Petrarch (66 page)

1.
graceful revenge:
Love’s skill with the bow was elegant, playful, and targeted with perfect accuracy
at him.

2.
a thousand wrongs:
So many earlier rebuffs of Love’s power.

3.
secretly:
Love’s assault came from a new and unexpected direction.

5.
concentrated in my heart:
His heart was fertile ground at the moment Love struck.

6.
raised its defense:
Meeting the gaze of the lady, his eyes formed a path for love to and from his heart.

7.
struck the mortal blow:
He received her glance.

8.
had been blunted:
From the hardness of his heart up until that moment.

12.
lead me cleverly:
Accortamente
, literally, “with expertise.”

13.
high, hard mountain:
His former citadel of detachment, reason.

The exact time of his falling in love is established.

1.
It was the day the sun’s ray had turned pale:
The day of the Passion of Christ, 6 April 1327, according to poem 211 and the
Triumph of Death,
133–134. There is general agreement that Petrarch was not referring to the variable
date of Good Friday but to the date fixed by the death of Christ in absolute time,
the
feria sexta aprilis,
which in 1327 fell on Monday.

According to the Vulgate version of the Gospels (Matt. 27:45, Mark 15:33, and Luke
23:44), the sun darkened from the hours of six to nine as Christ was dying.

4.
lovely eyes had bound me:
The “assault” of poem 2.9 was coincidental with the lady’s glance, which is now shown
to have imprisoned him.

5.
It seemed no time:
On a day of mourning of the faithful, Good Friday. The mention of inappropriateness
applies in several senses, one of which is that war has intruded in the holy place
where Petrarch first saw Laura, reportedly the church of St. Clare in Avignon.

8.
universal woe:
Grief of all Christians over the Crucifixion.

10.
to reach my heart:
The eyes, undefended by reason, took in love upon meeting her glance.

11.
halls and doors:
Later we learn that Laura’s eyes as well as his were tearful.

13.
in my state:
Unarmed.

14.
and to you, armed:
And she firm against the assaults of love.

By miraculous providence divine Laura, a sun, is born in a humble unnamed town.

1.
That one:
God.

4.
created Jove more mild than Mars:
Made the benign influence of the planet Jupiter greater than the malign influence
of Mars.

5.
Who coming:
Christ in his coming revealed the prophesied truths of the Old Testament.

7.
from the nets:
Christ chose his disciples from among humble fishermen.

9–11.
who with His birth did…/… exalt humility:
God chose this place for Laura’s birth, just as he chose Judea rather than Rome for
the birth of Christ—an ironic reference to Avignon, chosen over Rome as the seat of
the papacy.

12.
He’s given us:
Comparing the birth of Laura with the coming of Christ has seemed to some the epitome
of pride, even a sacrilege. For whatever reason, Petrarch here yokes pride and humility
together in somewhat the same way that he imposed love and war on the compassion of
Good Friday in 3.5–6.

13.
we thank Nature and place:
God provided the idea for her, Nature fashioned her with “marvelous workmanship,”
and destiny marked the place of her birth. Cf. Dante,
Convivio
III, 4.

The poem is a play on Laura’s name in the latinized version of the French Laurette—LAURETA.
Such naming of the beloved has many precedents. Petrarch’s Laureta also contains multiple
allusions expanded upon throughout the collection. Its airiness, color, and music
are particularly emphasized here as well as its connection with poetic tradition in
the form
lauro
(laurel). The name Laura itself appears in the
Canzoniere
only twice: in 291.4 and 332.50, but an alternate version occurs often. The
Etymology
of Isidore of Seville defined
laurus
as
laudes,
the principal panegyrical topos of Greek antiquity—very much the topic of this sonnet.
However, another sense is alluded to here in the etymological link between laurel,
a Dionysian intoxicant, and the labyrinth (with its source in
lavr–laur–labyr,
cave or stone), both subtexts in the poems that connect delirium, forgetfulness,
and infernal researches with poetic process.

1.
call for you:
To utter her name aloud, releasing its power.

3.
the sound at the beginning:
The first syllable of the name connotes worship: He who utters it praises his lady
from the very beginning.

4.
sweet accents:
The Italian gerund
laudando
is a notably soft, drawn-out word, like a sigh.

5.
REgal state:
The Italian
real
is an abbreviation of
regale,
“queenly.” Laura possesses a majesty that sets her apart from all other women. But
she is also “real” flesh and blood.

6.
doubles my strength:
The syllable
RE
has a double sense that reinforces the evocative power of her name.

high enterprise:
The poet’s task of revering and praising Laura. Cf. Dante,
Vita nuova
XVIII.

7.
but “TAcitly,” the end cries:
The final syllable of LAURETA hints of the end of life. A frequent theme of the poems
is that he must strive to do honor to her and himself by keeping the whole of his
life in mind while judging carefully its particulars.

8.
better shoulders:
A nod to the poetic tradition, and to Apollo, god of poetry.

9.
to LAUd and to REvere:
He calls attention again to the deeper meanings of the precious syllables. One has
only to call her name to pay homage to her truth.

12.
Apollo be offended:
This is the first of many allusions to the myth of Apollo and Daphne as found in
Ovid’s
Metamorphoses
I. In that legend, Apollo, not immune to love, became enamored of the beautiful maiden
Daphne, who spurned him. Pursued by the passionate prideful god, Daphne fled through
the forests until, on appeal for rescue to the river that engendered her, she was
turned into the laurel tree. Apollo claimed this tree for his own.

13.
morTAl:
The syllable “TA” within the word “mortal” links love with the silence of death.
The Provençal poet Pierre Milon broke down excessive
amore
to
al morl
—ah, death!—in his “En amor trob pietat gran” (Carducci).

