suprema.”

Originally poem 337, this concludes, in its new position, a cycle begun in poem 338,
where Petrarch awaits the call of Laura, newly crowned queen of Heaven.

1. frail and perishable good:
Cf. 349.10–11, and Ovid,
Ars amatoria
II, 113: “Forma bonum fragile est.”

4.
to my own sorrow:
Because he alone knew her.

5–7.
Nature…/…poured into one:
In Lauras case Nature made an exception to her usual harmonious scheme, investing
in Laura all her skill.

6.
others poor:
Other ladies, but also the poet himself, left behind with his fragments.

7.
all her riches:
Largitate
echoes Cicero in
De inventione,
speaking of Zeuxis the painter, renowned for his realism.

9.
there never was:
Cf. poem 338, to which this sonnet seems to respond, especially lines 12–14.

12.
quickly vanished:
Decomposed.

13.
the brief sight:
La poca vista
is a strangely dismissive way to refer to Laura after all this time. Cf. 328.1–2.

14.
her holy eyes:
In order to please Laura in Heaven.

This poem was numbered originally 362. A fresh evaluation of Lauras meaning for him
in fresh language, the sonnet praises her chaste beauty while seeking to justify her
anger, the “lovely variation” that leads him along the right path.

1.
sternness… repulses:
Her disdain, given new expression.

2.
filled with a love:
What she takes away she gives back with desire for his own good.

4.
vain desires tempered:
Her sweet disdain aroused, restrained, and strengthened his ardent resolve.

7.
flower of virtuousness:
All virtues receiving their highest expression in her speech.

fountain of beauty:
Zingarelli notes that in earlier poems these were reversed, the flower associated
with beauty and the fountain with virtue.

8.
tore out:
Expurgated.

10.
a daring mind:
Presumptuous, as his language in this sonnet may be. Cf. 140.5–8.

11.
that which is forbidden:
That strays from her eyes and mouth, his source.

13–14.
was the root / of my salvation:
Connecting him with the divine. Cf. 321.5.

This poem was originally numbered 363. Joy in his original vision of her flows out
of the audacious thoughts of poem 351.

1.
Spirit so happy:
The soul of Laura, whom he addresses directly.

so very sweetly:
Sweetness unmixed. Cf. 351.1: “Sweet sternness.”

2.
would move those eyes:
Her every act having its source in her angelic soul.

4.
sounding in my mind:
Remembered for the pure beauty of its structure and sound (Tassoni).

6.
grass and violets:
Plants ever springing, ever dying.

8.
the feet of her:
Of the material Laura, moved by the spirit.

10.
with that soft veil:
The image of her lovely body made immortal in verse. Cf. 302.11.

12.
so did Love then leave the world:
Not having on earth another creature so beautiful in whom to dwell.

13.
and Courtesy:
One of the attributes of the Virgin.

the sun fell from the sky:
Darkening the world, creating for him this wasteland. Cf. 338.1: “You have left,
Death, the world without its sun.”

This was originally the second to last poem, number 365. Once again he feels moved
to share his grief with the nightingale, inviting the bird to commiserate with him.

1.
little bird:
Cf. poems 310–311 and notes. The nightingale’s song is, in the first order, beautiful,
but it is prophetic in its secondary effects.

4.
happy months behind:
Petrarch uses the Provençal word
gai
for “happy.”

7.
fly straight to the bosom:
Seek a kindred soul.

8.
painful grief:
Similar to that of the nightingale, which in folklore is loss of mate and offspring.
Petrarch invites the bird to lend him some of its music (Carducci).

9.
our portions would be equal:
The poet’s pain might be greater.

10.
her life:
The inspiration for his song.

14.
my pity:
Bring thoughts of his own grief to bear on that of the nightingale, who sings for
the common people.

This poem was originally numbered 364. As if preparing for a final song of praise,
he turns back to his old counselor, Love, who confesses his inability to help.

3.
to speak of her:
To raise his style to the highest level, befitting his subject matter. Cf. poems
307–309.

4.
citizen of the celestial realm:
Cf. 346.2 Castelvetro commented on the way this image nevertheless mirrors the world.

5–6.
hit the final / mark of her praise:
Win her mercy with his eloquence.

6.
they cannot reach themselves:
Cannot express the “silent truth” that her soul is in Heaven. Cf. 309.9–14.