Petrarch (95 page)

6.
wind the thread… shorter:
He was moved by grief to such degrees of self-sacrifice.

7–8.
that wings
… :
No amount of praise for her will be adequate to escape the flood and bring him to
port.

9.
so full a source:
The root that reaches to heaven. Cf. Eccles. 24:1–22.

10.
far off the shore:
So far from being remedied.

11.
could hardly reach it:
His imagination failed him.

12.
peaceful olive:
A simple hope for truce. Cf. Eccles. 24:9, “Quasi oliva speciosa in campis.”

Just when a cessation of struggle seems to be possible, Lauras eyes are once more
obscured by a dark cloud, and he questions the wisdom of Nature and God.

1.
happy with my fate:
Cf. 229.9–11 and 230.12–14.

3–4.
if other lovers:
A single pain in loving Laura is worth more than a thousand ordinary joys.

5–6.
I wont repent /… nor exchange:
The burden of his sorrow has become light, happy, and noble.

7.
so dark and dense a cloud:
An affliction of the eyes.

8.
almost been extinguished:
He has almost lost hope of her recovery.

9.
O Nature:
She who formed Laura in God’s image. Cf. 159.1.

10.
such opposing wills:
This line echoes Rom. 13:1, “Non est potestas nisi a Deo.”

11.
to do and undo:
Give Laura and take her away.

13.
how can You allow:
Turning from fickle Nature to God, the highest authority.

Another kind of darkening of the sight is described here, resulting from overwhelming
wrath that on occasion in history led to the death of famous men.

1.
victorious Alexander:
Alexander the Great, whom Solinus named “victor omnium vino et ira victus” for having
killed a close friend in a drunken fit of rage.

2.
Philip:
Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander. Insofar as Alexander succumbed to anger,
he did not measure up to his father.

3–4.
What good…/… paint him:
According to Pliny, Alexander ordered that only Pyrgoteles sculpt him in marble,
Lysippus in bronze, and Apelles depict him in paint (Durling).

5.
Tydeus:
One of the seven kings of Thebes, deprived of immortality by Athena after sucking
out the brains of the dead Melanippus. Cf. Dante,
Inferno
XXXII, 130.

6.
that dying still:
Tydeus first had been mortally wounded by Melanippus.

7.
merely blur:
Cf. 231.7

Sulla:
This Roman dictator actually died of rage over a subject’s deceits. He emitted such
a cry that a tumor in his chest burst (Carducci).

9.
Valentinianus:
The Roman emperor (A.D. 364–375); infuriated by the greed of his legation, he dies
of apoplexy.

11.
Ajax:
Cf. Ovid,
Metamorphoses
XIII, 384. In grief and anger at the granting of Achilles’ armor to Ulysses, this
invincible warrior was defeated by his own rage when he committed suicide.

12.
a short madness:
Cf. Seneca,
De ira
I, 1: “Quidam itaque e sapientibus viris iram dixerunt breven insaniam.”

12–13.
who can’t / control it:
According to Horace,
Epistles
I, 2, 62, he who doesn’t learn from it perishes by it.

He confirms that he was struck with the same dark affliction of the eyes described
in the last two sonnets.

1.
from one of:
From her right eye, as he explains in line 9.

3.
dark with pain:
Laura’s eyes obscured as they were in poem 231.

4.
there came a force:
Vertu,
transferring her infirmity to him. Cf. Ovid,
Remedia amoris
616: “Dum spectant oculi laesos, laeduntur et ipsi; multaque corporibus transitione
nocent.”

5.
to break the fast:
Cf. Dante,
Paradiso
XV, 49, and XIX, 25.

9.
from the right eye:
In astrological terms the right eye of the male signified the sun, the right eye
of the female the moon. Laura is the sun, he the moon, now darkening.

10.
to my own right eye:
The eye empowered by virtue.

11.
the illness that delights me:
Because he shares it with Laura—this fading out of light as in an eclipse. Cf. poem
3.

12.
had an intellect:
Laura’s darkened eyes sent a message so profound.

13.
like a star shoots:
It fell from heaven like “grace.” Cf.
Virg, Aeneid V,
527: “Coelo ceu saepe refixa trascurrunt, crinemque volantia sidera ducunt.”

14.
Nature and Pity:
Cf. 231.9, where Nature is a “merciful, cruel Mother.”

His little room, his bed, and the night give him no rest, and he takes flight, seeking
the company of common folk. This sonnet is often compared with poem 35, “Solo e pensoso.”

2.
fierce storms:
A refuge from the affairs of the world.

4.
in the daytime I hide:
These events recall
Vita nuova
XXXI, after the death of Beatrice.

5.
O little bed… rest:
With
requie
Petrarch may be alluding to the etymological link between
letto
(bed) and
sostegno
(support, prop), the source of mercy as well as a sign of the pity of the Virgin.

6.
grieving urns:
Laura’s weeping eyes, seen in his dreams, remind him of mourning and death.

7.
with ivory hands:
Cf. Propertius II, 1: “lyrae carmen digitis percussit eburnis” (Carducci).

11.
high in flight:
Cf. 233.12–14.

12.
I seek the crowd:
Where he can hide his shame.

13.
thought I would:
After all the scorn he has heaped upon them. Cf. Horace,
Odes
III, 3: “Odi profanum vulgus et arceo.”

14.
to find myself alone:
With presentiments of loss.

In the past he was able to avoid shipwreck by steering his frail craft away from the
rock of her pride; now he is threatened far out at sea by storms and darkness.