14.
eternally green boughs:
The laurel is an evergreen. Cf. Apollo in
Metamorphoses
I, 559 ff: “Let the laurel / Adorn, henceforth, my hair, my lyre, my quiver: / Let
Roman victors, in the long procession, / Wear laurel wreaths for triumph and ovation.
/ Beside Augustus’ portals let the laurel / Guard and watch over the oak, and as my
head / Is always youthful, let the laurel always / Be green and shining!”

The first of many branchings in the
Canzoniere,
this sonnet tells of the scattering of his forces now that he has fallen in love.
In the
Phaedrus
(246 sq., 253 c sq.), Plato described the human soul in pursuit of the beloved as
a charioteer (reason) struggling to guide two winged horses—one black (the irrational
appetite) and the other white (the spirit or will toward good). Here irrational desire
has gained control of the soul.

2.
turned in flight:
Like Daphne she turns away from his loving glance and his desire follows. Reason,
weighted down, strives to keep up.

3.
light and liberated:
A freed soul.

4.
my slow run for her:
His will, obedient to the rein of reason, strives to hold the more stable course.

6.
safe path:
The known, charted course.

8.
makes him restive:
Resisting the bridle and bit. The irrational appetite of Plato strives only to seize
the beloved for his own.

9.
takes the reins himself:
His soul is taken hostage by desire.

10.
harness of his lordship:
She has possession of his soul’s imagination while he remains strapped to the restraints
of an ordinary physical human love.

11.
rides me to death:
To his ruin in pursuit of Laura.

13–14.
bitter fruit… afflicts/someone else’s wounds:
Unrequited love keeps wounds ever fresh.

The poet writes to a friend who shares his desire to restore poetry’s former glory.

1.
Gluttony, sleep, pillows of idleness:
This language has been traced to Livy and his description of Hannibal’s troops after
the battle of Cannae.

3–4.
our nature … :
Words meant to sting the Italian in his pride.

5–6.
so spent is every good light:
The influence of the heavens to bend human nature toward the good has been exhausted.

8.
make water flow from Helicon:
Bring divine poetry back to life. The Helicon is a mountain in Boetia sacred to the
Muses.

9.
laurel… myrtle:
Laurel was sacred to Apollo, myrtle to Mercury and Venus.

10.
Philosophy:
Pallas Minerva, guide to the highest level of poetry.

11.
making money:
Venal poets who mock those whose aims are higher.

The poem accompanies a gift of small animals taken by trap and sent to an unidentified
friend. Petrarch pretends to speak in the voice of the creatures. The trap is a snare
which he reproduces here in his syntax, knotting up meaning so the reader must struggle
to untangle it.

1.
Beneath those hills:
The region where Laura was born, the humble village of 4.12.

2.
lovely clothes:
Playing on the idea that the body of Laura clothes her soul in mortal life.

4.
the one:
The weeping and sleepless poet-hunter.

7.
without the fear of finding:
As the poet was unsuspecting when felled by Love’s arrow in poem 2, so too the animals
trusted in their safety.

10.
other life that was serene:
Cf. Dante,
Inferno
XV, 49.

12–14.
revenge is taken …/… by greater chains:
The creatures speak of the hunter’s falling prey to another, the lady of line 3 who
endangers his soul.

14.
near his end:
Literally,
a l’extremo.
Several critics have heard echoes of
Inferno
V (Paolo and Francesca) in these lines.

Another occasional poem, perhaps accompanying a gift of truffles (and probably a group
of poems) sent to a friend.

1.
when the planet:
When the sun returns to the constellation Taurus around the middle of April. Cf.
Virgil,
Georgics
I, 218.

7.
hidden things:
Those which live or grow underground.

8.
pregnant with his earthly moisture:
The sun’s. According to Plutarch, a night with a full moon (the lamp of the sun)
impregnates the earth with moisture, promoting generation and fruitfulness.

9.
this fruit and the like:
Presumably the truffles that accompany the poem. “And the like” refers to the poems
themselves, serving notice that hidden meanings may be deduced from them.

10.
a sun among all ladies:
Laura, from whose spirit he receives heaven’s light.

13.
how she controls or turns:
He turns as she bids, like a plant toward the sun’s warmth.

14.
springtime… will never come:
His love will never “decorate the world with fresh-made color” (1. 4). Turned around,
this suggests that his poems, although undecorative, are fruit of a sort, worth digging
for.

Addressed to Stefano Colonna the elder, father of Giacomo and Giovanni, this sonnet
was written in 1330 during a sojourn near the Pyrenees, where Petrarch was guest of
Giacomo, newly named bishop of Lombez.

1.
Glorious column upon whom there rests:
A play on the name of the powerful Colonna family, probably alluding to the conflict
between the Colonnas and Pope Boniface VIII. “Column” is also a patristic term for
pillar of the church.

2.
renown of Latium:
Of Rome.

3.
wrath of Jove:
Jove is a reference to the temporal ruler. Cf. 4.4.

buffeting rain:
Rain and wind represent harsh political conditions.

6.
a fir, a beech, a pine tree stand:
The savage fir is symbolic of the common people, the beech of oracular or prophetic
literature, and the pine, St. Peter’s tree, of the Holy Roman Church—all columns of
support.

10.
nightingale that in the shadows:
Cf. Virgil,
Georgics
IV, 511: “Qualis populea moerens Philomela sub umbra amissos queritur fetus … at
ilia flet noctem, ramoque sedens miserabile carmen integrat, et moestis late loca
questibus implet.”