2.
go beyond my duty:
Venturing into dangerous waters. From here through poem 237 Petrarch pursues the
theme of seeking forbidden knowledge, as if he were Ulysses traveling beyond the gates
of Hercules.

3.
more than ever:
Cf. 207.21: “I have become annoying, tiresome.”

4.
sits as monarch:
The word
monarca
appears just this once in the
Canzoniere.

8.
blows:
Her harsh judgments.

9.
rain … violent gales:
His own tumultuous feelings expressed in recent sonnets.

11.
into my sea:
An abyss that threatens the death of his soul.

12.
to menace others:
More than annoying; at this point he fears for his own salvation.

The last sonnet in this series of twenty-two speaks directly to Love, whose dominion
over him has driven him into an excess of passion.

1.
err… error:
The first two lines of this sonnet are strongly alliterative, and words beginning
with “f” are stressed throughout.

2.
chest’s afire:
Like the fire of wrath that overwhelms the mind.

3.
pain keeps growing:
These lines play on the various implications of
fallo
and
fallire
in line 1.

4.
vanquished by his pain:
Of his own dark illness.

5.
to fight the heat:
To rein it in with his art, to temper it.

6.
darken her clear face:
Cf. poems 231–233.

8.
in despair:
He has nothing more to lose.

9–11.
Then if against
… :
His seeking refuge among the common herd in poem 234 may be the venturing off he
refers to. Love has driven him into uncharted seas.

11.
the hardest ways:
The difficult upward path but also occasional rocky descents.

14.
forgive herself:
Her own human failings, projected on him.

He fast-forwards in this sestina as if he were undoing acts of creation one by one
to arrive at the moment of the world’s end.

1–6.
There aren’t as many
… :
Surveying all that a dweller of the earth can learn from his position “under the
moon.”

8.
to cut in me:
Scevri,
meaning to separate, after choosing, the mortal from the immortal. Cf. St. Augustine,
Confessiones XIII,
17–18.

9.
some shore:
So that he might awake like the first man at the dawn of the first day.

11.
they know, those woods:
Because they contain the secret resting place of the moon, which he now seeks.

12.
I, alone:
Speaking of his soul’s solitary journey through perilous times.

13.
I’ve never had tranquility:
Cf. poems 22 and 50.

14.
morning and evening:
Hours that bear traces of the night.

15.
dweller of the woods:
A love poet.

16–18.
before I rest
… :
His world in history moves toward its own undoing.

16.
have no waves:
In 218.12 he connected such an event with the death of Laura.

17.
suns light will be furnished:
Reversing nature and giving power to the forces of the night.

21.
nor… stabler than the moon:
He waxes and wanes.

23.
sighs from my breast:
The painful effects of his verse.

24.
tremble through the woods:
Send strong reverberations.

25.
Cities are foes:
Seats of intrigue.

friendly are the woods:
Where birds may hide and violets grow in secret.

26.
lofty shore:
A high clearing on a mountain at the edge of the woods where he might find the light
of the moon.

27.
murmuring of the waves:
His tears mingle with the tears of history.

28.
sweetest silence of the night:
Cf. Ovid,
Metamorphoses
VII, 184: “per muta silentia noctis”; and Virgil,
Aeneid
II, 255: “per amica silentia lunae.”

29.
wait…for evening:
For the last, sweet sleep of the mind.

30.
make way for the moon:
And her influence. According to Aristophanes, a moon that succeeds an aging sun marks
a period of political plots and betrayal.

31.
with the lover of the moon:
Sharing the fate of Endymion, eternally youthful, beloved by Selene, goddess of the
moon. Enchanted into perpetual sleep, Endymion enjoyed Selene’s love each evening
on Mount Latmos, lying in dream while she made love to him.

33.
and she, who … gives me evening:
Laura, who would have him die before his time.

34.
came with the moon:
Where he awaits her in the moonlit clearing.

35.
for one night:
Like Endymion and Selene, sharing one night eternally.

37.
Above harsh waves:
Vellutello defined these waves as his bitter, hard-edged verse.

38–39.
born by night … / a rich shore:
A new style, springing from dream and thoughts of death.

39.
tomorrow evening:
A new beginning. Cf. 214.8.

Placed between two sestinas, this single sonnet seems to mark an event of extraordinary
importance. The illustrious personage who honors Laura with his kiss has not been
identified, although he is generally believed to be Charles of Luxemburg, later Emperor
Charles IV, who came to Avignon in 1346.

2.
eye of the lynx:
Capable of seeing through mountains and walls, according to Brunetto Latini’s
Livres dou Trésor
V, 57.

3.
swift foresight:
A gift for taking providential action.

4.
worthy to dwell:
His regal position graced by the nobility of his character.

5.
Finding many a lady:
Cf. poems 218, 222, and 225. This large company recalls the sixty ladies of Dante’s
Vita nuova
VI.

8.
the best among… lovely faces:
Laura.

9.
The others:
Wealthier and more aristocratic than the humble Laura.

10.
with a gesture:
A regal, providential choice.

14.
strange, sweet action:
A unique act of deference to one so humble, young, and beautiful.

At least two elements mark this sestina as a departure: first, Laura is clearly named
twice; and second, she is set apart from the ever-renewing spring breeze (
l’aura
) as an alpine peak beyond the reach of love and poetry.

5.
stirred:
Inspired.

6.
to my notes:
To his own music or poetry.